The Jewish Community of Bauska
Bauska
The district town in the Zemgale (formerly Kurland) region, very near to Lithuania, on the bank of the Lielupe river, southern Latvia.
Between 1920-1940 Latvia was independent, and between 1940-1991- part of the Soviet Union.
In the 15th century the Livonian order (an order of Teutonic Knights) built a fort at the place against invasion from Lithuania. The settlement attained the status of a city in 1511. During the years 1561-1795, the city was in the duchy of Kurland, under the protection of Poland, and was annexed by Russia in 1796 after the third partition of Poland. During this period the city developed into a commercial and industrial center.
Already in the 17th century Jews came to Bauska from Lithuania. They were legally permitted to settle in the place after Kurland was annexed by Russia.
At the beginning the Jewish habitation was limited to the suburb of Sloboda across the river. In order to enter Bauska they required a special authorization. In Sloboda they established a synagogue and cemetery, founded a Hevra Kadisha and in 1802 engaged a rabbi.
From 1920, when Jews were allowed to live in Bauska itself, the community began to organize its institutions. Minute books kept by "Hevrat Agadata" and "Hevra Tehilim" were written in Yiddish and Hebrew, and they draw a picture of the Jewish life in the town at that times.
In 1835 there were 2,669 Jews residing in the town and its environs.
The development of the community was temporarily checked by the departure of 692 Jews to agricultural settlements in the Cherson district in 1840, and as the result of a cholera epidemic which struck the town in 1848.
In 1850 the number of Jews in the town and the surrounding area was 2,266.
The first Jewish inhabitants of the town, the "Kurlandim", spoke German and were influenced by western culture. Later arrivals, who came from Lithuania, were observant (upholders of the religious laws) and they spoke Yiddish. The two factions complemented one another and their general and religious education was fostered in parallel.
The community educational institutes included Hamidrash (seminary), the large synagogue, the house of prayers of the Hassidim, the Lithuanian Minyan (a religious quorum), "Tiffereth Bachurim" and a Beth Midrash in Sloboda.
Communal and charity organizations: Hesed, "Bikkur Cholim" (visits to the sick) "Linat Tsedek" (hospice for the poor), "Tsedaka Gedolah", "Malbish Arumim" (clothing for the needy), "Poalei Tsedek" and "Maot Chitim".
The workers, according to their trades, organized prayers and study of the torah on Saturdays.
In 1881 the Jews, who numbered 3,631, comprised 60% of the town`s population. Many came illegally from Lithuania. They were harassed and even expelled from the town; the Jewish population was reduced in number.
The Bauska community was considered to be one of three holy communities in Latvia; many torah sages came from its institutions. Rabbi Mordechai Rabbiner, the founder of a line, which during the course of 150 years produced rabbis, educators and writers who were the leaders of various communities, headed the rabbinical bench of the town from 1802- 1830. Rabbi Mordechai Eliasberg, an appointee of the authorities, labored to resurrect national identity for the Jews. Following him, 1895-1903, the leader of the community was rabbi Abraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook. Later he became chief rabbi of Eretz Israel.
In 1897 there were 2,745 Jews in the town.
At the beginning of the 20th century a literary-musical society, "Zamir", was founded.
At first the Jewish children learned in two Chadarim, a talmud torah, and secular studies at a Russian school. In 1920 there was a Jewish elementary school which used Yiddish and Hebrew as languages of instruction. In 1926 a Hebrew kindergarten was opened. During this period the talmud torah was open in the afternoons.
In 1915, during World War I, the authorities, for no valid reason, expelled the Jews of Kurland to the depths of Russia. After the war there were only about 600 Jews in the place. They elected a community council which renewed the public life of the Jews.
In 1919, with the return of the government by the Bolsheviks to Latvia, the Jews of Bauska were ordered to perform forced labor by Latvian soldiers.
During the 1920s many Jews moved to Riga and some went on Aliyah to Eretz Israel. Others emigrated to various countries, in particular South Africa.
Many Jews of the town were engaged in commerce, especially in the flax trade. Others made a living as workshop owners, peddlers or carters. There were a number of unemployed who required welfare assistance from the community. Among the Jews there were also landlords and members of the free professions, such as doctors and dentists.
With the help of the "Joint" (a relief organization of American Jewry) a co-operative Jewish bank was established in the town in 1921.
The "Zion" society, which was founded in 1884 by rabbi Eliasberg, opened a library and organized cultural activities. The Zionist youth operated as "Pirhei Zion". Following pogroms against the Jews of Russia in the period 1903-1905, young people of the community organized a self-defense unit. The leader, Israel Friedman, who was accused of producing arms for the defenders, was sentenced to be executed by the authorities.
A son of the town, the lawyer Dr. Lazar Nisselovitch, fought for rights for the Jews, when he was a delegate to the third Duma (parliament) from 1907 to 1912.
During the 1920s anti-Semitic articles began to appear in the local newspapers.
In the mid-twenties the Bund was active in the town, along with several Zionist youth movements.
Four Jews were elected to the municipal council in 1928.
In 1935 there were 778 Jews in the town out of a total population of 4,904.
The Holocaust Period
Following the Ribbentrop-Molotov accord, signed in August 1939 between Germany and the U.S.S.R., Latvia was annexed by the U.S.S.R. in the summer of 1940, when a Soviet government was installed. Businesses owned by Jews were nationalized and community institutions were disbanded. Ten Jewish families, property owners, were sent to detention camps.
After the outbreak of war between Germany and the U.S.S.R. (June 22, 1941), the Jews attempted to escape with the retreating Soviet forces. Among them were 40 young people who were murdered on the border. About a dozen youth, who succeeded in escaping, joined the red army. The majority were killed in action.
On June 26, 1941, German units occupied the town.
On august 3, 50 Jews were shot in a nearby forest. A week later a further 153 Jews were murdered. During this period there were a number of actions in which Jewish men were sterilized. The majority of the Jews were murdered on September 30. They were assembled in a yard and transferred, as was the case with others before them, to the forest. According to another source, about 800 Jews were killed in an "action" (a liquidation operation); this number included Jews from the environs.
The murder of these Jews led to the town being declared "Judenfrei" - cleared of Jews.
On July 30 1944, when Bauska was liberated by the Russians, only two Jews were found in the town. A memorial to the martyrs was erected on the site of the mass murder.
Hayim Yitzhak Bloch
(Personality)Hayim Yitzhak Hacohen Bloch (1864-1948), rabbi, born in Plunge, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire) and served there as rabbi, founding a yeshiva. In 1902 he succeeded Yitzhak Halevi Kook as rabbi of Bausk (now Bauska, Latvia). In 1922 he moved to the United States and served as rabbi in Jersey, New Jersey, until his death. In 1932 he was made honorary president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the US and Canada and during World War II was one of the leaders of the Vaad Hatsalah which worked to save Jews, especially rabbis and rabbinical students, from Europe. Bloch was the author of works of rabbinic studies and on ethics. he died in Jersey, NJ, USA.
Mordekhai Eliasberg
(Personality)Mordekhai Eliasberg (1817-1889), rabbi and Zionist, born in Čekiškė (Chaikishok), Lithuanai (then part of the Russian Empire). After his marriage his father-in-law established him in Kaunas (Kovno) as a dealer in grain and spices. He chose however to leave business and studied under renowned rabbis. In 1853, he became rabbi of Žiežmariai, remaining for six years until his wife's illness forced him to return to Kovno. From 1862 until his death he was rabbi of Bauska in Latvia. When the Zionist movement began to spread he became one of its most enthusiastic adherents. His decision to allow settlers in Eretz Israel to sow their fields in a Sabbatical Year aroused much controversy. He supported the Hibbat Zion movement and became one of its leaders. Eliasberg also supported Haskala, as long as it did not weaken religion.
Avraham Yitzhak Kook
(Personality)Avraham Yitzhak Kook Hacohen (1865-1935), rabbi, born in Griva, Latvia, and was an outstanding student, noted as a child prodigy. He studied at the yeshiva of Volozhin and in 1887 was appointed rabbi in Zeimelis, where the community had been bitterly divided (including physical violence) over the choice of a new rabbi. Kook in his stay restored peace in the community. He expanded the town's Jewish library and improved social welfare services. In 1895 he became rabbi of Bauska and in 1904 immigrated to Eretz Israel, becoming rabbi of Jaffa and the new Zionist settlements. In 1914 he went to a rabbinical conference in Europe and was unable to return. During the War he lived first in Switzerland and then was rabbi of London's Mahzikei Hadas synagogue. While in London, Kook played an important role in the negotiations leading to the Balfour Declaration. In 1919 he returned to Palestine as chief Ashkenazi rabbi for Jerusalem where he founded the Merkaz ha-Rav yeshiva, where he taught his ideas of religious nationalism. With the establishment by the British of a chief rabbinate for Palestine in 1921, Kook became the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi. He saw in this institution a key element in Jewish self-government, hoping it would eventually lead to the reconstitution of a Sanhedrin. He was bitterly opposed by the ultra-Orthodox. Kook was a leader of the religious Zionist movement and an outstanding thinker whose philosophy had a strong mystical element.
Brunava
(Place)Brunava
A settlement in the Bauska district, Zemgale (formerly Kurland) region, Latvia.
Between 1920-1940 Latvia was independent, and between 1940-1991 part of the USSR.
A small Jewish community was organized in the 1860s on land belonging to the Latvian estate owner.
On the eve of World War I the community was given a small structure, which was used as a beth midrash (seminary).
Between the two world wars there were 14 Jews in Brunava out of a population of 85. In the 1930s, in the framework of agricultural reform, the lands of the estate owner were nationalized and the local authorities began to harass the Jews. The building housing the beth midrash was confiscated and was used as the local school, and a number of Jews were evicted from their homes. Legal action taken by members of the community against the district government, was of no avail.
The Holocaust Period
Following the Ribbentrop-Molotov accord signed by Germany and the USSR in August 1939, Latvia was annexed by the USSR. In the summer of 1940, when a Soviet government was installed.
On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked Russia and shortly thereafter German forces conquered the area. Jews who were in the place at the time were murdered by the Germans in the summer of 1941.
Iecava
(Place)Iecava
Also: Eckau
A settlement in the district of Bauska, Zemgale region (formerly Kurland), southern Latvia.
In the year 1935 46 Jews lived there, comprising 0.6% of the population. They had a house of prayers in a private home. Some of the children went to the local school, others were sent to Jewish schools in nearby towns.
The members of the community were known for their attachment to Zionism. They donated money to Eretz Israel and participated in the elections to the 18th Zionist congress of 1933. Most of them voted for the Zionist socialist party.
The Holocaust Period
Following the Ribbentrop-Molotov accord signed in August 1939 by Germany and the USSR, the Red Army occupied Latvia and in the summer of 1940 a Soviet regime was installed in the country.
A few days after the outbreak of war between Germany and the USSR (on June 22, 1941) the German army occupied the town. Some Jews succeeded in escaping to the east. The young men among them were conscripted into the Red Army.
Those members of the community who remained in the town and who were fit, were sent to forced labor. During July of 1941 they were taken to Bosca. A few days later, together with the Jews of this town, they were sent to the outskirts of Likbarten where they were murdered. Only one Jew managed to escape.
Skaitskalne
(Place)Skaitskalne
A settlement in the Bauska district, Zemgale region (formerly Kurland), Latvia.
We have no information concerning early Jewish settlement in the place, but in the 1840s there were Jews living an organized life. A rabbi first officiated in 1842.
The Shimberg community was considered to be one of three holy communities in Latvia. Most of the Jews came to Skaitskalne from adjacent Lithuania. They brought with them their traditional way of life and continued their religious observance as hassidim and mitnagdim. On market days, which were held 9 times a year, and during the annual fair in August, the rabbis of the area met to discuss the problems of their congregations.
During the time that Rabbi Naftali Hertz Klatzkin officiated (1857-94) a beth midrash (seminary) was built and in 1870 a Jewish cemetery was opened. Rabbi Klatzkin used to visit the neighboring settlements during the winter months to explain points of religious law to the Jews. In 1897 the community numbered 429, comprising 72% of the population, and until World War I the Jews remained in the majority.
In 1915, during the course of the war, the authorities banished the Jews to the interior of Russia. Only about half of them returned after the war, and most of them found their houses destroyed, or occupied by Jews who had come to Skaitskalne from Lithuania during the war. With the help of the Joint, a relief agency of American Jewry, a loans and savings fund was founded to rehabilitate the refugees. In 1920 there were 202 Jews in Skaitskalne.
The first rabbi of the community after the war, Rabbi Efraim Reznik, was appointed in 1928. During the time of Latvian independence Yiddish was the teaching medium. The Jews of Skaitskalne earned a living from commerce and trades, and most of the shops were in Jewish hands. On fair days the Jews had a decisive role, with the task of tax collection being leased to some of them.
At the end of the 19th century the community expressed its attachment to Zionism by means of contributions to the funds for Eretz Yisrael. In 1921 a branch of Hechalutz was opened and some of the youth were members of the Hatse`irei Zion party. Several Jews of Skaitskalne went on aliyah to Eretz Yisrael. In 1935, out of a total population of 760, there were 135 Jews.
The Holocaust Period
Following the signing of the accord by Ribbentrop and Molotov on behalf of Germany and the USSR respectively, on August 23, 1939, the Red Army entered Latvia which was annexed to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1940.
Within 10 days of the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941, Skaitskalne was occupied by the Germans. Soon thereafter the Jews were murdered. After the war a communal grave, which contained their bones, was discovered in a forest near the settlement.
Latvia
(Place)Latvia
Latvijas Republika - Republic of Latvia
A country in the Baltic region of northern Europe, member of the European Union (EU). Until 1991 part of the Soviet Union.
21st Century
Estimated Jewish population in 2018: 4,700 out of 2,000,000 (0.2%). Main Jewish organization:
Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia
Phone: 371 672 85 601
Email: jewishlv@gmail.com
secretary@lvjewish.lv