Pre-1939: Wilno (Yiddish: Vilne/Vilna), city and województwo center, Poland; 1939–1940: Vilnius, apskritis center and capital of Lithuania; 1940–1941: uezd center and capital of Lithuanian SSR; 1941–1944: Wilna, Kreis center, Stadthauptmannschaft and center of Gebiet Wilna-Land, Generalkommissariat Litauen; post-1991: Vilnius, rajonas and apskritis center, capital of the Republic of Lithuania Wilno is located 100 kilometers (62 miles) east-southeast of Kaunas. On June 24, 1941, when German troops entered Wilno, approximately 60,000 Jews were in the city. In the previous two days, after the start of the German invasion, about 3,000 Jews managed to escape. At the same time, many Jewish refugees from western Lithuania arrived in Wilno. The first German Security Police detachment to arrive in Wilno was Einsatzkommando 9. In July 1941, this unit, together with the Lithuanian Ypatingas Burys (special troops), murdered about 10,000 Jews near the Ponary railroad station, not far from Wilno....