Seta – Jonava – Vandziogala – Kedainiai

I travelled with my friend, Laima Ardaviciene, the English teacher at Kedainiai High School, to Seta, Jonava, Vandizogala and back to Kedainiai

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Jonava

Municipality:
- Jonava District Municipality
Area:
- 13.67 km²

Jewish buildings, including the former synagogue. Information posters on the buildings.

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Former synagogue Former synagogue

The Jewish Cemetery

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The amphitheatre and holiday entertainment

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Vandžiogala

Population:
- 946 (2001)

The Holocaust site on the outskirts of the town.

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With Rimantas & Laima

A walk around Kedainiai

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June 20, 2016June 21, 2016

Limmud Oz in Melbourne

Protecting our heritage: a call for action

Eli’s entertaining and informative presentation takes us on a pictorial journey of his research activities and his numerous visits to Poland and the Baltics. This leads to a discussion of the demographic changes in the Australian Jewish community. Eli calls for a re-evaluation in the way Australians connect to our shtetls and educate about Jewish family and cultural history. Eli proposes some ideas on how to do this. It’s about the legacy we can leave!

Presenters

Eli Rabinowitz

Eli is involved in many Jewish community activities. He films, photographs, researches and lectures internationally on Jewish heritage and cultural history. He brought the memories of Muizenberg exhibition to Australia, manages 60 websites for JewishGen.org and arranges Litvak heritage tours.

June 19, 2016June 20, 2016

Pakruojis & Siaulenai

Screen Shot 2016-06-18 at 11.23.53 AM

I visited Pakruojis to see the wooden synagogue in the city.

As you can see from the images, it is currently being restored. We previously saw that the wooden synagogue in Ziezmariai is also under restoration.

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Other views of the town

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Screen Shot 2016-06-18 at 11.24.38 AM

My visit to my wife’s family town of Shavlan or Siaulenai was not so successful.

Her maternal grandfather’s family name was Saevitzon, in Israel, Shavei Zion.

I searched for the Jewish cemetery, asked at the Christian cemetery and was told by locals that there was a Jewish cemetery on the other side of town. I couldn’t find it and I ran out of time.

I later emailed Sandra Petrukonyte of Maceva, who kindly replied:

Dear Eli,

It is so pity that you could not find. I tried to search for exact location. The map is attached (for your future journey!).
It is seems that the way to the cemetery is not marked by any sign, the path is not paved and the cemetery itself is in a small distant forest. Not surprising that you got lost.

MACEVA does not have own photos, therefore I am adding links to another websites with general view of the cemetery:

http://kvr.kpd.lt/#/static-heritage-detail/0fb28967-e816-4101-9930-978e9dc5588a . Photos were taken almost 2 years ago. According to their data, about 40 tombstones remained. Judging from my experiecne, usually amount of tombstones is bigger than Lithuanian Culture Department claims…
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/Siaulenai/Cemetery%20pictures.html Several pretty old photos. Probably you have seen this.

Siaulenai_jewish_cemetery

So, I will a revisit next time.

Here are some images of the town:

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IMG_8518a

I’m still on the long flight home to Perth. Great to have access to the Internet!

June 19, 2016October 15, 2019

Seduva

My second visit to Seduva.

The first was in May 2015 when the cemetery and two Holocaust memorials were dedicated and opened

Click on the image to see the post:

Seduva Jewish Ceremonies

The new Lost Shtetl memorial in the town square

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The cemetery revisited

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My Airbnb host, Ieva and her family – by far the most hospitable on my trip

Written and uploaded on Emirates flight EK420 from Dubai to Perth

June 18, 2016October 15, 2019

Vabalninkas

My friend, Owen Ogince, was born in Johannesburg, but lived in Theunissen in the Orange Free State in South Africa. He went to boarding school in a larger city, such as Bloemfontein, typical of the many first generation of South African born Jews who lived in the country areas. Their parents often spoke only Yiddish and Afrikaans, creating an interesting sub culture which in many ways reflected their previous lives in the shtetls of Lithuania. They were often referred to as boerejode. For more information on boerejode, see the end of this post.

I took the opportunity to visit the shtetl of Vabalninkis in Lithuania, where Owen’s family came from.

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The Jewish Cemetery and the memorial to the Resistance.

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The Former Synagogue

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The Boerejode of the Boland

June 18, 2016October 15, 2019

Linkuva – Joniskelis – Pasvalys

Before I get onto this post, to those technologically challenged, here is another one to get your head around:

this post has been written and uploaded aboard an Emirates flight from Warsaw to Dubai en route to my home city of Perth.
I am not daunted by the tyranny of distance and having to spend almost a day in the air getting home. So this is another meaning of “staying connected”

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Now onto the post!
Linkuva

On my way to Vabalninkas from Joniskis, I stopped off in Linkuva, Joniskelis and Pasvalys

Linkuva town

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A Holocaust memorial a few km out of town

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Joniskelis

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Pasvalys

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The Jewish Cemetery

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Poswohl and Johannesburg

Digging Up Old Jewish Johannesburg

June 16, 2016October 15, 2019

Joniskis

Update:

The Ten Commandments have just been added – thanks to Cliff Marks for providing the update and 2 photos.

My original photo

The complex of the two synagogues

I was let into the buildings by a caretaker and revisited an hour later when I was fortunate to meet Linas Vinickas from the local museum. Linas gave me a tour of Jewish Joniskis.

The Raudonoji Synagogue

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A short video of Linas Vinickas

The Baltoji Synagogue

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Students’ tour of the synagogues

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The third synagogue building

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The Mural which includes the actor Laurence Harvey

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Joniškis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joniškis

City

Flag

Coat of arms

Coordinates:

56°14′0″N 23°36′0″ECoordinates:

Joniškis district municipality

Eldership

Joniškis eldership

Capital of

Joniškis district municipality
Joniškis eldership

First mentioned

1526

Granted city rights

1616

Government

• Mayor

Gediminas Čepulis

Population (2011)

• Total

9,900

Time zone

EET (UTC+2)

• Summer (DST)

EEST (UTC+3)

Website

http://www.joniskis.lt/

Joniškis church

Joniškis ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a city in northern Lithuania with a population of about 11,150. It is located 40 kilometers north of Šiauliai and 14 kilometers south of the Lithuania–Latvia border. Joniškis is the municipal and administrative center of Joniškis district municipality.

With the Church of the Accession of the Holy Virgin Mary (founded in 1901) and a complex of two Jewish synagogues – Red (built in 1897) and White (built in 1823) at its centre, the town has the status of an urban architectural heritage site.^{[citation needed]}

Joniškis has a Culture Centre, a local venue for music and theatre events.

A railway line connecting Riga and Šiauliai runs along the western boundary of the city. West of the railway, the city’s allotment gardens and the Lutheran and Victims of World War II cemeteries are located. Joniškis hosts the Jonas Avyžius Public Library of Joniškis District Municipality

Name

Joniškis is the Lithuanian name of the city. Versions of the name in other languages include Polish: Janiszki, Russian: Янишки Yanishki, Belarusian: Яні́шкі Yanishki, Yiddish: יאנישאק Yanishok, German: Jonischken, Latvian: Jonišķi

History

Joniškis was established in the beginning of the 16th century. It was mentioned in written sources on 23 February 1536 when Bishops of Vilnius and Samogitia visited the area and found that people still practiced the old pagan faith. People were worshiping the God of Thunder (Perkūnas), fire, snakes and other pagan deities. The bishop of Vilnius, John of the Lithuanian Dukes baptized the locals and established the new parish on 23 February 1536. A wooden church was built and the town of Joniškis was built around it. Bishop of Vilnius named the town Joniškis after his own name Jonas. Joniškis was on the crossroad of important trade roads.^[1]

In late 1941, 148 Jewish men were shot near Joniškis in the nearby forest. The remaining Jews (men, women and children) were murdered in the forest in September 1941. 493 people were murdered in total by an Einsatzgruppen of Joniškis policemen and Lituanian nationalists supervised by the Germans.^[2]

Notable people

June 15, 2016June 27, 2018

Zagare

I had visited Zagare a couple years ago, but it was late at night, the main street was being dug up, so I didn’t see much.

This time, I was given an excellent tour thanks to Cliff Marks of Seattle introducing me to Sarah Mitrike.

Sarah was out of town but made sure I got to meet Alma Kancelskiene, the Geography teacher and Toma Kiminiene, the English teacher at the Zagare High School.

Alma does projects with her students documenting Jewish graves together with Valdas Balciunas. Valdas was instrumental in getting the memorial plaque installed and organizing the Jewish Heritage Days last autumn. Valdas was also out of town.

The two teachers were very hospitable and showed me around town. Here are some images:

At the school with Alma and Toma

At the two cemeteries

The Holocaust Memorial

Around the town

The Town Square

My first visit to Rietavas, Lithuania.

My lucky break was meeting Egidijus and Antonius at the Rietavas municipal offices.

They kindly showed me around the town.

The former synagogue and memorial to Mendel Kaplan by the Jakovas Bunka Fund

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A memorial Antonius arranged when he was mayor

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The Jewish cemetery

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Click here

Other images of Rietavas

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Rietavas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rietavas

City

Coat of arms

Rietavas

Location of Rietavas

Coordinates:

55°43′0″N 21°56′0″ECoordinates:

Rietavas municipality

Eldership

Rietavas city eldership

Capital of

Rietavas municipality
Rietavas city eldership
Rietavas rural eldership

First mentioned

1253

Granted city rights

1792

Population (2010)

• Total

3,824

Time zone

EET (UTC+2)

• Summer (DST)

EEST (UTC+3)

Website

http://www.rietavas.lt

Rietavas ( pronunciation (help·info), Samogitian: Rėitavs) is a city in Lithuania on the Jūra River. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 3,979. It is the capital of Rietavas municipality.

The city is famous for building the first power station to produce electricity in Lithuania in 1892. The first telephone line in Lithuania was also built here.

History

Church of Rietavas

Rietavas was first mentioned in written sources around 1253. During the Middle Ages it belonged to Ceklis land. Rietavas’ eldership was mentioned in 1527. Since 1533 Rietavas was known as a city however the city rights were not granted until 1792. In the 14th and 15th centuries Rietavas was one of the most important defence centres in Samogitia and also a crossing of commercial roads.

In the 19th century Rietavas was an important educational centre whereas in 1812–1909 it belonged to Ogiński family who loved culture and education. In 1835 there was established a hospital and four year later school of parish. In 1859 the school of agriculture was established in Rietavas which was closed in 1863. Lithuanian was the official language of this school (there were any other such schools where Lithuanian would be an official language at that time). In 1873 current Catholic Church reflecting features of Romanesque Revival architecture was built.

Rietavas also became an important centre of progressive technologios of that time. In 1882 the first telephone line in Lithuania was built. It connected Rietavas and Plungė cities. In 1892 started to produce electricity the first power station in Lithuania. On 17 April 1892 in Easter the first street lights were turned on in Rietavas manor, park and church.

In 1915 Rietavas was the centre of the county and later on centre of the eldership. During the Inter-war period there were established a public library in 1928, a cinema in 1931. After the World War II Rietavas became the centre of district municipality however in 1963 it was merged with Plungė district municipality. Nevertheless Rietavas retrieved its municipality in 2000.^[1]

The coat of arms of Rietavas was approved by the decree of the President in 1996.^[2]

Notable people

Laurynas Ivinskis – Lithuanian teacher, publisher, translator and lexicographer.
Diana Žiliūtė – Lithuanian racing cyclist, olympic medalist.
Susman Brothers – businessmen in Rhodesia

The Cafe Riteve in Cape Town

Šėta

Lithuania

Quick facts

Jonava

Quick facts

Vandžiogala

Quick facts

Kėdainiai

Quick facts

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Joniškis

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History

Notable people

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Names

Etymology

History

Geography

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Literature

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Rietavas

History

Notable people

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