Panemune Locations

Panemunė
(Aukštoji Panemunė, Lithuania)

Panemune Locations[1]

Rabbi Jeffrey A. Marx

June 2020

In Lithuania, today, there are at least nine locations which bear the name Panemune, six locations which bear the name Panemunes, and eight locations which have “Panemun” as their root.[2] “Panemun” means “On the Nemun” (referring to the Neiman/Nemunas and Nemunelis Rivers).

Neman River.

The Neman River

(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia)

At the end of the 19th Century, there were fourteen locations in what is now Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus, which bore the name of Poniemon/Panemune and an additional four locations with “Panemun” as their “root”

1. Poniemon/Panemune/Frentzil Panemune/Panemune Frentzela/ Aukstoji Panemune: Upper Panemune

54°51’N 23°58”E. A town located on the left bank of the Niemon River, opposite Kaunas. It had a Jewish community going back to at least 1784.

2. Zemoji Panemune: Lower Panemune/Ponemon Fergissa?[3]

55°3’N 23°28”.012” E. A town located on the left (west) bank of the Nieman, 8 km. from Vilkijos (Vilkija), county of Paezereliu, Sakiai region. (If it is also identified with Ponemon Fergissa, Jewish inhabitants are found there in 1818).

3. Ponymon Pozhaists/Panemune-Pazaislis

54°53”N 24°03’E. A town 3 miles East of Aukstoji Panemune. Jewish inhabitants were found there in the early 19th Century.

4. Poneimon/Ubermemel: Upper Memel

55°05’11.8”N 21°54”34.2E. A town located on the North bank of the Niemen River opposite Sovetsk(Tilsit) Russia, in the Pagegiu District, western part of Lithuania.

5. Poneimon

53°35’32.3”N 23°58’22.8”E. A town located 3.5 miles from Verkhniye Pogorany, 9 miles S.E. of Grodno, Belarus, near or on the Neimon River. Mentioned in a 1639 document issued by Vladislaus, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.

6. Poniemun Murowany/Murovano Ponemun: Poniemon of Bricks/Panemunio

56°12’N 24°45’E. An estate near the town of Birzai, Lithuania in the District of Panevezys. It had a small Jewish population. Birzai, however, was not located near either the Neimon nor Nemunelis Rivers.

7. Panemune

55°5’N 22°59’E. A castle on the North shore of the Neimon River, opposite the town of Gelgaudiskis.

8. Poneimon

A large farmstead in the Wierczeliski district (location unknown), owned by the Niemcewicz and Sarosiek families.

9. Poneimon

A farm and manor in the Kaunas county, district of Eleonorow (location unknown), partly owned by the Jasinski family.

10. Poneimon

A village in Nowo Aleksandrow county, Podlaskie District in Poland, district of Czados, five miles from Czados (location unknown).

11. Poneimon

A large estate four miles from the district town of Podborze, Poland which was owned by the Siesicki family. (Though there are four possible locations for Podborze, none of them are by the Neiman River).

12. Poniemun Czerwony: Red Poniemun/Jackany

It was four miles from the district town of Podborze, Poland. It was the property of Baron Korfow. (Though there are four possible locations for Podborze, none of them are by the Neiman River).

13. Poniemun Maly: Little Poniemun

It was in the district of Podbirze, two miles from Podbirze. It was owned by the Szymming family. (Though there are four possible locations for Podborze, none of them are by the Neiman River).

14. Panemunelis/Panemunek

55°55N 25°29’E. A small village with a train station, 5 miles S.W. of Rokiskis, in Northeastern Lithuania, district of Nowo Aleksandrowski, on the Nemunelis River.

15. Panemuniai

A small village 1 mile East of Panemunelis, just north of the Nemunelis River.

16. Poniemuniek

A village and estate in Nowo Aleksandrowski county, district of Poniemuniek, 35 miles from Nowo Aleksandrowski.

17. Panemunis/Ponemunek/Panemunka

56°03’40”N 25°16”41”E. A small village with a train station, 34 km. N.W. of Rokiskis, 6 km from Pandelys, 15 km. from Kvetkai, 12 km south of the Latvian border, in Panevezys County, on the Nemunelis River. It had a Jewish population. (Members of the Ponman, Poneman, Pennman, Panama, Poniemon, and Poneimunski families probably come from this town.)

18. Panemuniskiai

55°2’60”N 23°28”60”E. It was located on the West Bank of the Niemon, 3/4 mile to the East of Zemoji Panemune (see above).

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[1] (Encyclopedia Lituanica, Vol. IV, "Panemunelis", "Panemunis", "Panemune"; Lietuviu Enciklopedija, "Aukstoji Panemune", "Panemune", "Panemunelis","Panemunes Valscius", "Panemunis", "Zemoji Panemune"; Lietuviskoji Enciklopedija, "Aukstoji Panemune"; Cohen, Chester G., Shtetl Finder Gazetteer, Periday Co., Los Angeles, 1980, "Poneman", "Ponemunek", p. 75; Blackbook of Localities, p. 422; Kagan, Berl, Yidishe Shtet, Shtetlech un Dorfishe Yishuvim in Lite, Simcha Graphic Associates, NY, 1991, "Panemunelis", p. 383, and "Panemune", pp. 382, 682; James Jaffe unpublished ms. of 1988 trip to Pandelys; Slownik GeograficzNY Krolestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajow Slowianskich, (Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic Countries), Sulimierski, Filip, ed., Vol. VIII, Warsaw, 1887, "Poniemun", "Poniemuniek"; Levin, Dov, Pinkas HaKehillot: Lita, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1996; Ponemon Fergissa Birth Records 1818-1825 (LVIA 1236/1/9,13,21,22,26); Ponymon-Pozhaists (Panemune Pazaislis) in 1882-1890 Kaunas Marriage Records (LVIA 1226/1/1866,1869,1888; Murovano Ponemun listings in Kaunas Birth Records; Galina Baranova, Chief Archivist at the Vilnius Historical Archive, letter to Howard Margol, 1999, concerning “Ponemon”, “Panemunelis”, “Panemunis”.

[2] Specifically: Panemuniai, Panemunelio, Panemunelis, Panemuniku, Panemuninkai, Panemuninkiu, Panemunio, Panemunis and Panemuniskiai. (See Fallingrain.com/world (1996-2004, Falling Rain Genomics, Inc.).

[3] 1818-1825 Ponemon Fergissa Birth Records (LVIA 1236/1/9,13,21,22,26) identify Jewish families from small villages that were 1-3 miles from current day, Zemoji Panemune: Jogichiszki, Kruki, Polobi, Tyrmiany and Uruky. However, the identification of Ponemon Fergissa with today’s Zemoji Panemune is not 100% certain, given the existence, 3/4 mile to the East of Zemoji Panemune, of the village of Panemuniskiai (see below). There is a small chance that it was this village that was originally called, Ponemon Fergissa. Ponemon Fergissa may possibly be identified with the Ponemon listed in the 1764 list of Jewish Tavern Owners in Vilkija Kahal (LVIA, pg. 56).

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