1862). 120 houses burned down from a fire in 1906. Soviet occupants deported 78 residents of Jurbarkas in 1941–51. During the years of Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisan resistance (1944–1953) in Jurbarkas and neighbouring districts Lithuanian Laisvės gynėjų rinktinė (The Freedom Defenders Squad), belonging to partisans' Kęstutis military district was active. Jewish community Jurbarkas was for centuries a multi-ethnic community. During the 17th century some of the town's Jewish population were employed as tax collectors for the Lithuanian government. By 1714 Jubarkas had 2,333 Jews. By 1790 the town had a Jewish cemetery and a Wooden synagogue, one of the oldest in the region. In 1862 there were 2,550 Jews. In 1843 Emperor Nicholas I ordered that Jews living within of the Empire's western border should relocate eastward, but Jurbarkas was one of 19 towns which disobeyed the order. The Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) prospered in Jurbarkas. Many of the town's citizens left during World War I, although some returned. It became part of Raseiniai County in the independent Lithuania created after the war. The population decreased from 7,391 in 1897 to 4,409 in 1923. The Jewish population decreased over the same period from 2,350 to 1,887, though that represented an increase from 32% to 43%. A government census in Jurbarkas in 1931 indicated that Jews owned 69 of 75 business and 18 of 19 light industries. The Soviet Union occupied the town in 1940 during World War II and nationalized many of the Jewish-owned companies. Jewish cultural organizations were also suppressed. Jurbarkas was invaded by Nazi Germany on 22 June 1941, the first day of Operation Barbarossa. Among other persecutions, Lithuanian collaborators forced the Jews to destroy the wooden synagogue. The Jewish population of Jurbarkas was systematically killed in 1941. A few dozen Jews from the town and escapees from the Kaunas Ghetto formed a partisan group to attack Nazi forces, although the majority were killed. A monument at the mass graves was constructed after the war to honor the Holocaust victims. Few of Jurbarkas Jewish citizens survived World War II. Of those that did, some remained in Vilnius or Kaunas after the War, while most emigrated to Palestine, the US, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Germany, or other nations – in some cases joining family and friends who had left Lithuania before the War. Old town of Jurbakas Famous residents Vincas Grybas (1890–1941), sculptor Romualdas Marcinkus (1907–1944), Footballer, and military pilot during