Some browsers put up several dialog screens indicating "Xactive" - just click OK, and proceed. When this new memorial (the first memorial constructed in united Germany) was being assembled, the Memorial Foundation was searching for material to place in the Family Fates Room in the Information Centre beneath the memorial. The foundation researcher Dr. Ulrich Baumann found the material on this Shtetlinks web site and decided that this was just the kind of material they wanted to use in the Family Fates Room in order to be able to show the kind of people who were victims of the Shoah (Holocaust). Dr. Bauman chose much material from this web site and in addition, Joel Alpert, Max Krelitz-Sherman and Esther Sherman-Bejar and Jack Cossid supplied more material that was incorporated into the permanent exhibit. The Family Fates Room features only 15 families from all over Europe and the Krelitz Family is the only family from Lithuania.
The Memorial Web Site The Information Centre Web Page Family Fates Web Page Fifteen Krelitz cousins attend the Inaugural and Dedication Ceremony in Berlin on May 10, 2005, the sixtieth anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany. Below are images of the Memorial and of the cousins who attended.
Afterward, eight of the Krelitz cousins traveled to Lithuania and went to Yurburg. Images below are from that trip.
During their time in Yurburg, the group had discussions with members of the Yurburg town council including the Vice-Mayor concerning proposed renovation of the nearly intact Jewish Cemetery (there are no Jews living in the town today). Initial funds have been raised and discussions are continuing prior to start the project. Once it is underway, we will be seeking additional funds. Please contact Gary Schumann for further information if you would like to help out in any way.
Below are film clips of a silent film that Ben Craine took while on a trip to his home town from his new home in Detroit. He had immigrated to the US in 1903 and returned in 1927 and took these historic films. Dr. Ulrich Baumann discovered these films archived at the National Center for Jewish Film located at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. They had been archived by the photographer's son also named Ben Craine in about 2000. These films helped Dr. Baumann convince his superiors at the Memorial to include the Krelitz family in the Information Centre. Not all film clips shown here were displayed at the Memorial.If the film clips below do not appear below, then upload Quick Time for your computer by clicking here. Some browsers put up several dialog screens indicating "Xactive" - just click OK, and proceed.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FILM CLIP of the poorer residential area and towns people, and then the Feinberg lumber yard in Yurburg taken in 1927 by Ben Craine. You will need to wait for a few moments for the film clip to download automatically before it appears and then plays. Then to return to this page, click on the "back one page."
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FILM CLIP of Yurburg taken in 1927 by Ben Craine of the rabbi of Yurburg, Rabbi Avraham Diamant (son of Rabbi Asher Diamant), taken outside the Great Wood Synagogue built in about 1790. Motl Komel, with a white beard, appears to the left of the rabbi. You will need to wait for a few moments for the film clip to download automatically before it appears and then plays. Then to return to this page, click on the "back one page."
The Krelitz display is in the Family Fates Room (which is not that big and there are only 15 families displayed, so you will have no trouble finding the display) which is in the Information Centre below the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The entrance to the Information Center is in the southeast corner of the Memorial. The Memorial is one block south of the Brandenberg Gate ( Brandenberg Tor). Look on the web site above for the hours that the information center is open. The Memorial itself is open all the time because it is not closed in at all.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FILM CLIP of Kovno Street in Yurburg taken in 1927 by Ben Craine. You will need to wait for a few moments for the film clip to download automatically before it appears and then plays. Then to return to this page, click on the "back one page."
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FILM CLIP of Kovno Street in Yurburg taken in 1927 by Ben Craine. Then a white building, the Beis Midrash appears, then the famous Old Wooden Synagogue (built in about 1790) is shown, then finally the market square, which borders the synagogue and the Beis Midrash. You will need to wait for a few moments for the film clip to download automatically before it appears and then plays. Then to return to this page, click on the "back one page."
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FILM CLIP of Krelitz bakery taken in 1927 by Ben Craine. Young girl is Esther Krelitz (immigrated to Mexico in 1937), elderly man at door is her father, Meir Krelitz and young man is Lieb Kreilitz, Leah's brother. You will need to wait for a few moments for the film clip to download automatically before it appears and then plays. Then to return to this page, click on the "back one page."
The film clip appears here courtesy of the National Center for Jewish Film located at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. The whole 30 minute film is archived at the Center and it can be made available for research purposes.
Meir Nomberg is a friend of Zalman Kaplan (see below picture). Zalman showed Meir the new translation of the Yurburg Memorial Book (Yizkor Buch) published by Joel Alpert: Meir recognized the picture of Ben Craine (father of Ben Craine pictured here) as his uncle. He later viewed the 1927 film that the elder Ben Craine took in Yurburg and recognized his father and himself as a 4 year old boy with the photographer and Meir's grandparents.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FILM CLIP of Meir Nomberg taken in Yurburg taken in 1927 by Ben Craine. You will need to wait for a few moments for the film clip to download automatically before it appears and then plays. Then to return to this page, click on the "back one page."
First elderly couple that appear are David and Frume Craine,the parents of Ben Craine, then appear Lieb and Elka (Krelitz) Zarnitsky. The man wearing the bowtie is Ben Craine. The young man is Alter Nomberg son-in-law of David and Frume Craine. Young boy is Alter's son, Meir Nomberg, granddson of David and Frume Craine, and nephew of Ben Craine. In 2005 Meir Nomberg, living in Vilna, Lithuania, identified himself and his father in this film.
The film clip appears here courtesy of the National Center for Jewish Film located at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. The whole 30 minute film is archived at the Center and it can be made available for research purposes.
Zalman Kaplan, Survivor of Yurburg Zalman found our group of Yurburg descendants in May 2001 We invited him to go to lunch with us and afterward as he left us, he stood and addressed us and said with a tear in his eye, that "when he passed to the next stage and he meets all his friends and family from Yurburg, he'll be able to tell them that he met a group of their descendants searching for their history in Yurburg." Gary Schumann with the Mayor of Smalininken, Lithuania Gary's paternal grandparents came from the town just a few kilometers down river from Yurburg Living quarters of the Jewish Partisans in the Rudnicki Forest south of Vilna Return to the Yurburg Shtetlinks Page
Copyright 2006 by Joel AlpertLast update on Sept. 1, 2006 Created on May 1, 2006
