Location & Maps of Troškūnai

• Current Maps:
• Google Map
• •
• Open Street Map
• •
• Yandex Map
• •
• Mapcarta Map

Geopolitical Status:

Geographical Regions of Lithuania  •  Locality Page for Troškūnai

See also Administrative Divisions of Lithuania (Wikipedia)

(back to top)

Brief Overview

In 1897 there were 779 Jews in Trashkun, 78% of the general population. In the summer of 1915 during World War I (1914-1918), most Jews were exiled into central Russia. Their houses were destroyed and their possessions were looted. After the war most of them returned to Trashkun and rebuilt their houses.

There were two synagogues in Trashkun, one for Misnagdim and one for Hasidim. A special personality was Reb Shneur (or Shneyer) Reznikovitz, born in 1881, a learned and pious man known in the surrounding villages as "the holy one" (hakadosh) and venerated by Jews and Gentiles alike.
VIDEO A remembrance of Reb Shneyer

During the period of Lithuania's independence (between the two world wars) the community had a school and a library. Most of the young people were in one of the zionist groups Hashomer Hatzair^[NOTE]Hashomer Hatzair (Hebrew for “The Young Guard”) was a socialist zionist youth movement that established kibbutzim and prepared young Jewish people for a new life in Palestine. or Hechalutz.^[NOTE]Hechalutz (Hebrew for “The Pioneer”) was a youth movement that trained young Jewish people for agricultural settlement in Palestine. The Jews of Trashkun made a living in trade, artisanship and gardening. A wine distillery was in Jewish hands. Thursday was the weekly market day. The Jewish bank had 96 members in 1929; its director for many years was Rabbi Yakov Moshe Shmukler. Prior to World War II there were about 120 Jewish families in Trashkun.

— Jewish Communities Database of The Museum of the Jewish People
and Lithuanian Jewish Communities by Nancy and Stuart Schoenburg
(New York & London: Garland, 1991), p. 313.

For a more extensive historical and cultural overview, see "Troškūnai (Trashkun)" from Josef Rosin's book Protecting Our Litvak Heritage. (Note one error: The monument shown in the article is not from Trashkun.)

(back to top)

We are grateful to everyone who has sent us information, memoirs, photos, comments and corrections. Special thanks to Misha Glezer,
Jonathan Levine, Sonia Kovnovich Mandel, the Krakinowski family, Bina Glezer, and Jolita Kievišienė.  — Sonia & Johanna Kovitz