The Vanished World Of Lithuanian Jews

The Lithuanian Jews, Litvaks, played an important and unique role not only within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, but in a wider context of Jewish life and culture in Eastern Europe, too. The changing world around them at the end of the nineteenth century and during the first decades of the twentieth had a profound impact not only on the Jewish communities, but also on a parallel world of the "others," that is, those who lived with them side by side. Exploring and demonstrating this development from various angles is one of the themes and objectives of this book. Another is the analysis of the Shoah, which ended the centuries of Jewish culture in Lithuania: a world of its own had vanished within months. This book, therefore, "recalls" that vanished world. In doing so, it sheds new light on what has been lost. The papers presented in this collection were delivered at the international conferences in Nida (1997) and Telsiai (2001), Lithuania. Participants came from Israel, the USA, Great Britain, Poland, Russia, Belarus, Germany, and Lithuania.

Lithuanian Jewish Communities is a remarkable resource for students of Lithuanian Jewish history and for people descended from Lithuanian Jews. This volume lists, in alphabetical order, the major Jewish communities that existed in Lithuania before World War II. The name of each community is accompanied by information about it: when it was founded, the Jewish population in different years, shops and synagogues, and the names of citizens. An appendix locates each town on a map of Lithuania. Since most of the Jewish communities in Lithuania were destroyed in the Holocaust, this volume will be a valuable tool in recreating a picture of Lithuanian Jewry. Other appendices provide member lists from Lithuanian Jewish organizations throughout the world and list agencies that will provide help in further research on Lithuanian Jewry. Descendants of Lithuanian Jews who wish to trace their genealogy will be greatly helped by Lithuanian Jewish Communities.

Discusses some aspects of antisemitism in Lithuania, especially in socioeconomic terms, in the Middle Ages and under the Russian tsars. The 20th-century interwar period saw the introduction of anti-Jewish laws that negatively impacted on Jewish political involvement, economic activity, and physical security, and the situation worsened with a right-wing coup, at which time Nazi influence grew among the German minority. The peak of antisemitism is treated in pt. 4 (pp. 187-247), "World War II, the Holocaust, and the Jewish Survivors". Although Soviet rule in 1940-41 ended many restrictions, it harmed Jews culturally and economically; many were arrested or exiled. The Nazi occupation which followed led to the destruction of Lithuanian Jewry. Even before the arrival of the German army, ca. 10,000 Jews were murdered by Lithuanians. German troops brought the Final Solution, in which Lithuanian collaboration was massive. Discusses ghettos, forced labor, and concentration camps, as well as Jewish partisan resistance. 96% of Lithuanian Jews were killed. Popular antisemitism was revived in postwar Lithuania. The issues of Lithuanian-Nazi collaboration and the Lithuanian association of Jews with communists to justify the massacre of Jews during World War II remained problems in the postwar and even post-communist periods.

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- Acknowledgements -- Lithuanian Historical Background -- Origins of Anti-Semitism -- Jewish Life in Lithuania between World Wars -- The Holocaust in Lithuania -- Issues of Compliance and Collaboration -- The Human Dimension -- Why Did it Happen? -- From Black and White to Shades of Grey -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index of Names -- About the Author.

Discovery to Diaspora is a fascinating family journey which breathes life into the times of Jews in Lithuania and Latvia. The Jewish roots in the Baltic Sea region are rife with dualities. In one sense, the region is a beautiful coastal area with large sandy beaches and busy ports. Yet, these same attractions have fraught the region with war and conflict. It is here where the Graudan Family was established. It was also the site in which German Nazis and Latvian collaborators mass murdered thousands of Jews during WWII, including some of the Graudans, (the local population numbered about 7,000 before the war and yet less than 30 Jews remained after the war). Others in the family, through marriage, and the foresight of early emigration survived. Through their individual stories we see their descendents enriching the world with their skills, love, and compassion for life. With the help of genealogy reports, published works, public records, memoirs, journals, diaries, notes, interviews, and personal stories, Keith W Kaye develops a holistic blueprint of Jewish life and times of the Graudan family from the eighteenth to mid twentieth century. Steeped in rich ancestry and history, the personal stories allow the reader to travel to the Baltic and experience past life there in a firsthand way. A vivid picture of Jewish life in Lithuania and in Latvia evolves as the history, politics, and people of the region are explored. Jews of Lithuania and Latvia: The Graudans is also an important contribution to current scholarship of Baltic region Jewry. Along the way, Keith shares his own techniques for discovering the historical and familial facts, his unexpected and enlightening encounters, and his exciting exploration into the depths of his family history.

Taken between 1934 and 1939, as Vishniac walked across Poland, the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Hungary, Latvia, and Lithuania, these photographs preserve the stark images of Jewish life before the Nazi regime

Europe is expanding - and therewith remembers its historical basis, which was hidden beneath the shadow of the Cold War for a long time. This return of a common history which is mostly narrated as a history of success today, however contains the perception of transnational traditions at the same time which by contrast should give reason for a critical self-reflection. This volume gives an impulse through a comparative examination of the still highly actual forms of antisemitism in Europe. The focus will be on the developments in the countries from the Baltic States to South Eastern Europe, which usually are little known in Western Europe. At the same time, the specifities of antisemitism in Eastern Europe are incorporated in the theoretical insights of antisemitism research, thus filling a gap that has existed until now.

For 900 years the Polish shtetl was a home to generations of Jewish families. In 1944 almost every Jew was murdered and with them died a way of life that had survived for centuries. Yaffa Eliach has written a landmark history of the shtetl.