During the Nazi occupation, the fort served as a site for the execution of thousands of Jews from Lithuania and across Europe.
In 1943, a group of 64 prisoners managed an escape from the fort by digging a tunnel through the wall of their cell.
The fort was used as a prison by the Soviet NKVD to hold and transport political prisoners to Siberian gulags.
The central monument is a brutalist-style concrete sculpture designed by sculptor Alfonsas Ambraziūnas.
Before its use as a prison, the fort was a state-of-the-art military defensive structure equipped with its own power plant and water filtration system.
The site contains the graves of prisoners who were burned in a massive pyre to conceal evidence of war crimes before the Soviet advance in 1944.
The 9th Fort is a significant historical site and Holocaust museum serving as a memorial to the thousands murdered there during the Nazi occupation. Built between 1903 and 1913 as part of the Kaunas Fortress defense system, it transitioned from a military bastion to a prison for the Tsarist and Soviet regimes. The site features a massive 32-meter-tall concrete monument dedicated to the victims of Nazism, unveiled in 1984. Visitors can tour the original cells, the exercise yard, and the underground tunnels used by political prisoners. Permanent exhibits detail the Lithuanian Holocaust, the Soviet occupation, and the history of the fortress itself. It remains one of the best-preserved defensive structures of its kind in the Baltic states. The complex includes a large outdoor memorial park where the mass graves of victims are located. The museum operates as a state-funded institution preserving documentation of 20th-century geopolitical upheaval.
The base of the large concrete monument looking upward to capture the scale of the sculpture against the skyline.
Bring a light jacket, as the underground tunnels and prison cells remain cool even during warm summer days.
Walk the full perimeter of the outdoor memorial park to view the mass grave markers and the massive concrete monument.
Allocate enough time to read the extensive signage in the exhibits, which provides necessary context for the site's history.
Do not attempt to walk through the heavy traffic areas of the nearby highway junctions; use designated pedestrian paths.
Closed on Tuesdays and major public holidays.
Maintain a quiet, respectful demeanor; modest clothing is expected given the site's history as a place of mass murder.
