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Click on the 'Lithuanian Shtetls' Link above to see information and links to the many Shtetls located in Lithuania. They do remember every day! A Lithuanian woman walking past the Jewish Memorial to the Jews Murdered in the Holocaust. This statue is located in the "Jewish Ghetto Park" in Svencionys.
Photo taken by Ted Margulis, August,1994 in Svencionys Lithuania (Liutuviskai, Lietuvi, Litovskiy, Litewski, Litauische) is situated along the Baltic Sea. The main seaport is Memel (under German rule) and today it is known as Klaipeda. Lithuania is an independent country that was formerly occupied by Russia. Jews from central Europe first settled in the country during the second half of the 14th century. Jews, in this country, enjoyed tremendous political and cultural influence that reverberated throughout the entire Diaspora. What's a Litvak? The borders of modern Lithuania have nothing to do with being a Litvak. In fact, in Yiddish a Lithuanian (non-Jew) is called a "Litviner," not a Litvak. I'm not exactly sure, but the term Litvak means anyone who lived under Lithuanian rule in the 16th to 17th century, which includes a vast area to the east, south, and west of Lithuania today. This would include Bialystok in Poland, Minsk in Belarus and beyond. Moreover, in the 19th century, Litvaks moved all over, into what is Poland today - to Lodz where they set up the textile industry. It is also estimate that about 1/3 of Warsaw's Jewry in the late 19th century was Litvak, even though Warsaw was not part of the traditional Litvak homeland. Warsaw, like Lodz, was a town of immigration, and Litvak streamed there to find work and set up businesses. From a posting by Harold Rhode on LitvakSig on 2-17-98 Litvak comes from the word 'Lite' which is Lithuania in Yiddish. It applies to Jews in the ill-defined borders of the Dukedom of Lithuania in the 17 and 18th centuries, which included parts of Belorussian and Poland, but not most of Latvia (Courland). It also refers to Yiddish speakers with a Litvak accent, a version of Yiddish that extended through the Lomza-Suwalki and Vitebsk Guberniyas, a least. From a posting by Zvi Griliches Censuses from as early as 1670 have been located in the Lithuanian State Brest-Litovsk and Grodno, today both are located in Belarus, were originally The border between Lithuania and Kourland was always a subject of "Statue of Great Dukedom of Lithuania 1588" This is about the rights and responsibilities of the Jews and there is a photocopy of an original text and an adapted text (original text written with modern letters created on Dmitriy Levit. Note that there is both Lithuanian and English text on the page. Many Jewish records from four formerly (Southern) Lithuanian districts are known to be in the State Historical Archives of Belarus in Grodno; other Jewish records for the same towns are in Vilnius. Vilnius (Vilna) once had a population that was 55 percent Jewish and at the turn of the century was called the 'Jerusalem of Lithuania'. That ended with a genocide beginning in the summer of 1941 that was finished, for most part, by November of the same year. Shirley and I traveled the road from Vilnius (Vilna in Yiddish) to Memel (Klaipeda today), with a short detour to Plunge where we had the opportunity to meet the only Jew left in that small town --- Yossel Bunka. You may (or perhaps will) hear of Yossel if you ever travel Lithuania, for he is a world renown wood sculpture. Most of what he hand carves deals with either a Jewish or Holocaust theme. I have several of his wood carvings on my desk top to remind me of our meeting. This will be a story that I must tell you, while I've got your attention. It's worth sharing. Shirley and I used an interpreter while traveling Lithuania and he was explaining something to Yossel, who would then reply in Lithuanian when both of us detected a Yiddish word coming from Yossel. My wife speaks Yiddish, so she asked Yossel if he too spoke Yiddish and he answered with a rather surprised yes. Then Shirley apologized for her rather crude use of Yiddish and stated that she hadn't really had the opportunity to speak Yiddish for more than 50 years. Yossel looked at both of us, and we could see a tear roll down his cheek, as he said to us in Yiddish "neither have I!" That moment will always be treasured by the three of us as we had found a common ground. My maternal grandmother's family had lived in both Plunge and Telsai, which is only a few miles further down the road, which explains why we were there visiting the area. Other known relatives also were known to have lived in, or around the area and include the Blochs and the Gordons. Our travels also took us to Klaipeda where my great grandparents (Cohen) had lived until their deaths in the late 1800s. We spent a night in Klaipeda. We also did a day trip to Svencionys, a small shtetl near the border of Belarus where family had also lived. We received from Galina Baranova, the Chief Archivist of the State Historical Lithuania Home Page - don't be fooled by the display as it does contain much information as you work through the links. A very moving photo essay by Laurence Salzmann, who spent a month in Lithuania photographing the remaining Jews can be viewed at Typical Lithuanian Street in 1994. Note the Soviet Style Apartment
Books published by the Jewish State Museum of Lithuania can be purchased by writing to: "A Book Review" - "Lituanie Juive, 1918 - 1940" authored by Joost van Beek of "Accessible Vital Records For Jews, Germans, Ukrainians and Poles in Galicia, Volhynia, Lithuania and Latvia- A Second Zabuzanski Collection" available at the downtown branch of the Vancouver Public Library. Other Libraries may also have a copy. Brian Lenius is Chairperson and Editor of East European Genealogist. "Afrikaner Yidishe Tzeitung" - just one of many articles available at this site "A Jewish Life Under The Tsars: The autobiography of Chaim Asonson, 1825-1888" - authored by Ira Leibowitz. To read the review of the gook, which gives some insight into life in that period in Serednik, Russia (now Seredzius, Lithuania) as well as in Shadova (Seduva), Kurtovian (Kurtuvenai), Mitau (Jelgava, Latvia) and Telz (Telsai) Published in Totowa, N.J. by Allanheld, Osmun & Co., 1983. Translated from the Hebrew by Norman Marsden. 287 pages, "AJHS Manuscript Catalog" "A Look at the Censuses of Poland" - authored by Gayle Schlissel Riley and published in the Nov/Dec. 2000 issue of Heritage Quest "Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry" - author Oshry Efroim Buy from Amazon.com "Barak - Soldier Number One" authored by Ben Caspi and Ilan Kfir and published by Alfa Communication in Tel-Aviv, May 1998. This is Ehud Barak's biography and includes information about a small Jewish community in Lithuania where a grandfather is killed by Goyim. "Can Jewish Genealogists Successfully Research 18th Century Poland?" - authored by Sallyann Amdur Sack and published in Avotaynu Vol. XVI, No. 3 Fall 2000 "The Case of Zheimelis" (The Expulsion of the Jews from Lithuania in the Spring of 1915") - authored by Anatolij Chayes and published in St Petersburg. Translated by Gordon McDaniel. There are a lot of excellent articles at this site http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/whatsnew.htm "The Children of the Vilna Gaon" - authored by Chaim Freedman. One of the important books published by Avotaynu was "Eliyahu's Branches: The Descendants of the Vilna Gaon and His Family." It documents more than 20,000 descendants of this great Jewish scholar. Equally important, its author, Freedman, theorized on the genealogy of the immediate descendants of the Gaon -- his children and grandchildren--from the scant documentation available when the book was published. Freedman recently stated that one of his theories, that the Goan's son Avraham Vilner was born in 1765, has been confirmed. A 1795 Vilna census/tax list includes Abraham and records his age as 30. Information about the book can be found at "The Complete Bibliography of the Works of Professor Dov Levin, 1945-2000" "Crime and Punishment" - compiled by Advocate Joseph Melamed. It is a very comprehensive history of the Holocaust in Lithuania. The history of the Holocaust in most of the larger cities and towns is given in detail. Several thousand of the known perpetrators of the mass murder in Lithuania are listed by name. There is an Association known as "Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel". They publish a newsletter, Gachelet, in Hebrew, Yiddish and English. Their address is 1 David Hamelech Blvd., Tel Aviv 64953, Israel. "Demographic and social-Professional Structure of the Jewish Community in Vilnius" - based on the Census of 1784. "The Gaon of Vilnius and the Annals of Jewish Culture"; Materials of the International Scientific Conference, - compiled by Dr. Lempertas and Edited by Larisa Lempertiene. Published by University Publishing House in Vilnius in 1998. The link is to a pdf file. "Eliyahu's Branches: The Descendants of the Vilna Gaon and his Family" "Experiences with Jewish Genealogical Requests and a review of the records stored in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives": authored by Galina Baranova, Chief Archivist of the State Historical Archives in Vilnius - LITVAKSIG online Journal "The Expulsion of the Jews from Lithuania in the Spring of 1915" - a description of political events preceding and accompanying the expulsion of Jews from the western part of Kovno Guberniya, based on the periodical press of 1914-1915, the stenographic minutes of the State Duma, and publications primarily from the interwar period - authored by Anatolij Chayes and published in the February, 2000 issue of LITVAKSIG Journal You can also find week-to-week reports in English-language Jewish newspapers of the era, such as the Jewish Chronicle of London. "Fighting Back" - the story of Jewish soldiers in the Lithuanian Division of the Red Army during the years 1941-1945. The second, revised edition, was published in 1997 by Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc. 160 Broadway, East Building 9th Floor, New York City. Phone: 1 (212) 374 0100. Professor Dov Levin was the author and he indicated that he has hundreds of files of interviews he conducted to create this book. dovlevin@cc.huji.ac.il "First Telsai Martyrs 1914-1918" - an article - "From Here to Kovno" - an article - "From Yerushalayim d' Lita" - authored by Debbie Berliner and published in the July, 2000 issue of LITVAKSIG Journal in a pdf file https://www1.jafi.org.il/papers/1991/july/jrjuly19.htm HaMagid - the first weekly Hebrew newspaper appearing from 1856 to 1903. Jeff Marx Rabjamarx@aol.com has information on this subject. Jeff has created a full index to shtetl names which appear in the donor lists of HaMagid for all issues between 1856 and 1900. Though each issue is entirely in Hebrew, the year, volume, month and day are printed in English letters on the front page of each weekly issue. Pages are also numbered. City and town names appear in slightly larger fonts and are often in bold face. Usually they appear under the Hebrew word "nedavot" (donations), and are, more often than not, found in the supplement section to the weekly issue. Jeffrey Maynard mentioned that there are 70 lists from 57 locations - almost For the most part, all that is available in HaMagid, according to Jeff Marx, is a name on a list. These lists may enable one to ascertain that a specific family member was actually living at a given date and was residing in a particular city or shtetl as of that date (give or take a few months' lag between the time the donation was made and the donor's name was published in HaMagid) Now and then, the donor may be identified as coming from a smaller town outside the city where the collection took place. Now and then, in HaMagid, the donor is listed with other family members and their relationship is spelled out ("son-in-law of so and so" or "son of so and so") Finally, when donors are listed in descending order of contributions, it provides a slight clue as to the family member's economic status in the community. While, for the most part, the donor lists in HaMagid do not yield any other significant pieces of information, other than the name, they are worthwhile checking for those rarer times when a 'gem' may be found. The HaMagid Persian Famine Donation Lists - Donors from Lithuania - 1871 and 1872 provide a resource of the names of over 40,000 Jews from the Pale of Settlement, including over 5,000 Lithuanian Jewish heads of families. Microfilms of HaMagid are found at the following repositories: Brown University; Columbia University; Cornell University; Harvard University; Hebrew College, Boston; Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati and Los Angeles; Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem; Jewish Theological Seminary, New Your; Library of Congress; New York Public Library; Northwestern university, Chicago; Stanford University; University of Ann Arbor; University of California, Berkeley; Washington University, St Louis; Yale University "Heroism and Bravery in Lithuania, 1941-1945" - authored by Alex Faitelson in 1996 a Lithuanian Jew who lived in Kaunas, and who entered the Jewish Resistance when he was about 18. He was imprisoned in the Ninth Fort of Kaunas, from where he organized a daring escape with 63 other people. "Hidden History of the Kovno Ghetto" published by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1997 and can be viewed on the Museum's web site. "Holocaust in Lithuania 1941-1945, The: A book of Remembrance." A four volume set records and documents over 50,000 Lithuanian Jewish Holocaust victims and edited and compiled by Rose Lerer Cohen and Saul Issroff. "In Jewish Autonomy in Poland and Lithuania until 1648 (5408)" authored by Professor Shmuel Cygielman and published in Jerusalem, 1997. "Jewish Cities, Towns and Villages in Lithuania Until 1918" - authored by "Jewish Craftsmen in Kaunas Guberniya" - an article by Anatolij Chayes in which the author surveys the typical documents preserved in the Russian State historical Archives and much more The Jewish Family History Foundation - dedicated to the preservation, acquisition and dissemination of Jewish records from archives and other repositories in Eastern Europe "Jewish Kahals in 18th Century Lithuania" - The Gaon of Vilnius and the Annuals of Jewish Culture. Materials of the International Scientific Conference, (Vilnius, September 10-12, 1997). Compiled by Dr. Lempertas, Edited by Larisa Lempertiene and published in Vilnius by University Publishing House in 1998 "The Jewish State Museum of Lithuania" - authored by Rachel Kostani - available at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. It provides a condensed history (with photographs) of the Jewish State Museum and of Lithuanian Jewry and includes a summary of ongoing publication projects. "Jewish Vital Records, Revision Lists and Other Holdings in the Lithuanian Archives" (English) authored by Harold Rhode and Sallyanne Sack and published by Avotaynu, Inc. in Teaneck, NJ in 1996 "The Jews of Lithuania" - authored by Masha Greenbaum is a history of a "Kaisadorys and Zasliai Cemeteries" - an article - "Kaunas Archive Resources" - an article - "The Kovno Ghetto: A Buried History" - a video produced by A&E TV Channel "Landscape and Memory" - authored by Simon Schama - has a large section devoted to Lithuania "The Last Days of Jerusalem of Lithuania: Chronicles from the Vilna Ghetto and the Camps, 1939-1944" in English, is a translation of Yiddish diaries of Herman Kruk, a Bundist activist from Warsaw, who fled to Vilna at the beginning of WW II. The book is published jointly by YIVO and Yale University Press with assistance from the Nusach Vilna Society and was edited by Professor Benjamin Harshav, Blaustein Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at Yale, and translated by Barbara Harshav. Available from JewishGen Mall at "Light One Candle" - authored by Solly Ganor in 1995 deals with the Kovno, "Lite" (Volumes 1 and 2) - At the end of October 2001, Lite (Lithuania) Contact Max Heffler max@texsys.com if you have a particular town/name you wish translated, and he can determine the amount it will cost to have it translated A translator should run about $25 per page. The Yizkor Book web pages contains translated tables of contents and lists names appearing in each 1000+ page book. "Lithuanian Archives in the Past and at Present" - authored by Laima "Lithuanian Jewish Communities" - authored by Nancy and Stuart Schoenberg is an excellent descriptive book of the many shtetls of Lithuania. A good resource. Lithuanian Names, City Directories and Census, Military Records, Death Records and a host of other Lithuanian information using the Zemaitis Genealogy and Family History web site at Type in a surname in the search box. If you type in the name Zemaitis, you'll find a lot of interesting information. "Lituanie Juive 1918-1940" a book review by Joost van Beek and published in "The Litvaks" - authored by Dov Levin, a professor at Hebrew University and "Litvaks and the Founding of Brandeis University" - authored by Steven Weiss and published in the July, 2000 issue of LITVAKSIG Journal "Litvaks and Their Calendars or How to Navigate Between the torah Portion and the Hebrew, Gregorian, and Julian Calendars" - authored by Jacob Bleadon and published in the April, 2000 issue of the LITVAKSIG Journal LITVAKSIG "The LITVAKSIG Poetry Page" - "The Lords' Jews, Magnate - Jewish Relations in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth during the 18th Century" - authored by M. J. Rosman. It an informative work of research on the "Arrendator" or lessee system. Published in Cambridge, MA by Harvard University Press in 1990 "The Lost Wooden Synagogues of Eastern Europe" - features a journey by filmmaker Albert Barry to Lithuania to try to find the few remaining wooden synagogue buildings still standing. Information about the film and how to order a copy is available at "The Militias of Magnate's Towns in Belorussia and Lithuania in the 16th to 18th Centuries" - authored by Anatol Hrtckiewicz. In Kwartalnik Historyczny, 77, no. 1 published in Minsk in 1970 "Native Realm - authored by Czeslaw Milosz and also the author of "The Issa Valley" "New Sources of Genealogical Information in the Kaunas Regional Archives" - authored by Vitalija Gircyte, Chief Archivist of the Kaunas Regional Archives LITVAKSIG Online Journal "On Foreign Soil" - an autobiographical novel authored by Falk Zolf and If this site is down, try "On the Front Line in Lithuania, 1915" - stories of Jewish Eyewitnesses, by Anatolii Chayesh, translated by Gordon McDaniel and appearing in the August, 2001 issue of the LITVAKSIG Journal "Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities from their foundation till after the Holocaust: Lithuania" - "The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 18th Century 1697-1935" (Liberty's Folly) - authored by Jerry Tadeusz Lukowski and published by the Cambridge University Press in 1951 "Privilege to Jews Granted by Vytautas the Great" - authored by Stanislovas Lazutka and Edwardas Gudavichius in English and Russian and published in Moscow by the Jewish University of Moscow in 1993 "Researching 18th-Century Census and Tax Lists from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania" - see Avotaynu Vol. XVII, No. 3, Fall 2001 "Revisiting Roots in Lithuania" - authored by Hedy Pagremanski Page and "The Rosen Legacy" - authored by Claire L. Datnow. The Rosen Legacy waves a complex tapestry that ranges across time and space, chronicling the fate of nine generations of Rosens and the Torah they inherit. Through the lives of its custodians the Torah becomes entangled in astonishing and brutal events shaping the fate of a family, a people, and a nation. At the heart of the novel is an intriguing question: how does a family's sacred legacy shape the identify of those who inherit it? Excerpts from this book are available at http://www.jewishgen.org/Litvak/excerpts_ "Scrolls of Testimony" - authored by Abba Kovner in 2001 relates to the Kovno Ghetto. "The Shtetl and I" - authored by Dvora Rogovin Helberg ""On Sunday, Elul 17th , 5702, (8/30/1942), the Vishnive ghetto was annihilated. The church bells began ringing early in the morning, announcing to the gentiles of the surrounding villages about the slaughter. By the thousands, they poured into town, filled its streets and gathered near the synagogue. They watched the victims burning, some still alive." (from the Vishnive Memorial Book, Published in Israel, 1972). Read the book at "The Tale of a Litvak" - authored by Morris S. Schulzinger and published in 1985 by Philosophical Library, New York. Contains references of Balbarishok, Grodno, Halinke, Kovno, Lazde, Mariyampole, Serei, Vilna and Yagustov. The book mentions these families: Dunsky, Frankel, Golden, Goldin, Gootman, Gurvitz, Horwitz, Krutzel, Leemon, Lucas, Marmet, Prebell (Pribulsky) Ravad, Rutshtein, Schulzinger, Sereisky and Slavaticki. The author was born in Serei in 1900 and later lived in Cincinnati until his death. "There Once Was A World" authored by Masha Greenbaum and Professor D. "Unbelievable Truth" - authored by Jeanne Ran Tcharnyi who was born in "Unmarked Lives" mount an exhibition of textile artistry inspired by doing Litvak genealogical research "Using Litvak Naming Patterns to Derive Names of Unknown Ancestors" - is an article written by Harold Rhode and published in Avotaynu Vol. XI, No. 3 Fall 1995 issue of Avotaynu Videos by Alexanders Feigmanis, the well-known genealogist is available. http://www.jewishgen.org// then go to the "mall". "The Vievis Jewish Cemetery" - an article - "Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum" - an article - "What Does a Litvak Look Like?" - an article by Judith Shulamith Langer-Surnamer Caplan asking "How many of you have ever wondered what a Litvak looks like '?" and published in the July, 1999 issue of LITVAKSIG "What Rite or Ritual for Prayer Was in General Use Among the Jews in Lithuania?" - authored by Shalom Bronstein and published in the June, 2000 issue of LITVAKSIG Journal "Yahadut Lite" - Historical Introduction in Hebrew, authored by Israel Klausner -vol. I, published in Tel-Aviv in 1968 "Yidishe Shtetl un Shtetlach in Lita" - authored by Berl Kagan. "Yidishe Shtet, Shtethlekh un Dorfishe Yishuvim in Lite: biz 1918: Historish- Biografishe Skitses" (Jewish Cities, Towns and Villages in Lithuania until 1918) Yizkor Book Project - Martin Kessel is the Project Manager kessel@jewishgen.org Very few Lithuanian towns have individual Yizkor books, but there are other "Zeimelis Jewish Cemetery" display photographs of Jewish memorial Matzevot in Lithuanian shtetls "Zemaiciu Naumiestis Cemetery Visit" - an article - http://www.jewishgen.org/Litvak/journal.htm
LITVAKSIG General I would suggest to the researcher of the following sites, to also check the My thanks to Davida of the LITVAKSIG who so graciously offered to make Sites of Pre-war Jewish Residences in Lithuania - a map is located on the An excellent site to find information about most European countries is at http://searcheurope.com Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country All Lithuanian Database (ALD) - a great searchable database created by the efforts of the LITVAKSIG membership - Archives Vilna Archives - records go back to the 1600s. They also retain some Byelorussia records. The Russian Empire's archival system is different from the U.S. Archival System in that they use "fond" (a record group), "opus" (an inventory number) and "delo" (item number) to file everything. If you have the fond, opus and delo numbers, any archivist can find the original document in the archives. You can verify by looking on the copy of the log sheet itself, where the page number is tamped in the upper right hand corner and the line is numbered on the left side of each half of the log sheet.
Family History Library has nearly finished their filming of Jewish vital records in the State Archives of Lithuania. Kahlile Mehr is the collections acquisitions specialist for the territory of the former Soviet Union. The library has received and catalogued all of the Jewish vital records from opis 1* of Fond 728* stored in the Historical Archive in Vilnius. To determine if records of interest to you are available, check the on-line catalog at * Fond and opis are archival designations of the record storage system that enable an archivist to retrieve records. A "Fond" is a record group, and an "opis" is an inventory of a subset of records within a specific fond. Fond 728 consists of four opis and includes vital records from many parts of Lithuania. It also includes records for some sites that are now in the northeastern part of Belarus Kaunas Regional Archives - "The Catalog of the Jewish Holdings of the Kaunas Regional Archives" Locality Index to Lithuanian Jewish Vital Records Currently Available at the Family History Library - these microfilmed records for birth, marriage, death and even some divorce records are in both Hebrew and Cyrillic For information on obtaining genealogical records from the various Lithuanian archives, consult the LitvakSIG FAQ's at "Jewish Genealogical Resources at the Kaunas regional Archives" - a
Ms. Vitalija Gircyte is the Head Archivist of the Kaunas Regional Archives. The archive requires a $100 research fee. There is a "Catalog of the Jewish Holdings of the Kaunas Archive" which summarizes the great variety of types of documents and records in the archives, for each town and every year. Lithuanian Central Civil Register Archives (Lietuvos Centrinis Metriku Archyvas) - located in Vilnius, contains Metrical Books, which is totally different and is not a list. Metrical books are registry books where births, marriages, deaths and divorces were recorded. All of the vital records obtained from the Lithuanian archives are recorded in metrical books and are called metrical records. Usually there are multiple metrical records on one page, as opposed to a single birth, death or marriage record like those in the United States. Lithuanian Central State Archives Laima Tautvaisaite is the Director of the Vilnius Lithuanian State Historical Lithuanian State Archives - Galina Baranova is the Head Archivist of the Lithuanian State Archives. It is located at Gerosios Vilties 10 Vilnius 2015 Phone: 237 482 or 370-5-213-7484. Fax 237 612 The archive requires a $100 research fee. Main Archival Administration State Historical Archive of Lithuania Centrinis Valstybinis Civilinis Metrikacijos Archyvas Central State Archive of Lithuania (Siauliai) Central State Archive of Lithuania (Vilnius) "Never Judge an Archival collection by Its Description or, Never Judge a Book by Its Cover" - the contents of YIVO' s Lithuanian Communities of the Interwar Period Collection and authored by Deena A. Berton as published in the April, 1998 issue of LITVAKSIG Journal Association of the Lithuanian Jews in Israel - publishes the GACHELET, a Newsletter of the association. They list their address and telephone number as: Bal Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name; Besht) - opposing the perceive over - intellectual and under-emotional Talmud Judaism of the early 16th century, Hasidism ('pietism') stressed simple faith and a joyous expression of piety. The movement's founder, Bal Shem Tov, taught that even Jews unable to read the prayer book could pray meaningfully to HaShem. As Hasidism spread rapidly through Eastern Europe, many of its practices However, this ban and similar ones that followed failed. Today, Hasidism continues to attract thousands of Jews in Europe, America and Israel and its Chabad movement is active on many college campuses. The Vilna Baal Shem Tov information was obtained from an article written in "This Month in Jewish history" by Alexis Rubin - a Jewish history teacher, writer, researcher and syndicated columnist. Balt-L - The Lithuanian Z-Line - an excellent discussion list, finds people and Basketball (huh?) - Basketball was first played by women at Smith College in Box Tax and Houses - There were many different kinds of taxes which the Jews might have been expected to pay including Box, Candle and real Estate and Property. These files (ALD) include real estate records, lists of apartment dwellers, farmers and estate holders, charitable donations, and lists of financial assistance to the poor, as well as inheritance and other court records. they also include Petition for Mikvah Maintenance; Kosher meat; Care of Need members of community, etc.; and the 1890 Siauliai District Merchants. "In researching Box taxes throughout the Pale of Settlement for a paper presented at the International Seminar in London in Summer 2001, Vitalija Gircyte and I concluded that during most of the 19th century, most of the small towns, such as Rumsiskes, consisted entirely of wooden houses. But some, like Kedainiai, could boast of having quite a few stone houses already by the 1840s. There must have been a considerable difference in financial status of the owner of a wooden house and a stone one." "It may not seem to make sense to repeat 'wooden' if there were no stone "Some mid-19th century tax lists were specifically called property owners' lists. A valuable thing about hem is that they often gave the number of the property. If you are fortunate enough to find a matching map for the town, you will be able to see the exact house that your ancestors lived in. We have an 1869 plat (map) showing every numbered house and all of the Jewish community buildings for Ariogala and the corresponding property owners' list, and many members of our research group have been able to find their ancestors' homes. While after several fires and wars repeatedly destroyed the town, none of the same buildings exist today, when you walk the streets of the shtetl you get the feeling that homes were rebuild on the same foundations over the years." This information was posted to LitvakSIG by David Hoffman DBH12345@aol.com on 12-02-02 The ALD (All Lithuania Database) contains full or partial Revision Lists, Family Lists, Census Lists and town residents Lists for 1816, 1834, 1851, 1858 and 1874 for most of the districts in Vilna and Kovno Guberniyas, and for many towns within Disna, Kaunas, Lida, Oshmiany, Panevezys, Raseiniai, Siauliai, Telsiai, Trakai, Vilkomer and Vilnius districts. Byelorussians in Lithuania - there are approximately 63,000 Byelorussians in Cemeteries - Bruce Kahn has a searchable photographic database of this and many other cemeteries at Consolidated Jewish Surname Index, which includes the Jewish Records Courland Research Group - Documentation of the Mass Murder of Lithuanian Jewry - a copy of a secret Reich letter by the SS Einsatzgruppen dated 1 December 1941 in Kaunas Europages - business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds Explanation of Abbreviations - Abbreviations used in the Catalog of Jewish Fort9 - a former Soviet prison where more than 30,000 Jews were shot. You can still see the bullet-riddled wall where Jewish prisoners were lined up and murdered. http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/archive/archive1/lithuania/lithuania.htm Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia - Jewish Community of Lithuania "Jerusalem of Lithuania" - the newspaper of the Lithuanian Jewish Community Jewish Demographics - "in a statistical studies of Jewish demographics in the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth during the 18th century, it shows that early teen marriages were the norm among one-quarter of the Jewish population, ostensibly the more affluent class, i.e. it was in those families best able to support grandchildren while they still had children to support that the mother's age at first birth tended to be lowest." The traditional ages for Jewish marriages were 18-20 for boys, 16-18 for girls. The couple was billeted in their parental home, usually the bride's, at least until the husband was old enough to support his family on his own." From a posting on JewishGen by Norman H. Carp-Gordon on 2/14/01 Jewish Family History Foundation - it's current major project: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania/Kingdom of Poland 18th century censuses and 19th century "bridge record" revision list project. The Grand Duchy Research Project identifies documents relating to the lives of Jewish families who lived in Poland-Lithuania during the 17th and 18th centuries, and translates and publishes them on the Jewish Family History Foundation Website. Poll-Tax/census lists made in 1784 and 1765 are the primary documents included in this phase of the project. A searchable "Heads of Household" Index of 1816 revision lists for the following 28 towns: Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain - is working on a guide for JewishGen ShtetlSeeker - locate your town (shtetl) - http://www.jewishgen.org/shtetlseeker/loctown.htm Jewish History in Lithuania - includes a database of genealogical information about the Jewish community in Lithuania http://www.angelfire.com/ut/Luthuanian/vilnius.html Jewish History of Lithuania - Jews in Lithuania - a web site that deals with the construction and restoration of the Great Synagogue of Vilnius Jews of Lithuania web site is at To view the online exhibit (in Lithuanian Language) "Jews of Lithuania at the Beginning of the 20th Century," go to: Jewish Vital Records - There are more than 20,000 Jewish Vital Records that are searchable on the ALD (All Lithuanian Database) http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/all.htm LITVAKSIG volunteers are working on an indexing project which will include thousands of records within fond 728. To learn how to become part of this group contact Jeff Miller singingtm@aol.com To get copies of records write to Galina Baranova at the Archives in Vilnius to initiate a search for the particular surname you are interested in. (When I used Galena's services in 1994, she charged $50, but I understand that the services are more like $70 per name search and about $20 for a copy of a record found with an English translation) Lithuanian Archives: Standard Fees for Non-Lithuanian Nations: Translation Services Translating Services - Click Here Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department. They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged. The Chief Archivist of the Kaunas Archives is Vitalija Gircyte. Vitalija is a female name. Lithuania - plenty of links at this site. Though not geared to Jewish information, if you want to learn more about the country - it's culture; heritage, surname information; ancient Lithuanian map; immigration to US from 1776-1940 and much more including more links to basic Lithuanian Phrases and pronunciations and the Vilnius Telephone Book http://europa.eu/abc/european_countries/ Lithuanian (Country) - Pinkas Hakehillot; Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities from their foundation till after the Holocaust: Lithuania - The complete bibliography of the Works of Professor Dov Levin, 1945-2000 - Yidishe Shtetl, Shtetlach un Dorfishe Yishuvim in Lite: biz 1918; Historish-Biografishe Skitses (Jewish Cities, Towns and Villages in Lithuania until 1918) http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/translations.html Lithuanian e-zine - LABAS - THE LITHUANIAN E-ZINE an internet magazine Lithuanian History - Lithuanian Jewish community - Looking at the Jewish Communities of the World is also an interesting site that offers an insight into the Lithuanian Jewish community, its culture and history Lithuanian Jewish Community address is This building also houses the Lithuanian Jews in South Africa - Lithuanian Language - words and meanings. Up until 1840, the court records in Lithuania were written in Polish. After that date, Russian became the official language for court records. Some clerks, used to writing in Polish, did not use Russian exclusively for the first several yeas after 1840. Consequently, many court records during the 1841-43 period contained some Polish words along with the Russian. Podszkolnik - an assistant director of a synagogue The term 'shkolnik' is sometimes used in the records pertaining to synagogues, prayer houses or schools. For some years and some Uyezds there are lists of 'houses of worship' with the board of each house of prayer, consisting of three men, enumerated. Thus, there are such lists of approximately 1868-1869 for all the Uyezds of Kaunas Guberniya, but each Uyezd mad e the list in a different form. In Raseiniai Uyezd, most of the boards of each prayer house consisted of a For Panevezys Uyezd, it is said that the boards of all the prayer houses consisted of 'elected by the community Gabi, Neyman and Scholar or the assistant of the Uyezd Rabbi''. Thus it seems that 'Neyman' in Panevezys Uyezd corresponds to shkolnik in Raseiniai. In 'There Once Was A world' by Yaffa Eliach, there is noted 'Neeman - Ha-Kahal' - Trustee, head of the Jewish community. Information obtained from a posting Lithuanian Names Project - the full text of this project, compiling the names of possible victims of the Lithuanian Holocaust (1941-1945), and publishing a Lithuanian Partisan lists may be available by contacting Igud Yotzei Lita, Lithuanian Resources - a goldmine of Lithuanian information, including '25,000 surname listings, Meaning of Lithuanian First Names, Obituaries from Draugas and Naujienos, List of Town Name Changes in Lithuania in Lithuanian, Russian and Polish, Contacting The Vilnius Archives, Other Links; http://www.angelfire.com/ut/Luthuanian/vilnius.html Lithuanian Shtetl - authored by J. Lestschinksy and translated by Rae Meltzer is an insight into how the Lithuanian shtetl had poverty and need. You can read this story at Lithuanian State Historical Archives - charges $70 per surname per town to do research plus $18.00 for each document that they find (includes translation). See above for address and further information. Lithuanian Synagogues - an exhibit and a booklet has color photographs of "Lost Wooden Synagogues" web site The Laws on Construction of Synagogues - this site offers information on the synagogues of Lithuania - from the very first from the 14th century http://daugenis.mch.mii.lt/litvakai/synagogues/architecture.htm Litvak SIG - check out their online journal edited by Judith Shulamith Langer-Surnamer Caplan http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/ Litvak Vital Records Indexing - the Project Manager is Jeff Miller The towns that are currently being filmed and will eventually be added to Kaunas District Towns Cekiske The 1892-94 Family Lists in the All Lithuanian Database for the towns in the The town field in the ALD contains the name of the town in which the family was living at the time the list was compiled in 1892-94. The comments field gives the town where they came from and how long they were living in the new town. This information was gleaned from a posting by Ada Green in the LITVAKSIG of January 07, 2002 Lida District Towns Eisiskes Panevezys District Towns Birzai Telsai District Towns Jokubonys Trakai District Towns Alytus Vilnius District Towns Bagaslaviskis Zarasai District Towns Antalkalis Lithuanian Youth Fraternity, Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions - http://www.geocities.com/albaruthenia/IA/history.html Lithuanian See also my 'Language' page
LITVAKSIG - the primary internet source connecting researchers of Lithuanian-Jewish genealogy worldwide. Our purpose is to discover, present, and preserve information about our ancestors' lives in Lithuania, and to better understand the lives they led, before the destruction of 95% of Lithuanian Jews in the Shoah. To read, view and enjoy the plethora of articles available to you on the web via the LitvakSig Online Journal, consult the Table of Contents. Judi Langer-Surnamer Caplan is the Editor Judith27@aol.com
LITVAKSIG Given Names Project - a database of given names for Jews born in Eastern Europe - covering the period of 1795 - 1925 for Lithuania and Latvia and available at the LITVAKSIG web site Start your research at Magnate - "Apparently, the country had an intensely feudal character for hundreds of years, the effects of which have not completely worn off. Polish landed gentry (often absentee landlords) from the joint Poland/Lithuania Commonwealth, which ruled the area for hundreds of years (1550-1795ish), actually *owned* whole towns, cities, and manorial estates; had private armies; and often offered protective charters for Jews whom they contracted with to run distilleries, inns, collect taxes from the Belarusian peasants, provide services like shoemaking, etc., and basically act as middlemen between the Poles and the natives. The landed gentry were called "magnates" and were often princes and counts and other kinds of lesser nobility. After the Czar took over this region (1795-ish), many Jews performed the same services for the Russian nobility who had simply exchanged places with their Polish peers. Interestingly, there was an unusual urban-rural split in Belarus: towns and cities were populated almost entirely by the landed gentry and Jews (the only groups allowed to travel in the region), while the countryside was populated almost exclusively by the native Belarussians who spoke their own language (Belarusian, rather than Polish or Russian) and had a different religion (Greek Orthodox, rather than Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, or Jewish), and were mostly involved in agricultural activities." Metrical Books - Metrical books are registry books where births, marriages, deaths and divorces were recorded. All of the vital records obtained from the Lithuanian archives are recorded in metrical books and are called metrical records. Usually there are multiple metrical records on one page, as opposed to a single birth, death or marriage record like those in the United States. A Revision List is a census. A Metrical Book (Metricheskie Knigi in Russian) contains vital records. The record itself does not link directly to other records. The information contained in a record may enable one to find other records. The age of a person as listed on a revision list may give you the year in which the individual was born. While one record will not automatically link to another record, the information contained therein may enable you to do so. The records were kept in log books. A stamp on the outside of a copy of one record has lines for Fonds, Aprasas, Metai, Byla, and Lapas. This corresponds to the Russian Empire's archival system which is different from that used in the United States. The Russian system used fond (a record group), opus (an inventory number) and delo (item number) to file everything. If you have the fond, opus and delo numbers, any archivist can find the original document in the archives. Metrical Books was levied on Jewish communities beginning in 1826. The primary purposes of their use was for taxation and conscription/recruitment, reasons for which some were tempted to evade the requirment. Stiff penalties were levied for violations, including fines, imprisonment, and conscription. Reasons to comply included proving social origins, marital status, and establish legitimacy of right to inherit from estates. Proof of registration was required to obtain diplomas, execute wills and obtain state-provided widow/widower pensions. The recorder in the Jewish community was the rabbi of the crown (rabbiner, in Yiddish). Although addresses as rabbis, these individuals were usually Mohels and administrative clerks rather than men of religious training. The rabbi was required to deposit a copy of the record books once a year with the provincial board. Harsh penalties were imposed on rabbis who did not comply. Birth records included sex of child, mohel name, date and place of birth, and social status of parents and infant. Marital records included ages and names of the bride and groom, name of rabbi who performed the ceremony, date of the marriage, obligations of marital contract (usually the Ketubbah) and signatures of two witnesses. Entries for divorce included names and ages of spouses, name of rabbi who supervised the divorce or halitsah (levirate divorce), "reason" for dissolution, and date of final divorce. For deaths, name and age of deceased were given, burial site (town and sometimes cemetery), date, and presumed cause of death. Sometimes in the records stereotypical "reasons" were listed such as, for divorce, "mutual hatred" or "mutual agreement." For death, sometimes "illness" was given as the cause of death. The rules for marriage in 1830 were that girls had to be a minimum of 16, boys a minimum of 18, so sometimes dates of birth/ages were falsified to avoid penalties for underage marriage. The cost of registration was viewed as heavy: 1-5 rubles. Each log sheet has two portions; a portion on the left on which Russian entries are made, and a portion on the right for the Rabbi to enter the information in Hebrew. Entries are in script in both instances, and common entry is the equivalent of the word or mark signifying ditto for recurring name, place, or date information. At the heads of the first entry for the two columns requiring date information are entered the names of the Julian and Hebrew calendar months, with the day underneath in each column. For a boy child, there is a fraction entered for the two days; day of birth in the numerator and day of bris in the denominator. Later in the column, if the month changes, the name of the new month is entered in similar fashion on the appropriate line. Entries are made line by line in sequential order of event. Hence, entries on a particular log sheet may cover, in sequence, the births occurring on a given day or series of days. For female children, a sequential number is entered in the first column (women), whereas for male children, a sequential number is entered in the second column (men). The two sequences are independent, and thereby, kept a running count of the number of female and male children born. Similar entries are made in the logs for marriages and deaths. |
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