Kvedarna is near
the western boundary of Lithuania, on the coastal plain about 35 miles
from the Baltic port of Klapeida (previously known as Memel), and
close also to the port of Liepaja (Libau), which is further to the north
in what was previously known as Courland.
An attractive village surrounded by forests,
it is situated a mile away from the River Jura, and with two lovely
hills between it and the river.
Click here for Locality maps
There is a
plan of the village
,as it was in 1910, in the Lithuanian Archive in Kaunas.
This shows a village made up of about 250 lots of various sizes.
The two main streets met at a T-junction. The left arm of
the top of the T was the road leading to Rietavas, and the right arm
led to Laukuva. The vertical stroke of the T was the market
street, with the Catholic church and the town square about half way
down. In another square off Laukava Street, just off the T-junction,
were the synagogue, the Rabbi's house and the communal bath house.
Some distance behind these, on the outskirts of the village, was the
Jewish cemetery.
The 1910 map is however not necessarily
a reliable indication of what the town was like in later years.
Shortly before World War I there was fighting in the area between
the Russians and the Germans, and part of the town was again destroyed.
After the war there were again more fires. The town was
burnt down again during World War II and has since been rebuilt.
The Jewish cemetery, on the outskirts of the
town, is still there today, and a number of headstones are still
standing. However many of these bear inscriptions which are
partly in English, and were obviously erected by relatives of the
deceased who had already emigrated.
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