SALOMON Origin of surname
The surname Salomon is derived from the Hebrew biblical male personal name Shlomo, which means meaning "man of peace". Solomon, the son of King David and Bath Sheba, was the third king of Israel and Judah. Many Jewish family names have developed from Shlomo/Solomon/Salomon and its variants. Solomon is documented in the 7th century in France; Salman in 1090 in Germany; Salemanus in 1200, also in Germany; Salmon (1290), Saulmon (1306), Salmannus (1334) and Salamon (1388) in France; Scholem in 1495 in Germany; Sollomon in 1668 in America; Salom in 1713 in the Antilles; Salmonaba in 1715 in Italy; Schlam in 1717 in Germany; Salme, Schlomen, Schlumen, Scholum and Schaulom in 1784 in Alsace; Salimen in 1798 in America; Salem in the 18th century in the Netherlands; Salmang in 1831 in Germany; and Salomson in 1855 in America. In the mid 20th century, Solomon families in France changed their names to Aumond and Laumont, and the Polish variant Solomonowicz (meaning "Solomon's son") was Frenchified to Alamont.
Arabic forms of Solomon include Sellam, Saloma, Calama and Suleyman. Variants like Salaman, Salmen, Zalman, Zalkind, Zalkin, Zalheim, Zaling, Zalinger, Salinger and Zeling became frequent in Central and Eastern European countries.
Distinguished bearers of the Jewish family name Salomon include the Polish-born American patriot, merchant and financier Hayim Salomon (1740-1785); the printer of the first Hebrew newspaper in Eretz Israel, Yoel Moses Salomon (1838-1912), one of the founders of Petah Tikva; and the 19th century German physician and surgeon Max Salomon.
Haym Salomon
(Personality)Haym Salomon (174-1785) U.S. patriot and merchant. Born in Leszno, he emigrated to America about 1785 after wandering in Europe. His linguistic talents - he was proficient in seven languages - and his financial expertise helped him make his way in the New World. During the War of Independence he worked for the Americans and had to flee from New York to Philadelphia, where he established himself as a commission merchant and bill broker. He assisted the American government financially and loaned money to delegates to the Continential Congress, including James Madison. In 1784 he extended his business to New York. Salomon invested his money in Continental stocks and bonds and died penniless.
Lovisa Augusti
(Personality)Lovisa Sofia Augusti (born Ester Salomoni) (1751-1790), soprano and actress and member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music, born in Germany. She moved in Sweden in 1766 with her father and brother Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Salomoni, forming a "comedy band" that entertained audiences with their talents. Lovisa sang Italian arias, her brother played the violin, and their father displayed his skills on various instruments. They were granted permission to perform by Johan Pyhlson, Mayor of Vårberg (now a Stockholm suburb), who was rumored to be of Jewish origin.
Then the family moved on to Goteborg, where Augusti participated as a singer in concerts by local musicians. In Goteborg she converted to Christianity and was baptized with the name Lovisa Sofia. Her brother also converted, though the exact date is uncertain. She then moved to Kristianstad in southern Sweden, where in 1772 she married Friedrich Benedict Augusti, a violinist and director of music of German origins.
Augusti made her debut as a singer at Bollhuset in Stockholm on November 25, 1773, where she sang the Prologue to Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera Orpheus and Eurydice. She received rave reviews and was honored with a tribute in verse in the daily newspaper Dagligt Allehanda. Along with her husband, she received a contract in 1776, appointing her as a singer at the Royal Court and the Swedish Theatre. Her salary was the same as her husband's, and she was to receive a pension after her performing days were over. She also had special privileges, such as the use of the court's coaches and the ability to dictate her performance conditions.
Augusti's career as a singer flourished, and she performed in various opera roles after her debut in 1773. Some of her most famous roles included Apollo and Eurydice in Orpheus and Eurydice, Anna Eriksdotter Bielke in Gustaf Wasa by Johann Gottlieb Naumann, and Märta Banér in Gustaf Adolf och Ebba Brahe by Georg Joseph Vogler. She also performed in other works with music by Jean-Baptiste Moureau and André Grétry. Lovisa Augusti was appointed as a member of the Royal Academy of Music in 1788.
Despite her successful career, Lovisa Augusti's marriage with Friedrich Benedict Augusti was reportedly unhappy and they separated. Her husband left Sweden, but she stayed in Stockholm and continued her concert performances making her final solo appearance at a charity concert in support of the Serafimer Hospital a few months before her death.
Kalvarija
(Place)Kalvarija
In Yiddish: Kalvarye; in Polish: Kalwaria
A small town in the Mariampole district, south-western Lithuania.
Kalavarija is situated on the banks of the Sesupe river which flows through it; the town is near the Polish border and prior to World War I belonged to the Polish district of Suwalki. In independent Lithuania, between the two world wars Kalvarija was annexed to the Mariampole district.
Kalvarija developed from a village named Traba where Jews were living since the beginning of the 18th century. In 1713 they received the permission to build a synagogue. In 1766 1,055 Jews lived in the town. In 1808 a new synagogue was consecrated.
At the end of the 19th century more than 7,000 Jews lived in Kalvarija, 70% of the general population. The community had five synagogues. The great synagogue was a large fortress-like building, copied from one of this type in Vienna; its walls were covered with paintings of animals.
Before World War I the young studied in local yeshivot and in the municipal Russian school; some continued in the high schools of Mariampole and Suwalki. During the period of Lithuania's independence after the war there existed a Hebrew school, a religious school of the Yavne network and a Yiddish school. The position of Rabbi of Kalvarija was occupied by Torah sages, among them Rabbi Isik Shapira, called the “Sharp One" who wrote Emek Yehoshea. There were many enlightened people in the community.
About 200 Jews of the community were injured in battles of World War I (1914-1918). During the war the Jews were forced to retreat into the interior of Russia; not all of them returned to Kalvarija after the end of the war. In independent Lithuania after World War I the Jews constituted only 27% of the general population.
The first Jews in Kalvarija, while it still was a village, were weavers and craftsmen; they received working licences without belonging to the Christian guilds. During the 19th century trade and craftsmanship passed into Jewish hands; the factories employed Jewish workers also and there were Jewish clerks in the town council, the courts and in the legal offices. Jewish traders exported local and Russian agricultural produce into Europe. Dozens of Jewish families made a living from the two market days, some Jews were bee keepers in a big way. The Jews were among the first to grow tobacco in Lithuania. The tobacco plantation of the Epstein family and the tobacco factory of the Salomon family employed a great number of workers. The local flour mill, one of the largest in Lithuania, belonged to Jews.
Army camps, prison and hospital also furnished work for Jewish suppliers.
During the period of Lithuania's independence many sources of Jewish livelihood became closed to them, such as in agriculture, trade and industry which were given over to government institutions. Lithuanian artisans cooperatives took over the work of Jewish craftsmen; many Jews were forced to emigrate overseas or move to other towns in Lithuania.
Prior to World War II there were about 1,000 Jews in Kalvarija.
The Holocaust Period
After the outbreak of World War II (September 1, 1939) and the conquest of Poland by the Germans, Lithuania came under Soviet rule and at the end of summer 1940 was annexed by the Soviet Union.
Jewish refugees from conquered Poland were absorbed in the Kalavarija community.
The Germans entered Kalvarija on the first day of their attack on Soviet Russia (June 22, 1941). As the town was near the border, it was included in the 25 km belt where the Germans decreed instant annihilation of the Jews. On July 1 the Lithuanian police who served the Germans sent out special orders; the Jews were commanded to wear a yellow patch, forbidden to use the sidewalks and forced to go out daily on forced labour.
On July 9, the first group of Jews were murdered, 90 in number; they were killed in pits prepared beforehand, near a lake, 2 km from the town. These were Jews who were arrested as communists and intelligentsia and they were tortured before being executed.
On August 30 all the Jews were collected ostensibly to be transferred to the ghetto in Mariampole; they were taken to barracks near the town where all the Jews of the neighbouring settlements were gathered, about 8,600 people. On September 1, 1941 they were all shot to death on the banks of the Sesupe river and thrown into prepared pits. Eye witnesses tell that the river ran red with the blood of the victims, and that the local Lithuanians watched the killings and prevented any Jew from escaping. Jews who did manage to escape were later caught by Lithuanians and shot in the main square of the town.
After the extermination of the Kalvarija Jews, the local Lithuanians celebrated their liberation from the Jews. The head of the local clergy ordered the Jewish shops near the church to be destroyed and in their place a wall around the church was built.