The Borkum and Gross FamiliesThe Borkum and Gross families. Photo taken during a 1933 visit to Aniksht by Morris and Ida Borkum. Morris Borkum (c.1887-1961) emigrated to Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1905 and was a founding member of The United Brothers of Onikchty Society, a Chelsea, Massachusetts landsmanshaft.)Top row, standing, left to right: Shayna (Borkum) Gross and Yaacov-Yosef Gross (both killed by the Nazis in 1941).Middle row, seated, left to right: Morris Borkum, Fruma Borkum, Eliyahu-Shimon Borkum and Ida (Mrs. Morris) Borkum (c. 1888-1953).Bottom row, left to right: Shulamit Gross (killed by the Nazis in 1941) and Eliezer Gross.(Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)Galleries
Eliyahu-Shimon Borkum, 1933, AnikshtEliyahu-Shimon Borkum, 1933, Aniksht. The 1897 All Russia Census records him as Eliash-Shimel Borkum, approximate age 44, living in Anyksciai, born in Pasvalys in 1853. The 1925 Anyksciai Property Owners Directory lists him as Elija Borkum, owner of no. 1 Saltupio gatve. In 1933, he would have been approximately 80 years old. (Picture courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
Young Jewish AnikshtersYoung Jewish Anikshters on the Sventa (Sventoji) River, 1933.(Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
Jewish TeensJewish teens in haystacks, Aniksht, 1928. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson
Close-up of Jewish TeensClose-up of Jewish teens in haystacks, 1928. Miriam Gross, age 14, is in front center. Her son, Dr. Michael Libenson, believes she may possibly have descended from Karaites, who had a significant population in Lithuania in the Middle Ages. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
Kala (Katz) ZheleznikKala (Katz) Zheleznik, c. 1847 - 1941. She presumably died in Aniksht in the Shoah. (Photo courtesy of her granddaughter, the late Bernice (Eisenberg) Cushing of Swampscott, Massachusetts.)
Picking Potatoes Picking potatoes, 1940. Shown here are Jewish and gentile residents of Aniksht brought together by the Soviet government to collectivize food production, in this instance the harvesting and distribution of potatoes. The Soviets tried to create a classless society bereft of religion; ergo this picture.Within a year, most of the Jews, including the ones in this picture, would be killed directly or handed over to the Nazis by a number of their Lithuanians neighbors, also shown here.However, Lithuanian teenager, Verudka (Veronica) Kalinkiene, saved a number of her Jewish neighbors, including teenager Motke Kuritsky (Max Curtis). Both are somewhere in this picture. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
Return to AnikshtMiriam (Gross) Libenson and son Michael during a visit to Aniksht, August 1938. Miriam left Aniksht for aliyah to Eretz Israel in 1933, joining her maternal grandparents and other relatives who were already there. In 1936, she married Paul Libenson in Tel Aviv. He was born in Petrograd, Russia. Their first son Michael was born in Tel Aviv the following year. In 1938, Miriam took Michael back to Aniksht with her for a month-long visit to meet his grandparents and other relatives. In this photo, mother and son are seen outside the home of Miriam’s parents, Yaacov-Yosef and Shayna (Borkum) Gross.In 1949, the Libenson family emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts where Paul Libenson died in 1986. Miriam, an accomplished Yiddish poet and celebrated teacher, spent the last two years of her life in Israel, where she died in 2004. Her second son, Rabbi Eli Libenson, resides there with his family. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson.)
Kaitana Summer CampKaitana summer camp, Aniksht, 1930, showing Jewish children and teens with camp staff. The only person identified is Miriam Gross, middle row, far left. (The man standing in back row, far left, is holding a cigarette. Tsk, tsk, tsk.) (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
The ShulhoifThe shulhoif on Saltupio gatve (street), undated. Built as a cheder and beit midrash - Jewish house of learning - it was demolished in November 2011 to make way for a social services center. Originally a red brick building, it was plastered over during the Soviet era, hence its white appearance, and during recent decades was used as a bakery and storehouse. (Photo provided by Dr. Michael Libenson)
Wilkomir Gymnasium StudentsStudents from Aniksht attending the Wilkomir Gymnasium. The Yiddish caption reads, "The sixth Division of the Hebrew Seminary in Wilkomir. On the occasion of the travel (departure ?) of their teacher, Mr. M. Matosovich, July 7, 1929." Miriam Gross is to Mr. Matosovich's right. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
Miriam Sheinsohn, Panevezys, 1922Shown here is the Sheinsohn family posed with friends from Aniksht. It was taken in Panevezys on October 30 1922 (of the Gregorian calendar). The little girl near bottom row center (arrowed) is Miriam Sheinsohn. Her Sheinsohn cousins were from Aniksht, as were most of the people in this picture.The sign in Hebrew reads: The day the Sheinsohn family makes aliyah to Eretz [Israel], 8 Cheshvan 5683, Ponivez. Miriam Sheinsohn was born in Vitebsk in 1918 but grew up in Lithuania where her parents owned a textile factory. After finishing high school in 1936, she emigrated by herself to the British Mandate of Palestine. Most of her family was killed in the Holocaust. In the Yishuv, she changed her name to Ben-Porat (a Hebrew translation of Sheinsohn). She was one of the first women to study law at the Hebrew University. In 1945, she was admitted to the bar. Among her many accomplishments was as a law professor at Hebrew University, the first woman appointed to the Jerusalem District Court, followed by the Israel Supreme Court, and the first woman to be elected by the Knesset to the position of State Comptroller. For many years she was a close friend of Miriam (Gross) Libenson. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson.)To learn more about Miriam Ben-Porat, click here.
The Gross Family Store, Aniksht, 1920It is 1920 and the Gross family is photographed in front of its store at 19 Saltupio Gatve. Miriam Gross, 6 years old (the future Mrs. Paul Libenson), is standing at far right in front of her father, Yacov Gross. Other relatives in the picture are not identified. The store faced the street and the living quarters were in the rear. The sign, in Lithuanian, reads NEW WINDOWS – SMALL GOODS – T. GROIS (GROSS). The house number is directly beneath the sign. Many years later, Miriam told her son Michael that at the beginning of the First World War she and her family were forced out of Aniksht and transported by train into Russia where they experienced pogroms. Miriam remembered hiding under the bed as a 4-year-old during one of these pogroms. After the war, she and her family returned to Aniksht. Many of the abandoned homes were damaged or destroyed during the war. For those returning at war’s end, a large demand for building materiel may have been the reason why the Gross family in 1920 sold new windows, in addition to small goods. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
Holocaust MemorialIn 1971, a large contingent of Jews from Israel, originally from Aniksht, gathered at a new monument installed at the killing field near Aniksht to honor those who perished there. For most in attendance, this would be their only opportunity to pay tribute and say Kadish over the mass grave that held their relatives, friends and former neighbors, including Rabbi Kalman Yitzhak Kadishevitz, the Tzaddik of Lotova. (Picture courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson).
The Feinblum family, Aniksht, 1930Top row, standing, left to right: Frayda Feinblum, Nina Feinblum (nee Chaimovitz, born in Krekenava, wife of Moshe “Morris” Feinblum), Moshe “Morris” Feinblum, Esther Feinblum.Middle row, left to right: Roche Tila Feinblum (nee Perk, wife of Shmuel Feinblum), Treitel Feinblum, Shmuel Feinblum.Bottom row, left to right: Shayna Tsirka Feinblum and Meyer Feinblum.Afterwards. Moshe “Morris” and Nina Feinblum emigrated to Quebec, Canada later in 1930 and died in Montreal in 1990 and 1980, respectively. Shmuel Feinblum died in Aniksht of heart disease in 1931. Roche Tila Feinblum and daughters Frayda and Esther Feinblum were killed in the Shoah in 1941. Traitel Feinblum died as a soldier in the Red Army during WWII. Meyer Feinblum was also a soldier in the Red Army but survived the war and died in Israel. The fate of Shayna Tsirka Feinblum is unknown. (Photo and family information courtesy of cousins Judith Mandelberg [South Africa], Esther Chartove [USA] and Anita Fischer [Canada]. Anita is the daughter of Morris and Nina Feinblum.). .
Puntukas Stone OutingIn this picture, it is August 1938 and on this day a group of Anikshters visit the Puntukas Stone during a day-long outing to commemorate the return visit of Miriam (Gross) Libenson. Five years earlier, she left Aniksht to make aliyah to Eretz Israel. In the interim, she married Paul Libenson in Tel Aviv and had their first son, Michael. Poignantly, this would be her only return visit to Aniksht and the last time she would see her parents, other family members and so many of her friends. In three short years, most of the people in this picture would meet their fate at the hands of the Nazis or their accomplices, although a few did unknowingly save themselves by emigrating to Eretz Israel, the U.S.A., Canada, South Africa and Rhodesia before the Shoah. The young woman standing in the white dress with a camera strap around her neck is Miriam (Gross) Libenson (c.1914-2004). The same camera now (in 2012) hangs in the closet of her son, Dr. Michael Libenson. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
Return to AnikshtMiriam (Gross) Libenson and son Michael during a visit to Aniksht, August 1938. Miriam left Aniksht for aliyah to Eretz Israel in 1933. After marrying Paul Libenson in Tel Aviv and giving birth to their first son, Michael, she returned to Aniksht with Michael to visit her parents and show them their new grandchild.In this picture, Miriam has placed son Michael on the seat of the family wagon in front of her parents’ house on Saltupio gatve (street). The man standing behind the wagon may be Miriam’s brother, Eliezar, who emigrated to Eretz Israel a year or two later.Miriam’s young sister, Shulamit, badly wanted to follow her older sister to Eretz Israel, but their parents forbade it because Palestine was considered a dangerous place for a Jew to live. So Shulamit obeyed and remained with them in Aniksht. Only three years later, Shulamit and her parents were murdered in the Shoah. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
The Borkum and Gross Families
The Borkum and Gross families. Photo taken during a 1933 visit to Aniksht by Morris and
Ida Borkum. Morris Borkum (c.1887-1961) emigrated to Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1905
and was a founding member of The United Brothers of Onikchty Society, a Chelsea,
Massachusetts landsmanshaft.)
Top row, standing, left to right: Shayna (Borkum) Gross and Yaacov-Yosef Gross (both
killed by the Nazis in 1941).
Middle row, seated, left to right: Morris Borkum, Fruma Borkum, Eliyahu-Shimon Borkum
and Ida (Mrs. Morris) Borkum (c. 1888-1953).
Bottom row, left to right: Shulamit Gross (killed by the Nazis in 1941) and Eliezer Gross.
(Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael Libenson)
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