The Jewish Community of Plunge

Mordecai Plungian (1814-1883), Hebrew writer. Born in Plungian district of Kovno, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire). He learned for rabbinical office, but later was attracted to the Haskalah movement and became one of its most prominent adherents.

Nevertheless he dissociated himself from both extremist Haskalah ideology and also from unenlightened Orthodoxy. This angered some of the more traditional rabbis; as a result Plungian backed down and destroyed the manuscript of the second part of his biography of R. Manasseh b. Joseph of Ilya, Ben Porat (1858). More of his works are: Talpioth, on methods of explaining the Talmud (1849); two works entitled Kerem Lishlomoh, commentaries on Ecclesiastes (1851), Shevet Eloha, against the anti-Semitic blood libels (1862); Or Boker, (part of a large work on the reading of the Torah, 1868), and Song of Songs (1877). He contributed to the journals Kerem Hemed, Ha-Magid, Ha-Karmel, and Ha-Shahar and also wrote poetry. Plungian translated into Yiddish the Hayye Adam and Hochmat Adam of Abraham Danzig.

Lazarus Goldschmidt (1871-1950), scholar, bibliophile and translator of Talmud into German, born at Plungiany, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire). He studied at the yeshiva of Slobodka near Kovno, Lithuania, and then in 1888 went to Germany, where in 1890 he enrolled at the University of Berlin to study Oriental languages, including Arabic and Ethiopian language and literature. He also studied at the University of Strasbourg, France. In 1933, when the Nazis rose to power, he fled Germany and went to live in London, England.

In 1892 Goldschmidt published the Ethiopian version of the Book of Enoch with a translation into Hebrew. In 1916 he produced a Hebrew translation of the Koran and then in 1924 a dictionary of the Talmud and Midrashim. His major work, however, was the translation of the entire Talmud into German which appeared between 1897 and 1935. This edition included the original text. Between 1929 and 1936, a second edition without the original text, was published. This translation aroused some controversy amongst traditionalists. He prepared also a subject index of the Talmud which was published in 1959 after his death. He also produced Bibliotheca Aethiopica, a list and description of all the known Ethiopic prints (1893), Die Aethiopischen Handschriften der-Stadtbibliothek zu Frankfurt a. M. (1897).

Yitshak Wolf Olschwanger (1825-1896) Rabbi and Zionist.

Born in Plunge,in 1846 he was elected rabbi at Taurage. He then devoted himself to secular studies. From 1876 until his death he was rabbi in St. Petersburg. Olschwanger enthusiastically supported Hibbat Zion from its foundation, while it still had only a few members in St. Petersburg. When most rabbis opposed the movement, he criticized those who were not prepared to actively work for redemption instead of sitting back and waiting for it. He was one of the rabbis who gave permission for settlers in Erets Israel to work their lands on a sabbatical year. Olschwanger took an active interest in many aspects of Jewish life including the Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia.

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.

The Voluntary Jewish Fire Brigade, Plunge, a large Jewish community in West Lithuania, early 20th century

The Oster Visual Documentation Center, ANU – Museum of the Jewish People, Courtesy of Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
 

Klaipeda

In German: Memel.  The Jews adopted the German name Memel, former Memelburg.

A port on the Baltic sea where the Dange river flows into the Kury bay, western Lithuania.

The city was founded in the middle of the 13th century by the Teutonic knights and was part of Prussia. From its beginnings until the 15th century it was frequently attacked by its neighbors the Poles and the Lithuanians. In the first half of the 17th century the city was under Swedish rule for a short period. Twice it was occupied by the Russians in 1757 during the seven year war and in 1813 during Napoleon's retreat from Russia.

After World War I, Memel was separated from Germany and in 1919 placed under a French mandate from the League of Nations. A Lithuanian uprising in 1923 forced the French to leave. In 1924 "Status Memel" was approved according to which the city was annexed to Lithuania and recognized as the capital of an autonomous region.

Jews were residents of Memel as early as the 15th century and the city archives contain documents of "Jew-taxes". The community was dissolved in 1567 when the Jews were ordered to leave the city within five months. For almost a hundred years Jews were not allowed to enter Memel except once a week for business reasons and even then they were not allowed to sleep there. Only in 1643 Jews who had come to Memel for business on Friday especially during the short winter days, were allowed to stay in the city on the Sabbath.

After 20 years, in 1664 the Jew Moshe Jacobson de Yonge came from Amsterdam with his family at the invitation of prince Frederick Wilhelm of Brandenburg. De Yonge contributed greatly to the development of commerce and shipping and initiated the salt trade. He brought with him a cantor, a shochet (ritual slaughterer) and teacher. He established a synagogue for himself and his assistants. During a short period there was a renewal of the Jewish community in the city. But after 20 years de Yonge left Memel and once again there were no Jews there.

Each year the authorities published an edict forbidding the entrance of Jewish peddlers into the city. The announcements were posted on the walls of the town hall. Only at the yearly trade fair were Jews allowed to come with their merchandise. Documents in the city archives show that in 1798 a Jewish merchant rented 14 stalls. Jewish merchants from Lithuania and Russia brought agricultural produce and expensive furs. They bought merchandise from the west to sell it in turn in their countries. Hebrew books both religious and secular were sold at the fair, sometimes whole libraries of assimilated Jews from Germany whose interest in Hebrew literature had lapsed. These books were much in demand in Eastern Europe where Hebrew presses were scarce. The edict forbidding Jews except for a few court Jews to settle in Memel was in force during all the 18th century. When the philosopher Moses Mendelsohn, the "father of Jewish enlightenment" and a friend of many German men of letters came to Memel on business, he was not allowed to spend the night there.

The limitations on Jewish settlement in Memel were lifted in 1812 as a result of the emancipation granted to the Jews of Prussia that year. The Jewish community was renewed and according to the census of 1831 there were 600 Jews there in addition to the Jews who traveled to Memel for business reasons and stayed for a short time.

In 1823 the Jewish cemetery was consecrated. It was the first Jewish religious institution in Memel. Before that the Jews of Memel were buried in cemeteries in Lithuania. Licenses to cross the borders were difficult to obtain, witness the story of a corpse which was brought in a wagon with his pipe still in his mouth.

There were two groups in the Jewish community in Memel which established its character; the Jews who came from Germany and the polish and Lithuanian Jews. Although they kept their separate identities, it did not prevent them from living side by side cooperating fully and without tensions.

In the forties of the 19th century the first synagogue and ritual baths were built by the timber merchants from Poland and Russia who lived in Memel during the autumn. It was called the Polish shul. Later in the middle of the 19th century a study house was established by the Lithuanian Jews who also used it for prayer services. In the middle of the century the German Jews founded their own synagogue.

In 1847 the established Jewish communities of Germany and Eastern Europe gained autonomy and every Jew was obliged to belong to the congregation and pay taxes. The edict of the authorities demanding the union of the different congregations did not arouse opposition and in 1862 a united community was founded. It was organized with the help of outside experts who founded the necessary communal institutions. In 1860 rabbi Israel Salanter came to Memel. He had founded the Musar (ethics) movement in 1843 in an effort to strengthen Judaism vis-a-vis the various ideological movements that flourished in the 19th century. His purpose was to disseminate his message in the cities of Germany as a shield against assimilation. His stay in the city left its mark on the community. His home was the centre for Jewish intellectuals who came to hear his sermons. He also published 12 issues of the weekly "Hatvuna" which printed torah commentaries of the great scholars of the time. He helped the consolidation of the community institutions and in 1862 together with rabbi Yitzchak Ruelf organized the burial society which was recognized by the authorities. This event was the foundation of the organized Jewish community. Rabbi Salanter organized several groups among them "Chevrat Lomdei Gemara" and "Chevrat Shas" (study groups) and gained many adherents and followers for his movement.

In 1865 rabbi Yitzchak Ruelf of German background was appointed rabbi of the community and officiated at this post for 33 years. The rabbi who had an extensive secular education was active in many fields. He edited the newspaper "Memeler Dampfboote", published five volumes on philosophy and also published works concerning Jews like "The Defense of Jews" the "Jews of Russia" and others. He was one of the founders of the synagogue of German Jews. He took part in almost all the social and cultural activities in the city. He was called "Dr. Hilf" (help). During the years 1867-69 there was a famine in Lithuania and in 1868 a cholera epidemic. The Lithuanian Jews in Memel organized an aid committee and Dr. Ruelf was chosen as executive secretary. In 1869 the year the committee functioned the German Jews and "the alliance" organized groups to receive the many immigrants from Lithuania at the German Russian border and aid them. During the eighties Dr. Ruelf was one of the founders and leaders of the "committee for aid to Russian Jews" which collected donations from Jews of the Diaspora for Jewish victims of the pogroms in southern Russia. As a result of the pogroms, many refugees passed through Memel on their way to the west and overseas.

In 1894 rabbi Ruelf founded a free loan society and in 1897 a charitable society for the aid of the needy. With the help of donations from German Jews and the lumber merchants of Russia rabbi Ruelf organized a hospital where poor Lithuanian Jews could also receive treatment. With the passing of time the original building proved to be too small and with the aid of donations a new building surrounded by gardens was erected on a hill overlooking the beautiful countryside. The building dedicated in 1896, was built on a plot purchased by the banker Leopold Alexander who bequeathed his fortune to the hospital. His brother-in- law Leon Rostowski, a wealthy educated man donated much of his wealth to the hospital and erected a large new wing.

In 1880 an elementary school "Israelitische Religions Schule" was established where Torah studies, Hebrew and German were taught. A year later there were 86 pupils in the school. The young people studied in the government schools and attended Jewish schools in the afternoon. The tolerance prevalent in the community was the reason that even the Haskala (enlightenment) movement did not meet the harsh opposition so typical of many communities in Lithuania. The community in Memel was able to absorb new ideas without undue friction. In 1896 "Chevrat Kiryat Sefer" was established and its purpose was to acquaint German Jews with Jewish history and literature.

In 1886 after an edict to deport Russian citizens from Memel, the number of Jews in Memel decreased. Rabbi Ruelf saw to it that each deported family received some compensation according to the size of the family. Only 100 Jewish families remained in the city. They earned their livelihood from the trade with Russia which was concentrated in their hands. They were under strict supervision of the authorities.

The threat of deportation was real during World War I but not implemented against most of the Jews because of the help of local groups who were ready to testify to the loyalty of the Jews.

After World War I Jews from different places came to Memel because of the ease with which the French authorities granted Jews citizenship and the commercial opportunities in the port city. After the annexation of Memel to Lithuania in 1924 the Lithuanians who were interested in reducing the percentage of Germans in the area encouraged the movement of Jews to the city and in the period between the two world wars the number of Jews tripled. A Talmud Torah was added to the Jewish school network in 1927. In 1936 the first Jewish elementary school was founded.

As a result of the edict of 1812 granting emancipation to the Jews of Prussia, many Jews from Poland and Lithuania came to the city. They were the leading merchants in the trade of lumber, grains and linens. The lumber trade was almost completely in the hands of Jews. With the development of the city, the economy became more varied and Jews became clerks and doctors.

With the annexation of the district to Lithuania after World War I, the Jewish community grew and its economic and social structure changed. Like many Lithuanian Jews, the Jews of Memel invested their money in real estate in the city and countryside. There were Jewish estate owners and farmers.

In the middle of the twenties of the 20th century, a Jewish community bank was founded. There were also private Jewish banks. The local authorities encouraged the development of industry. The Jews opened factories and employed Jewish workers who came from the small towns of Lithuania among them graduates of the O.R.T. Schools. They took the place of the textile experts from Czechoslovakia. The workers and artisans were 40% of the Jewish breadwinners.

At the beginning of the 30s, 25% of the shops in the city and 20% of the factories were owned by Jews. On the eve of World War II 330 factories were owned by Jews, flour mills, wood processing plants, textiles, tobacco, chocolate and others. 70% of the German workers were employed there.

Until 1880, 80% of the Jews in Memel were of east European origin and had strong ties with their brethren in Lithuania and with the Zionist movement. Prominent Jews in the community were nationalist and had great influence. Dr. Ruelf was the first western rabbi who was against the "dissenting rabbis" an expression coined by Herzl to describe the German rabbis who prevented the convening of the first Zionist congress in Munich. He also influenced Dr. Wolfsohn who in his youth had spent some time in Memel and was to succeed Herzl as the head of the Zionist movement.

The annexation of Memel to Lithuania increased the influence of Zionism. The changes in the structure of the Jewish population strenghtenend nationalism and resulted in a Zionist majority in the Jewish community council. The rabbi of Memel in the period between the two world wars, rabbi Eleazer Yehuda Rabinowitz was famed for his researches. He was a member of the mizrahi movement in Lithuania. Many of his articles were published in the Zionist periodical "Die Yiddische Shtimme" which appeared in kovno and encouraged immigration to Eretz Israel.

Among the Jewish workers were many pioneers who wanted to prepare themselves for the new life in Eretz Israel. Those who could not emigrate remained in Memel. Which was a port city and industrial centre and so had favorable conditions for "Hachshara" groups. In 1919, during the period of French rule, an emissary from Kovno arrived who with the help of local groups organized a branch of "Hechalutz" the largest in Lithuania. The pioneers lived as a community (one of which was scheduled to join the Gdud Ha-Avoda in Eretz Israel) and worked in different places even in non-Jewish firms, in agriculture, fishing and industry. Many did their agricultural training on German farms and competed successfully with the German and Lithuanian workers. They also worked in the port and even on shipbuilding. A "Beth Hechalutz" (pioneers' home) of three stories was built with the aid of donations; it became a meeting place and cultural centre for the thousands of pioneers who passed through Memel and for the Zionists in the area. There was also a small hospital and rest home for the pioneers. Many pioneers succeeded in leaving Soviet Russia illegally due to the good relations between the Jewish merchants of Memel and the captains of the freighters most of whom were German. The pioneers were brought to Germany and from there they emigrated to Eretz Israel.

Most of the Zionist parties were active in Memel also Zionist pioneer youth movements. "HaShomer Hazair", Betar, Hanoar Hazioni and others. There were 400 members in the sport groups, Bar-Kochba and Maccabi. The nationalist spirit penetrated social societies like "Yiddishe Kultur Bund" (Jewish cultural society) or the Jewish history and literature club. The editor of the "Memeler Dampfboote" Arye Sheinhaus organized a Hebrew-speaking circle and through their initiative a Hebrew kindergarten was organized. There was also a women's Zionist organization.

In 1938 there were 6,000 Jews in Memel 12,5% of the total population.


The Holocaust Period

When the Nazis attained power in Germany in 1933, anti-Semitic propaganda increased and there were demands to return Memel to Germany. In 1937 the veto of the Lithuanian government prevented the adoption of a law passed by the local parliament forbidding Jewish artisans to work in Memel. The Nazis continued their agitation, smashed windows of synagogues. In 1937 they attacked Jewish summer campers. In 1938 they demanded the adoption of the Nuremberg laws. In the summer of 1938 there was a serious decline in the situation of the Memel Jews. The local authorities acted according to orders from Berlin. Terror was applied, particularly against Jewish doctors. Many Jews in Memel left their businesses. After the Munich pact in 1938, the Jews began to leave the city. During that year about 50% left. At the end of 1938 the Nazis held 26 out of 29 seats in the local parliament and in practice they ruled the city.

After the ultimatum Germany gave Lithuania in March 1939 the German army occupied Memel. The last Jews in Memel went to kovno and other places in Lithuania. The ORT network opened vocational courses for adults and the ort school in Kovno absorbed the young refugee students. When the war between Germany and the Soviet Union broke out in June 1941 all of Lithuania was occupied by the Germans. The fate of the Memel refugees was like that of their Jewish brethren in their new homes.

In January 1945 Memel was liberated by the Soviet army and annexed to the Lithuanian republic of the Soviet Union.

In 1967 there were 1,000 Jews in Memel but there was no Jewish organization there.

Lithuania

Lietuva / Lietuvos Respublika - Republic of Lithuania

21st Century

Estimated Jewish population in 2018: 2,500 out of 2,800,000 (0.08%). Main Jewish organization:

The Jewish Community of Lithuania
Phone: +370 52 613 003
Fax: +370 52 127 195
Email: info@lzb.tl
Website: http://www.lzb.lt/en/

HISTORY

The Jews of Lithuania

Even before the unification of Poland and Lithuania (in 1569) the condition of the Jews of Lithuania, who had settled in the first half of the 14th century, was more or less identical to that of their brethren in Poland, moving pendulum-like from receiving charters of rights from the local princes to expulsions and local anti-Semitic outbursts – a result of Christian religious incitement and jealousy at their financial success (although most Jews were poor, living hand to mouth).
The prolific cooperation between the Jewish communities, their near-universal literacy rates and their financial skills gave them a relative edge over the locals and led many nobles to invite them to manage their estates. Thus it was that alongside the traditional “Jewish” occupations such as being a tailor, butcher, a religious scribe and others, a new “Jewish” occupation developed: leasing the lands and managing the estates of the nobles.
Upon the establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795) and the rise in the power of the noble class in Lithuania, the position of the Jews leasing the nobles' land improved, expanding their business to saloons and taverns as well, especially in the countryside. In those years, the body that negotiated with the authorities on behalf of the Jews was the Council of Four Lands (Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Lithuania and Russia-Volhynia) which gathered hundreds of Jewish communities under its jurisdiction and mediated between them and the powers that be.
The Jews lived with themselves, amongst themselves. They spoke their own unique language – Yiddish – established educational institutions and internal tribunals and managed the community's affairs in all aspects of life, down to the last detail. Proof of the solidarity between Jews can be found in the response of the Jews of Lithuania to the Khmelnitsky pogroms (1648) which devastated their brethren in Poland. Immediately following the massacres the “Lithuania State Council” collected large amounts of money from its member communities to ransom Jews held captive by the Tartars, and announced a period of mourning throughout the country. As a symbol of solidarity, the Jews of Lithuania were forbidden to wear opulent clothing or jewelry for three years.

The annexation of Lithuania to Russia marked the beginning of the attempts to integrate the Jews into the Czarist Empire. The Russians couldn't abide the state of affairs in which the Jews were secluded amongst themselves from the rest of the Russian subjects, and imposed obligatory general education upon them (“Laws Concerning the Jews”, 1804) as well as conscription to the Czar's army (“The Cantonists' Edict”, 1825). The Jews also suffered economic hardship, upon the decline in the power of the nobles and the commensurate reduction in income from leasing.
The ideas of the Enlightenment that seeped into the Jewish sphere, which until then ended at the edge of the shtetl, caused a cultural earthquake. Young boys read foreign literature in secret, girls began to study at the traditional “cheder” and the traditional beard was replaced by clean-shaven faces and fashionable pince-nez spectacles. These changes led to a crisis in the institution of the family. Sons left the home in search of an education and the divorce rate grew. A common witticism of the time among the Jews of Poland and Lithuania held that if you visit a house with two grown daughters living in it, you don't ask if one of them has divorced, but when the second one did. Furthermore, in the second half of the 19th century a mass migration of Jews took place from the small towns of the countryside into the large cities of Vilnius, Kaunas and Siauliai. Jewish society became a “traveling society” and old occupations such as cobbling and carpentry were pushed aside in favor of free professions such as banking and clerking.
The Jews of Lithuania also have a special connection to the Land of Israel which dates to 1809, when a large number of the disciples of The Gaon of Vilna, (aka the Gr”a), made aliyah and settled in Safed and in Jerusalem. These immigrants founded the “Bikur Cholim” hospital in Jerusalem and also took part in the establishment of the colonies of Gey Onni (now known as Rosh Pina), Petah Tikva and Motza.

1850 | Jerusalem of Lithuania

In the mid-19th century a large Jewish community began to form in the city of Vilnius. By 1850, for example, there were 40,000 Jews living in the city. Vilnius, known to Jews as Vilna, received the honorary title of “Jerusalem of Lithuania” for its status as a leading Jewish spiritual center. It was in this city that the prototypical figure of the “Litvak scholar” took shape, with its founding role model being Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Shlomo Zalman (aka The Gaon of Vilna, or the Gr”a, 1720-1797).
The Gaon of Vilna was considered a prodigy from a very early age, and it was said of him that “all the words of the Torah were laid out in his memory as though in a box”, and legend has it that he began delivering sermons at the synagogue at the age of ten. The Gaon of Vilna was perhaps most famous for the relentless campaign he waged against the Hasidic movement. He himself lived frugally, if not ascetically, in a small house. He never held an official public position and subsisted on a meager stipend from the Jewish community. Not content with encyclopedic knowledge of scripture and exegesis, the Gaon of Vilna was also well-versed in mathematics, astronomy, Hebrew grammar and more.
Many scholars believe that one of the reasons that the Haskala movement (the Jewish version of the Enlightenment) flourished among Lithuanian Jews was the fact that many of the Jewish intellectuals began their studies at various yeshivas, where their intellectual skills were honed and refined due to the ethos of the “studious one”, crafted in the image of the Gaon of Vilna.
The printing press also played a significant part in spreading the Haskala throughout the Jewish world of Lithuania. In 1796 a Hebrew printing press was founded in Vilnius, and in 1799 Rabbi Baruch Romm moved his own printing press from a small town near Grodno to Vilnius. This press was where the Babylonian Talmud was later printed. In 1892 the Strashun library was opened, and soon became one of the largest Jewish libraries in Europe.
In the second half of the 19th century Hebrew literature began to flourish in Vilnius. “Jerusalem of Lithuania” was the crucible that gave birth to some of the founding fathers of Hebrew prose and poetry, including Abraham Dob Lebensohn (aka Ada”m HaCohen), Micah Yosef (aka Miche”l), Rabbi Mordechai Aharon Ginzburg and Judah Leib Gordon (aka Yele”g) who combined the old world and the new in their works and opened windows onto knowledge and enlightenment for their readers.

1880 | Exile Yourself to a Place of Torah

The image of the Lithuanian scholar was a reflection of the general Jewish-Lithuanian profile, who was “by nature a man of the mind, of reason, modest and humble, who worships God out of an understanding that this is the way. He does not believe that the Rabbi can perform wonders outside of nature” (from “In the Paths of Jewish Lithuania” by Akiva Sela, 2007, p. 11)
The founder of the world of Lithuanian yeshivas was Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, a pupil of the Gaon of Vilna. Rabbi Chaim gathered all the small yeshivas that were scattered throughout the length and breadth of Lithuania and united them under one roof in the city of Volozhin. The Volozhin Yeshiva operated until 1892, and on a smaller scale until 1939, becoming a success story. Rabbi Chaim branded it from the start as an elitist institution, leading thousands of young men from all over Eastern Europe to compete for enrollment, thus upholding the Mishnaic injunction to “Exile yourself to a place of Torah”.
Rabbi Chaim adopted the pedagogic approach of the Gaon of Vilna, who disapproved of “pilpul” (hair-splitting) for its own sake, and instead instituted a systematic study of the Talmud. This was at odds with the method of the great yeshivas of Poland, which practiced the “hair-splitting” dialogue approach to study.
In 1850 a new religious school of thought began to appear in Lithuania, the Musar ("moralist”) school, which many scholars see as a reaction to the rationalist, cerebral atmosphere of Volozhin. The founder of this school was Rabbi Israel Salanter, who came from a town in northwestern Lithuania. According to the Musar movement, which was somewhat similar to Catholic Christian precepts, man is born a sinner and must constantly examine and correct himself through study. The space in which this correction took place was the yeshiva, which dedicated several hours a day to the reading of morals books, chief among which was “Mesilat Yesharim” by the Ramcha”l (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto).
In 1881 the Slobodka Yeshiva was founded in a suburb of Kaunas, becoming the first and most typical yeshiva of the morals school. Later on additional moralist yeshivas were founded in Lithuania, among them those in the towns of Novardok (Nowogrodek) and Kelme.

1903 | Bund-ing

Following the pogroms against the Jews of the southwestern Russian Empire in the years 1881-1882 (the “Storms in the South” massacres) tens of thousands of Jews fled Lithuania to the west, mostly to the United States, to South Africa and to Palestine, where they kick-started the First Aliyah. In those days there were many fervent adherents of Zionism among the Jews of Lithuania. Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl foresaw that the Zionist movement would spread far wider among the Jews of Eastern Europe than among their brethren to the west, many of whom had lost much connection to their identity. And indeed, when Herzl visited Lithuania in 1903, he was received like royalty by the masses.
Later on in the early 20th century, the youth movements of Hashomer Hatzair, HeHalutz, Beitar and the Mizrachi Youth played a part in fueling the growing sympathy among the Jews of Lithuania towards the Zionist endeavor. The Hebrew language also flourished during this time, due to the operation of school networks such as Tarbut, the Hebrew Realgymnasium, theaters, and Hebrew newspapers, the most popular of which was “HaCarmel”, published in Vilnius.
But Lithuania was not just a hotbed for eager Zionists, but also the home of the Zionist movement's nemesis, the Bund movement, which stood for socialist universalism and the Yiddish language. The Bund, established in an attic in Vilnius in 1897 (the same year as the First Zionist Congress) is almost forgotten from the collective Jewish memory; but in those days of the early 20th century, when socialism was winning hearts throughout Europe and among Jews in particular, the movement was highly popular. One sign of its power was its May Day demonstration in 1900, attended by no less than 50,000 people.

1914 | Expulsion and Assimilation

Shortly after WW1 broke out a libel spread in Lithuania claiming that a handful of Jews from a small village near the city of Siauliai were aiding the German enemy by signaling information regarding the Czar's army. The libel gave the Russian authorities an excuse to deport tens of thousands of Jews from their homes. The expelled spread throughout southern Russia. Form many of them, especially the young, it was their first time outside the Lithuanian part of the Pale of Settlement. Many of them, particularly young yeshiva lads, quickly took to the boisterous, dazzling life of the cosmopolitan cities of southern Russia and drifted away from their family traditions. The Jews who remained in Lithuania were forced to live under the rule of Imperial Germany, which enforced a severe military regime and forced them to hard labor, even on Sabbaths and Jewish holidays. On the other hand, the German authorities allowed the Jews to compete for jobs in the public services, the municipalities, the post and the railroad – fields hitherto closed to them. The Germans even allowed the Jews to establish schools, libraries, clubs and theaters in Yiddish. In so doing the German occupation provided much needed oxygen to Jewish culture in Lithuania, which had been hard-hit early in the war.
At the end of the war, as the eastern front fell and peace was signed between Soviet Russia and Germany, the independent state of Lithuania rose once again. Some 100,000 Jews returned in organized groups from Russia to Lithuania and joined the 60,000 who had returned earlier or managed to avoid the expulsion.

1921 | The Golden Age

The period immediately following WW1 is considered the golden age for Jews in Lithuania. Upon the establishment of free Lithuania the Jews, who fought valiantly in the Lithuanian war of independence, helping hold Vilnius against the Polish invaders, were granted autonomy and fully equal rights, as well as representation in the first Lithuanian legislative council (the “Tariba”) - even though a large number of the significant Jewish-Lithuanian communities, including that of Vilnius, remained outside the borders of independent Lithuania.
The Jewish population of Lithuania consisted of over 80 organized communities, whose leaders were freely elected. The world of the great yeshivas – Panevezys, Slobodka, Telsiai – returned to its glory days. The press and literature flourished, and Yiddish and Hebrew reigned supreme.
Like everywhere else in the Jewish world, Lithuania too boasted vibrant national activity. Youth movements and training camps of all sorts raised a generation of pioneering Jewish youth. Alongside them worked the national parties, including the socialist Bund, the national-religious Mizrachi movement, whose representatives were active in the highest levels of Zionist politics, the Revisionists and Hashomer Hatzair. Hundreds of kindergartens operated in Lithuania alongside the Tarbut Hebrew school network and the Hebrew Gymnasium organization, which operated 13 schools throughout the country.
However, the rise in anti-Semitism throughout Europe, and that of fascist movements, made its mark on Lithuania as well. In 1926 Lithuania's nationalists staged a fascist coup. The democratic parties were dissolved and most went underground. Two years later, in 1928, the last remnants of Jewish autonomy were abolished and the government handed the local cooperatives many of the trade and industry fields, such as the export of grain and flax, which had hitherto been the main sources of livelihood for many Jews. Throughout the 1930's anti-Semitic expressions and violent outbursts became more and more common.

1941 | In the Name of the Father

In August 1939, following the signing of the Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Lithuania lost its independence. The pie of Eastern Europe was cut into thin slices, and Lithuania, with all its various populations, was swallowed by the Soviet behemoth.
Although Jews were among the hard core of the Communist Party, they received no significant positions in the new administration in Lithuania. Despite this, they were identified by the local Lithuanians with the Soviet occupation, which further increased their hostility. Concurrently, the Zionist movement was outlawed, and all the Hebrew-language schools were forced to teach in Yiddish.
In 1941, as the Ribbentrop-Molotov treaty was violated by Germany and Lithuania conquered by the Nazis, the Einsatzgruppen units were tasked with the extermination of the Jews. Starting on July 3rd, 1941, these units executed a methodical plan of annihilation, which was carried out on a precise schedule. Many of the stages of extermination – locating the victims, guarding them, leading them to the killing plots and sometimes the killing itself – was done by Lithuanian auxiliaries, including military and police personnel. The mass slaughter was mostly conducted in the forests surrounding the cities and towns, on the edge of large pits dug by conscripted farmers, Soviet prisoners of war and sometimes the Jews themselves. Later on, the Jews remaining in small towns were transferred to ghettos created in nearby large cities.
A glorious chapter in the annals of the Jews of Lithuania during the Holocaust is reserved for the partisan resistance movement. The banner of rebellion was raised by partisan Abba Kovner, whose name literally means “father” and who coined the phrase “let us not go like lambs to the slaughter!” and who, along with his friends Josef Glazman and Yitzchak Wittenberg, established the Unified Partisan Organization (FPO), which operated in the woods.
The organization succeeded in obtaining ammunition, published an underground newspaper and carried out many acts of sabotage, but its main achievement was to instill a spirit of pride and self-respect among the Jews of Lithuania.
By the end of WW2 some 206,800 people – 94% of Lithuania's Jews – were annihilated.

2000 | A Homeland No Longer

After the end of WW2 Lithuania once again became a Soviet republic. Most of the Jewish community were not allowed to immigrate to Israel, and in accordance with the Communist ideology were also banned from any national or religious activity. Despite this, under international pressure, the authorities permitted the establishment of a Yiddish theater.
A census from 1959 shows that 24,672 Jews lived in Lithuania at the time, most of them in Vilnius and some in Kaunas. In the early 1970's a massive migration of Jews began from Lithuania to Israel, increasing further after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989.
In the year 2000 the Jewish community of Lithuania numbered only about 3.600 Jews, about 0.1% of the population.
In 1995 the President of the newly independent Lithuania, Algirdas Brazauskas, visited Israel and asked the Jewish people for forgiveness from the Knesset dais. The level of anti-Semitism in Lithuania in the past two decades (as of 2016) is considered one of the lowest in Europe.

Varniai

Yiddish: Vorne; Russian: Vorni

A city in Telsiai (Tels) County, western Lithuania

Until the end of World War I (1914-1918) Varniai was part of the Russian Empire. Between 1918 and 1940 it was part of independent Lithuania. Between 1940 until 1991 it was part of the Soviet Union. Since 1991 Varniai has been part of Lithuania.

Jews began to settle in Varniai beginning in the 17th century, eventually reaching a population of 1,226 in 1897 (39% of the total population). Most members of the community worked as traders, craftsmen, or in agriculture; Jews also owned the local flour mill as well as a factory that produced liquor.

The community was known for its scholars and many of its members studied at the nearby Tels Yeshiva. The city was home to a synagogue, as well as a number of smaller prayer houses. Between 1875 and 1910 Varniai also had its own yeshiva, founded by Rabbi Nahum-Lipa Hanania; Rabbi Hanania also founded the Talmud Torah and Bikkur Holim Society. The community also had a cheder, as well as a cheder mettukan that taught secular subjects and the Hebrew language in addition to Jewish subjects. The cheder mettukan was run by Yishayahu Ben-Zion Friedman, whose son, Mordechai Ish-Shalom, would later serve as the mayor of Jerusalem (1960-1965).

During World War I Varniai was occupied by German troops, who mobilized the local Jews for forced labor. However, after the First World War a number of German deserters trained the Jews in self-defense, so that they could protect themselves from the Lithuanians.

Many Jews fled Varniai during World War I. The majority of them returned, however, once the war was over and in 1921 the Jewish population of Varniai was 1,070. During the interwar period, however, rising anti-Semitism and the deteriorating economic situation prompted many Jews to emigrate, mainly to South America, Australia, and South Africa.

Between the two World Wars, during the period of Lithuanian independence community institutions in Varniai included a Hebrew school that was affiliated with the Tarbut network, a library, and a drama circle. There was also a Jewish bank that had 92 members in 1929.

The last rabbi to serve the community was Rabbi Abba Shor, who perished along with his community during the Holocaust.

Between the two World Wars anti-Semitism rose, and Jews were often targeted by Lithuanian nationalists and in the sermons of Catholic priests. On November 11, 1936, a market day, an anti-Jewish riot broke out. One Jew was killed and thirty-three were injured.

Before World War II about 700 Jews were living in Varniai.

Among the notable figures from Varniai was Boris Schatz (1866-1932), who became known as the “father of Israeli art” and who founded the Bezalel School in Jerusalem.

THE HOLOCAUST

Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union at the end of the summer of 1940. After the Germans attacked the Soviet Union, however, the Red Army retreated from the region. As they retreated, they set fire to their weapons supplies, which had been concentrated in Varniai; the fire subsequently spread to the rest of the town, including to the Jewish homes and the synagogue was destroyed in the fire. The population fled to the villages in the vicinity.

The Germans occupied Varniai on June 25, 1941. Under the German occupation, Jews began to be conscripted for forced labor, clearing the ruins from the fire. However, even before the Germans arrived gangs of nationalistic Lithuanians had been subjecting the Jews to harassment and violence; at one point Jewish members of the Komsomol, the communist youth group, were arrested and murdered.

At the beginning of July 1941 the Jews were ordered to leave Varniai and to assemble in the village of Vesivenai, near Tels. Once they arrived, they were concentrated in stables, barns, and cowsheds, together with Jews from other areas. Armed Lithuanians, operating under German orders, acted as guards.

On July 14 the Germans assembled all of the Jewish men ages sixteen and older. For two days they were forced to stand and were harassed and brutalized. After the second day, the men were shot and buried in a mass grave. Shortly thereafter, on August 30, 1941 most of the women and children from Varniai and Tels were killed. Most of the rest of the women and children were killed on December 24, 1941.