Gargzdai (Gorzd), Lithuania

Names

• Other variants include Gorszdy; Gorjdy; Gorshdy; Gorshedy; Gorsdy; Gorsdi

View GARGZDAI via MapQuest (Latitude 55°43´, Longitude 21°24´)

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Gargzdai should not be confused with two Lithuanian towns with similar names:

• Gardamas (Lat. 55°24´, Long. 21°40´ - also called "Gordom" or German name "Garden")
• Gruzdziai (Lat. 56°06´, Long. 23°16´ - also called "Gruzdi," "Grusdi" or "Gruzd")

Location

Andrees Handatlas (1881)	Andrees Handatlas (1893)

Gargzdai is located about 11 miles east of the Baltic port of Klaipeda, Lithuania (formerly known as Memel, Germany). It lies on a river called "Minija" in Lithuanian, and "Minge" in German. Before World War I, Gargzdai was in Russia, Kovno Gubernia (province), Telsiai Uyezd (district), just east of the border with Germany. The area to the west of the border was part of the German province of East Prussia. Prussia had become part of the German Empire in 1871.

Following World War I, Lithuania became an independent country. In 1923, Lithuania obtained the strip of land between Gargzdai and the Baltic, and south to the Nemunas River (known in German as the Russ River and Memel River, and in Russian as the Niemen). This strip, which included the city of Memel, was sometimes known as the Memel Territory. It was also the northern part of the area sometimes called Lithuania Minor.

The city of Memel was renamed Klaipeda at the time it became part of Lithuania. Germany seized the Memel Territory in 1939, and Klaipeda again became Memel. The Soviet Union annexed the remaining part of Lithuania in 1940, so the border between the Soviet Union and Germany again ran just west of Gargzdai. As a consequence, Gargzdai was among the first towns invaded when Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.

Following World War II, Memel was again renamed Klaipeda. Both Gargzdai and Klaipeda were inside the Soviet Union, and as a result of Lithuania's independence in 1990 are now part of Lithuania.

Maps

• Regional
  • 1631 - Mercator and Hondius (Dutch; showing "Garsden")
  • 1655 - N. Sanson d'Abbeville (French; showing "Gorczdy")
  • 1659 - N. Sanson d'Abbeville (showing "Gorgzdy" or "Garsden")
  • 1720 - J. B. Homann (German; showing "Gargzdy" or "Garsden")
  • 1735 - Homann Heirs (German; showing "Garsden")
  • 1749 - Robert de Vaugondy (French; showing "Garsden")
  • 1756 - George Louis le Rouge (French; showing "Gorzdy")
  • 1786 - F. A. Schraembl (Austrian, showing "Garsden")   
  • 1787 - M. Bonne (French; showing "Gordzy")
  • 1789 - Joseph von Reilly (Austrian; showing "Garsden")
  • 1794 - John Roberts (English; showing "Garsden")
  • 1800 - John Payne (American; showing "Gorzdy")
  • 1809 - H. Kliewer (German; showing "Garsden")
  • 1823 - Stieler's Hand-Atlas (German; showing "Gorszdy" and "Garsden")
  • 1849 - Meyers Zeitungs-Atlas (German; showing "Garsden")
  • 1856 - Stieler's Hand-Atlas (showing "Grosdi")
  • 1862 - Stieler's Hand-Atlas (showing "Garsden")
  • 1865 - Society for Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (English; showing "Gorjdy")
  • 1872 - Meyer's Hand-Atlas (German; showing "Garsden")
  • 1881 - Andrees Handatlas (German; showing "Garsden")
  • 1933 - Lithuanian Army, showing "Gargzdai"
  • 1940 - Soviet, showing "ГАРГЖДАЙ" ("Gargzhdai")
  
  

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  Gargzdai ca. 1910
  Russian Military, Sheet N-34-7-Γ
  1:50,000 (printed ca. 1939)
  Map provided by Library of Congress

• Large Scale
  • Prussian/German
    • Prussian General Staff Map 1:100,000 (1860; suppl. 1875)
    • Karte des Deutschen Reiches 1:100,000 (1860 - 1880; suppl. 1910)
    • Royal Prussian Survey 1:300,000 (1899 - 1914)
    • Karte des Deutschen Reiches 1:100,000 (1913 - 1915)
    • Karte des Deutschen Reiches 1:100,000 (1921 - 1929)
  • Russian/Soviet
    • Town Diagram from Vilnius Archives (1853)
      • Bottom Portion
      • Top Portion
    • Town Diagram from Vilnius Archives 1:4800 (1862) 
    • Russian Empire 1:126,000 (1866 - 1872) 
      
    • Estate Lands Surrounding Gargzdai (1886) 
    • Russian Military 1:100,000 (1910)   
    • Russian Military 1:50,000 (1910)   
    • Soviet Military 1:100,000 (1978)
  • Lithuanian
    • Lithuanian Army Topographic 1:100,000 (1938)
  
  
• Maps on Other Websites
  • Click here for links to offsite maps which show Gargzdai or contain other information of interest.   
  
  
• Animated Comparisons of Gargzdai Maps
  • Seven maps of Gargzdai, 1872 - 1978
  • Two eighteenth century maps of the Memel area
  • Estate Lands Surrounding Gargzdai (1886) and Karte des Deutschen Reiches (1860 - 1880, suppl. 1910) 

Town Plan by George Birman

• George Birman's Plan showing streets, residences and businesses during the 1930's
  • For town plan, click here.   

Photographs of George Birman

• Klaipeda Street, ca. 1932
• Klaipeda Street in Winter
• Minija River
• Swim at Minija River
• New Highway (1937)
• Dr. Oxman (1938)
• After the Fire (1939)
• Market Square: Three Men (1940); Textile Store (1936)
• Esperanto Class
• Directors of Jewish Bank (1936)
• Rachil Lam Wedding Party (1937)
• School or Zionist Group (1938)
• Truck Crash (1938)
• Soccer Players
• Friends in Park - Summer (1939)
• Friends in Park - Winter
• Chaim Javshitz (1939)
• Jewish Cemetery After Wartime Destruction (1944)
• Original Memorial at Men's Killing Site; Interim Memorial
• Memorial to Gorzd at Holon Cemetery

Mr. Birman, who worked tirelessly to preserve the memory of Gorzd and Jewish life in Lithuania, passed away in 2009.  An article about Mr. Birman, together with many of his historic photographs of pre-war Lithuania, appeared in Doubletake Magazine, Spring, 1999, No. 16, Vol. 5, No. 2 (which has one of his photos on the cover, showing a 100 meter race in Klaipeda, 1937).  The full article and photos are no longer available online, although some of Mr. Birman's captions (without the photos) may be available at this archive site.  The magazine may still be available for purchase at sites such as this one.  Three of Mr. Birman's photographs of Gorzd are on display at the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. His papers have been donated to YIVO. YIVO News, Fall, 207, p. 26.


As a teenager living in Gorzd, Mr. Birman started photography as a hobby.  Before the War, he took photos not only in Gorzd, but in surrounding areas which he visited by bicycle.  He was in Kovno at the time of the German invasion. He was imprisoned in a labor camp, which was a satellite camp to the Kovno ghetto.  As the Russians approached, he escaped from the camp, leaving his photos behind, buried in the camp for safekeeping.  He later was able to retrieve the photos.  Following the war he worked as an engineer in New York.  He generously made his photos and many other materials available for the use of this site.

Photographs - 2001

• Page 1 - Jewish Cemetery
• Page 2 - Memorials to Women and Children
• Page 3 - Scenes of Gargzdai
  • Church and Chapel
• Page 4 - Men's Memorial

Aerial Photographs

• Aerial Photograph of Gargzdai, # 157 (January 16, 1945)
• Aerial Photograph (enlarged), # 157
• Identification of Features on Aerial Photograph #157
  • Market Area and Destroyed Synagogues  
  • Comparison with diagram of 1939 fire; Fires in Gargzdai  
  • Men's Killing Site   
  • Jewish Cemetery  
    
• Military Formations in Aerial Photographs  
• aerial photo # 158 (January 16, 1945) at wwii-photos-maps.com - shows market area, and areas north and west of town, including synagogue and men's killing site  
• aerial photo # 156 (January 16, 1945) at wwii-photos-maps.com - shows Minija river and areas to south and east  
• Note: # 156, # 157 and # 158 were part of an overlapping series of 180 aerials taken the same day.  Several of the index sheets are shown at wwii-photos-maps.com. The position of most of the photos superimposed on a map is shown at maps4u.lt.
• Animated comparisons of aerial photos with maps
• Comparison of Aerial Photograph # 157 and 1910 Russian Military Map (1:50000)  
  
• Aerial photos # 156, # 157 and # 158, and 1910 Russian Military Map 
• Aerial photos # 157 and 158, and 1886 Map of Estate Lands Surrounding Gargzdai 
• 1860-1880 KDR; 1886 Map of Estate Lands; 1910 Russian Military; 1913 KDR; and aerial photos #157 and #158

Buildings of the Jewish Community

• Buildings of the Jewish Community  

Postcards

• Gruss aus Garsden (Greetings from Garsden) (mailed 1908)
  • Market (enlarged view)
  • Palace (enlarged view)
• Marktplatz (Marketplace) (pre-1923)   
• Hindenburgstrasse (WWI era)
• Gorsdy (pre-1923)
• Notes concerning Gorsdy Postcards -
  Rönne family; Bridge over Minija River; Minijos gatve (Street)    
• Blick v. Schlossplatz (View from Palace Grounds)  (pre-1918)  
• Laugallen (1908)  
• Bahnhofswirtschaft (Rail station inn) (mailed 1913)  
• Notes concerning the railroad between Memel and Laugallen 
• Baruch Jaffe   
• Request for Camera Information (1928)

Books on JewishGen

Posted as part of the Yizkor Book Project. Use your browser's "Back" button to return here.
• Lite (M. Sudarsky et al., eds., N.Y. 1951)
  • Page 1517 - Gorzd
  • Page 1867 - The Destruction of Gorzd

• Pinkas Hakehillot Lita (D. Levin and Y. Rosin, eds., Jersualem 1996)
  • Page 187 - Gorzd

• Sefer Gorzd - Gorzd Memorial Book (Y. Alperovitz, ed., Tel Aviv 1980).
  • A JewishGen project is underway to complete the translation of this Yizkor Book and to post the translation online. If you are interested in assisting, please contact JewishGen's Yizkor Book Project Manager Joyce Field.
    
  (Note: A copy of the original book is posted online by the New York Public Library.)

• Yidishe Shtet, shtethlekh un dorfishe yishuvim in Lite: biz 1918: historish-biografishe skitses (Jewish Cities, Towns and Villages in Lithuania until 1918) (Berl Kagan, ed., N.Y. 1991)
  • Page 55 - Gorzd

Telephone Book, 1940

• Gargzdai entries in Lithuanian Phone Book (1940)
  • Identification of Streets in Phone Book

Newspaper Articles

• Hamagid - January 10, 1872 (No. 2) (list of 90 donors)
• HaMelitz - July 30 [August 11], 1893 (No. 171)    
• HaMelitz - August 24 [September 5], 1893 (No. 192)
• HaMelitz - November 7 [19], 1894 (No. 245)    
• HaMelitz - March 9 [21], 1895 (No. 57)   
• HaMelitz - March 16 [28], 1895 (No. 63)
• HaMelitz - November 12 [24], 1895 (No.247)
• HaMelitz - June 12 [24], 1897 (No. 130)
• HaMelitz - September 23 [October 5], 1898 (No. 209)
• HaMelitz - May 30 [June 12], 1903 (No.120)

Memories of Gorzd

• Wedding photograph - Bernard Bernhardt
• Photo of a home - Bloch/Block family home
• A visit in 1923 - Dr. Henry and Frances Boruchoff    
• Reasons for Emigration - Michael Suisman
• War Relief for the Jewish Population - Michael Suisman
• Family Picture - Sussmanowitz Family

Holocaust

• Gargzdai and the Holocaust    
  • List of Jewish residents of Gargzdai killed in June and September, 1941
    This list containing 78 names was compiled by the Gargzdai Town Secretary during the War.
    
  • Jews from Memel killed in Gargzdai   
  • Report of Stapo Tilsit (July 1, 1941) 
  • Report of Extraordinary State Commission to Investigate and Establish War Crimes
    This list compiled by Soviet authorities sets forth 331 victims in the Kretinga region, including 12 persons from Gargzdai

Searchable Databases on JewishGen

Search for entries about Gargzdai or Gorzd in the following databases on JewishGen. After searching, click your browser's "Back" button to return here. Under "type of search," use Daitch - Mokotoff Soundex rather than Exact Spelling. This will pick up entries listed under variant spellings such as Gargzdiai rather than Gargzdai.


• LitvakSIG All Lithuania Database (ALD)   
  The ALD contains Gargzdai records in:
  • Revision List Database   (About the Revision List Database)
  • HaMelitz   (About the HaMelitz Database)
  • HaMagid   (About the HaMagid Database)
  • Tax and Voters Lists   (About the Tax List Database)
  • Directories   (About the Directories Database)
  • Yizkor Book Necrology   (About the Yizkor Book Necrology Database)
  • Lithuania Census 1897    (About the Lithuania 1897 Census Database)

• JewishGen Lithuania Database

• JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF)   (About the JGFF)
• JewishGen Discussion Group Archives    (About the JewishGen Discussion Group)
• JewishGen Special Interest Group (SIG) Mailing Lists Archives    (About the SIG Mailing Lists
• Passenger List Databases    (About the Ellis Island Database)
  Note: Gorzd often appears in the Ellis Island records under its German name "Garsden," but there are numerous non-standard spellings (for example Gazdin, Gasden and Gorst). Town names in the Hamburg Passenger Lists include Gadsden, Garsd, Garsden, Garsdi, Garsdy, Garzd, Garzden, Garzdy, Gazdin, Gorsd, Gorsden, Gorsdy, Gorst, Gorszdy, Gorzd, Gorzdy, and Grozd.

Other Sources of Information

• LitvakSIG 
  
• Exposition and Lectures in Ulm, Germany during 2008 commemorating 50th anniversary of Einsatzgruppen Trials. See especially presentation of May 6, 2008, by Dr. Christoph Dieckmann, regarding Einsatzkommando Tilsit.
• Records from Gargzdai are available which have not yet been incorporated in the ALD. These may be obtained by joining the Telsiai Uyezd Group at LitvakSIG. Contact Jill Anderson, Telsiai Uyezd Coordinator. Joining the group provides financial support for ongoing translation of records. 
• Y. Alperovitz, Ed., Sefer Gorzd (Tel Aviv: Gorzd Society of Israel, 1980), NYPL: *PXV (Gargzdai) 88-463. This Gorzd Memorial Book is posted online by the New York Public Library. The JewishGen Yizkor site lists libraries where this book may be viewed; in addition, it may be available at public libraries by interlibrary loan. If you are interested in assisting the JewishGen project to make a translation of the entire Book available online, please contact JewishGen's Yizkor Book Project Manager Joyce Field.
• Janina Valanciute, Gargzdu miesto ir parapijos istorija, Vilnius: Diemedzio Leidykla, 1998 (ISBN 9986-23-047-0). A history of Gargzdai. In Lithuanian, with summaries in English and German. Many photographs. May be available from Gargzdai Tourist Office.
• Kestutis Demereckas and Ruta Cirtautaite, Gargzdai, Klaipeda: Libra Memelensis, 2003 (ISBN 9955-544-12-0). In Lithuanian and English. Introduction by Janina Valanciute. Includes many historic photographs not available elsewhere, as well as modern photographs.
• Ernestas Derkintis, Dainius Elertas, Zita Genienė, Liepa Griciūtė, Egidijus Miltakis, Eglė Vaitkutė, Janina Valančiūtė, dr. Hektoras Vitkus, Gargždų istorija LDK laikotarpiu, 2009 (ISBN 978-609-404-038-2).  In Lithuanian.  Many illustrations, including early documents from Gargzdai.
  
• Gargzdai Area Museum
  • Virtual Exhibition
    • Vladislovo IV Vazos privilegija Gargždu žydams (Rights for Jews of Palanga and Gargzdai, 17th century)
    • Brežiniai (Plan of Synagogue, 1923) (Click on plan to enlarge)

• Jewish History in East Prussia. Site by Dr. Ruth Leiserowitz, in German and English. Includes information about emigration from Lithuania to East Prussia. Records of Jewish Families in Memel include families with Gargzdai connections. For an article about Dr. Leiserowitz' location of Memel records, see Howard Margol, "Memel Archives Records Located," Avotaynu, Volume IX, No. 1, Spring 2003, p. 19.
• Once Memel - Klaipeda Now. Site about the history of Memel/Klaipeda. Includes City Directories for Memel for 1858, 1866, 1898, 1909, 1915, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1935 and 1942; and for Memelgebiet (Memel district), 1921.
  
• KehilaLinks sites for nearby towns
  • Klaipeda (Memel)
  • Kretinga
  • Ritavas (Ritove)
  • Sveksna
    

• Kretinga History
  • Holocaust in Kretinga
  • Extraordinary State Commission to Investigate and Establish War Crimes
• Lietuva zemelapiuose - Lithuania on the Map - Catalog of Exhibition at National Museum of Lithuaia (1999) (ISBN 9955-415-01-0); reprinted 2002 (ISBN 9955-415-24-X). Color photographs of maps of Lithuania. Descriptions in Lithuanian and English.
• Anatolij Chayesh, Box-Tax Paperwork Records as a Source of Information about the Life of Jewish Communities and their Personal Structure, posted at LitvakSig Online Journal. Several references to Gargzdai (Gorzhdy), including fire of August 25, 1895 (in Addendum 1).
• Herman Rosenthal, Courland, article from Jewish Encyclopedia (1916) posted on JewishGen. Reference to Charter of 1639 granting rights to the Jews of Polangen and Gorzhd.
• Yehudat Lita (Lithuanian Jewry: Its History in Pictures) (Jerusalem: Moss Harav Kook, 1959). Pictures of "Gruzd," p. 167. These pictures of Market St. and the cemetery appear in less clear versions in the Gorzd Memorial Book, on pages 48 [Image 453] and 78 [Image 423] (English section), and page 36 [Image 40] (Hebrew/Yiddish section). Note: these photos appear in the Siauliai section of Yehudat Lita , and may indicate conflation of the towns Gruzdziai (n. of Siauliai) and Gorzd. For further information about the old cemetery photograph, click here.

• Klaipedos Apskrities  - history of fire department in Gargzdai, including photos. Paste url into search bar, perform google search, and click on "translate this page."

Gargzdai Information on Other Websites

• Click here for links to photos of Gargzdai, and information about Gargzdai available on other websites.  

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