Independent Lithuania (1918-1940)
On February 16, 1918, the Lithuanian State was proclaimed and established. Consequently the German army withdrew from the area, and life in Pilvishok gradually returned to normal.
Following the law of autonomy for minorities, issued by the new Lithuanian government, the minister for Jewish affairs Dr. Menachem (Max) Soloveitshik ordered elections for community committees (Va'ad Kehilah) to be held in the summer of 1919. In Pilvishok these took place in 1920 and a committee of 11 members was elected: 5 from "Tseirei-Zion", 2 from 'Tseirei Yisrael", 2 from "Agudath Yisrael" and 2 undefined.
The committee collected taxes as required by law and was in charge of all aspects of community life until the end of 1925 when the autonomy was annulled. Of all the employed in 1924 there were only 178 taxpayers, the remainder being miserably poor. According to its protocols for 1921, tens of children received shoes and dresses from this committee.
After the new regime had established itself, Jews began to return to their pre war businesses, but the situation had changed. The breakaway of Vilna merchants who had enjoyed close commercial relations with Pilvishok merchants, as well as government policy to bypass Jewish merchants, caused deterioration of the economic situation of the Jewish population. Thus many Pilvishok Jews emigrated abroad and the number of the Jews decreased. The remaining Jews made their living from petty commerce, crafts and agriculture, but many of them needed help from their relatives in America.
According to data provided by the 1931 government survey of business stores in the state, Pilvishok had 46 stores, 41 of them owned by Jews (89%). A breakdown of the stores by type of business is given in the table below:
|
Type of the business |
Total |
Owned by Jews |
|
Groceries |
4 |
3 |
|
Butchers and Cattle Trade |
8 |
7 |
|
Restaurants and Taverns |
7 |
7 |
|
Food Products |
5 |
5 |
|
Beverages |
1 |
1 |
|
Textile Products and Furs |
8 |
8 |
|
Leather and Shoes |
2 |
2 |
|
Medicine and Cosmetics |
2 |
0 |
|
Watches, Jewels and Optics |
2 |
2 |
|
Tools and Steel Products |
2 |
2 |
|
Heating Materials |
1 |
1 |
|
Barber shops |
4 |
3 |
According to the same survey Pilvishok had 6 workshops, 3 of them owned by Jews, these being for cement products, for combing wool and a sewing workshop.
In Pilvishok acted the biggest factory in Lithuania for processing furs which employed 200 workers. It was owned by the local Fridman family.
In 1937, 21 Jewish artisans could be found in Pilvishok: 5 butchers, 4 tailors, 2 tinsmiths, 2 watchmakers, 2 barbers, 1 glazier, 1 hatter, 1 shoemaker, 1 painter, 1 photographer and 1 stitcher.
The Volksbank played an important role in the economy of local Jews, and had 299 members in 1927.
In 1939 there were 53 telephone owners, 19 of them in Jewish homes..
In 1921 a Hebrew school of the "Tarbuth" chain was established in Pilvishok, with about 130 pupils, including "Torah" studies taught by volunteer teachers, in order to prepare the children for the "Small Yeshivoth", which existed in Lithuania. Some of the graduates of the Hebrew school continued their studies at the Hebrew high school in nearby Vilkovishk (12 km. away). The "Tarbuth" society maintained a library and a dramatic circle.
In 1928 a Hebrew Kindergarten opened in town, with 15 children.
From left: Yehuda (Julius) Markson, Yashke Goldberg, ------, Eliyahu Vizhansky * Moshe Golomb * ,------, Yeshyahu Goldberg *and son *, Yitskhak Ginzburg *,----.
*-murdered in the Holocaust
All Zionist parties had their adherents in Pilvishok, but the labor party was the most active, influencing the cultural life in town very much. At the elections for the first Lithuanian Seimas (Parliament) in 1922, 279 persons voted for the Zionist list, for "Achduth" (Religious)-141, and for the Democrats-2.
Standing from left: second-Miriam Kopilovitz, fourth-Pesia Goldenzon(died in Israel)
The results of the elections to 6 Zionist congresses (1925-1935) are presented in the table below:
|
Congress Number |
Year |
Total Shekalim |
Total Voters |
Labor Party Z"S .. ....Z'Z |
Revisionists |
General Zionists A ... .... B ... .... |
Grosmanissts |
Mizrakhi | |||
|
14 |
1925 |
46 |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- |
--- | |
|
15 |
1927 |
63 |
51 |
7 |
13 |
3 |
19 |
--- |
-- |
9 | |
|
16 |
1929 |
117 |
48 |
9 |
12 |
9 |
15 |
--- |
--- |
3 | |
|
17 |
1931 |
--- |
117 |
42 |
25 |
33 |
9 |
-- |
-- |
8 | |
|
18 |
1933 |
-- |
342 |
244 |
68 |
9 |
-- |
4 |
17 | ||
|
19 |
1935 |
400 |
379 |
277 |
-- |
8 |
43 |
5 |
46 | ||
The Zionist youth organizations included "Gordonia" with 50-60 members (the activists: Khanah Pantinsky, Miriam Revelman, Devorah), and "HaShomer HaTsair" as from 1920. A conference which established "The Jewish Scouts Organization HaShomer HaTsair of Lithuania" took place on the 16-18th of April 1922, with the participation of 12 delegates from 6 "Gedudim" (regiments), among them 2 delegates from Pilvishok, "Beitar", "HeChalutz HaTsair" and Z"S (Sirkin Society). Near the town a training Kibbutz named "HaSolel" was established. Its members worked for some time in diverting the river Sesupe as part of a plan to construct a hydroelectric power station. This station was built and supplied electricity for Pilvishok and its vicinity.
The Khalutsim and members of the youth organization who emigrated to Eretz Yisrael were among the founders of Kibbutz Givat Brenner and other Kibbutzim..
Sport activities took place at the local branch of "Maccabi", with about 70 members.
In the middle of the twenties Pilvishok Jews started to rebuild the synagogue which had been ruined during the war, but a sum of $10,000 was needed for its completion, which they were unable to collect. In 1928 a committee of 7 members was elected, headed by the "Shochet" Avraham-David Axel.
The welfare institutions which existed before the war continued their activities during this period as well. For "Maoth Chitim" (help for Pesach for the needy) 400 Litas was collected every year during the twenties. In 1922, according to the request of the "Nationalrat" (The National Council of Lithuanian Jews), several fund raising events were held in Pilvishok to help starving children in Russia.
The rabbis who served in Pilvishok during the years were:
Aharon Volkin (1865-1942), published many books on religious issues, murdered in Pinsk
Ya'akov-Meir Levin in 1887 already Rabbi in Pilvishok, died in 1906
Yekhiel-Ya'akov Veinberg (1885-?), was Rosh Yeshivah at Hildesheimer's Beth-Midrash for rabbis in Berlin, published many research works on "Halakha" in Hebrew and German periodicals, later lived in Montreux, where he was a Rosh Yeshivah, died in Lausanne
Avraham-Aba Reznik (?-1941) rabbi in Pilvishok since 1924, a devoted Zionist, member of the center of "Mizrakhi" in Lithuania, murdered in 1941
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