KURKLI - (KURKLIAI) - Vilkomir District 

There were two prayer houses in the town: an old heit midrash and a new "shul." The heit midrash was used in the winter because it had a stove for heating. They would pray in the shul during the summer. In 1885, when the heit midrash looked like it was going to fall down, the stove was transferred to the shul.

There was a cheder, but because of the small number of students there was no Hebrew elementary school. A number of children went to the Lithuanian school. They had a Yiddish library, which was located in the home of the baker, Yisrael Yaffe.

"Hachnasat Orchim" was at the home of the shochet R. Neta-Bezalel Davidovitz. The charitable loan fund was also handled from his home. He served as the gabbai and treasurer of the synagogue. Money came from Jews formerly of Kurkliai but living abroad and from Christian estate owners who had trade connections with the Jews. During Independent Lithuania and up to the Holocaust, approximately 250 Jews lived there (about 50 families), 20% of the general population.

There were two Zionist organizations. One was the Socialist Zionists and the other was the general Zionists. There also was a small training kibbutz in which pioneers worked in wood cutting and house painting.

Every Sunday goods were sold in the Jewish stores.

During the rest of the week they would peddle in neighbouring villages and return home for Shabbat. There were a few Jewish artisans in the town. The pharmacy was owned by Jews. The flour mill was owned by a Christian, but a Jew leased it. Due to their poor living conditions, many Jews emigrated to South Africa, Brazil, Cuba and the U.S.

From the rabbinate: R. Moshe- Yitzhak Braver [from 5654/1894]; R. Dimant.

*)  source: LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITIES (p. 164 and 165); by Nancy Schoenburg and Stuart Schoenburg, 1991

part 2

Article published in the local newspaper Anikstjma  on 22 June 2004 by Arunas Girajtisin:  

In the district of Umjanskij were/are to be found 40 objects related to the Jews of this district: 6 synagogues, 17 Jewish cemeteries, and 17 sites of mass graves.

Most of them were/are in the Anyksciai district: 3 synagogues in the town of Anyksciai and 1 synagogue in Kurkliai. In the Anyksciai district there were/are 6 cemeteries and 5 sites of mass graves.Before the war there lived 1800 Jews in the town of Anyksciai; about 400 families. They played a significant role in the social/cultural life of Anyksciai. The houses where they lived, were constructed of wood and of a simple and nice architecture. Some of the houses were even made of stone; and one of such stone houses- made of red stone- belonged to Sjepsjel Rapoport in the Bazjnistjes gatve, nowadays called the Baranauskas square. At the same square there was also the house of David Diamond ( Dovidas Dimond) and the building of the Bank for Jewish people. The building of the former bank of the Jewish people is nowadays to be found at Vilnius street, number 5.

The names of the following murdered Jewish families, who lived in the houses existing till today, are: Mendel Karabjelnin, L.Katzev, Tamara Grojs, and Gersjen Katzev ( Katzeb). There was to be found a hotel in Anyksciai, owned by a Jewish couple Girin and Golde Feldman. The building is still there. The Feldmans owned a bus which took the travellers to Kaunas. The point of departure of this bus was near the hotel, called Kommercija.

The synagogue in Kurkliai was built in 1935 and designed by architect Povilas Jurenas. Drafts of the structures inside and the interior don’t exist anymore. The oldest wooden synagogue in the district of Alynte Moletskoj is the synagogue of Alynte. It was built in the second half of the 19^th century. The wooden synagogue in the district of Vizjonjaj was built in the beginning of the 19^th century. This synagogue was made of pine.