Macikai

The central administration of NKVD camp no. 7057 was located in Silute (Heydekrug). Several POW camps were administered from this location. One of these camps was located in the village of Macikai (Matzicken), today a district of Silute (Heydekrug). The prisoners of war who died here were buried in mass graves not far from the camp. The number of dead can no longer be determined today. In 2001, the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture prepared a report on the situation of German POW cemeteries in the former Memel region with the towns of Silute and Klaipeda (Memel) on behalf of the Volksbund. After on-site investigations and an examination of the archive documents, it was concluded that only the cemetery in Macikai had been preserved. In addition to German prisoners of war, Russian and prisoners of war from other nations (until 1945) and Lithuanian civilian internees (from around 1948) were also buried in Macikai. In 1991, the entire area was enclosed with a fence on the initiative of the municipality of Macikai. In May 2003, a German army group from the naval technical school in Parow cleaned up the German cemetery and sowed it with grass. A wooden cross was erected at a central point. Groups of crosses mark the graves.