Jews were living in Šiauliai as far back as the 15th century, although they weren’t allowed to bury their dead in the town until 1701 or thereabouts when the local authorities granted them permission to build a synagogue and purchase a piece of land for a cemetery. Surviving the Nazi occupation, as was often the case during the Soviet period, the authorities and a handful of industrious locals helped themselves to the gravestones, and, to add insult to injury, forced families to move the remains of their loved ones to the city’s public cemetery. Today almost no gravetones survive. Two memorials can be found at the southern end of the site.