There is no precise data when the Jewish community began to settle in
Kupiškis,
known in
Yiddish
as
Kupishok. Several versions are considered at this issue. The first one
says that the Jews moved here in the ruling time of Vytautas the Great,
but it is not substantiated by any historical sources, so this version
should be rejected. According to other data, the Jews settled in about
the seventeenth century. The permission to build a Synagogue issued in
1862 by Mikalojus Pacas
approves it. The Jews themselves who were natives from Kupiškis indicate
the same century, one of them Rabbi Ephraim Oshry. Therefore, if any
individual Jews would have been in Kupiškis in the past, they formed the
Jewish community only in the seventeenth century. There are no existing
documents about the relationships and their development between the
representatives of Judaism and Christianity at that time either.
However, it is likely that standard myths were common at that time, such
as the Christian children's blood as if was used on the Passover
festival/Pesach. This is one of the most popular myths and prejudices
from the past times of
the Commonwealth of Both Nations.
From the lustration [from the Washington Post, "Lustration (from the Latin verb
lustrare, to ceremonially
purify) refers to a policy that seeks to cleanse a new regime from the
remnants of the past"] of the state elderships and economies, we can see that in 1765 the Jewish
community had formed an abundant number of the society. There were 2
Jewish Dumas in the town and 53 houses with 413 residents of this
nationality. The report mentions the rent fees for the 7 inns and the
manor. The Jews used to spend 556 Thalers a year on them. Another
lustration took place in 1775. Its material indicates the exact
boundaries of Kupiškis Eldership and the number of Dumas, but it does
not specify the confessions and the number of people in them. The last
revision of Kupiškis as a
town of
The Commonwealth of Both Nations was conducted in 1789. It noted that at that time the
town had 106 Dumas, 61 of them were Catholic and 45 of them were Jewish.
So the number of Catholic residents and Judaistic residents in Kupiškis
at the end of the eighteenth century was rather similar. This lustration
also provides data from other vicinities located around Kupiskis. It
reveals that the smaller administrative units had less Jewish people
living in them: for example, Dešrys Parish had 959 residents including
37 Jews among them, and
Paškys Parish had 716 residents with 19 Jews among them. The conclusion
can be made that the Jewish community existed steadily and surely before
the sunset of the Commonwealth of Both Nations. The Jewry had its own
property and if necessary rented more of it. Another tendency shows that
the Jews would rather come to settle in the central and more densely
inhabited towns of administrative districts that were located in the
strategically more comfortable places.
After the Partitions of the
Commonwealth of Both Nations in the Russian Empire the
Jewish regulations were adopted and according to them the settled zones
were created for the residents of this nationality (they were forbidden
to engage in agriculture and to
move to the big cities of Russia without permission), so in the
nineteenth century the number of Jews significantly increased in
Kupiškis. In 1847 the population of the Jewry was already 1450. At that
time in the western provinces of the Russian Empire they were forbidden
not only to buy estates but also to rent them. Thus the Jews were not
only constrained and pushed away from agricultural work but they were
restricted from businesses as well. However, despite the interference
and the growing competition, they continued to develop handicraft and
trade, some maintained rental business of manor houses or their
auxiliary objects (a mill, a sawmill, a brewery). The Jewish community
of Kupiškis could not avoid all these obligations and prohibitions.
During the lustration that took place in 1843 the Jews were counted not
as townspeople but as alien outsiders. According to the lustration data
of that time the town of Kupiškis had 107 yards of peasants and 120
families of alien foreigners, i.e. mostly the Jews. However, in spite of
the unfavorable laws of the Tsarist Russia towards the Jews they
maintained the main forms of their activities such as crafts and trade.
In the second half of the nineteenth century the
Tsarist government continued restrictions of the Jewish businesses and
practices. The Abolition of Serfdom in 1861 was disadvantageous for the
Jewish traders as they lost their intermediary role between the peasants
and the estate. The Industrial Revolution in Russia accelerated the
centralization of the state production activities and this deprived the
Jewish industrialists of part of their profits. Another thing that had
worsened the situation of the Jewish innkeepers was the establishment of
the state monopoly on alcohol/vodka (1885-1902). All these unfavorable
laws and decrees promoted the first wave of emigration from the Russian
Empire to the United States of America and the South African Republic.
However, the remaining Jews did not intend to go out of business, they
continued trading with the village and developed peddling or so called
doorstep selling of goods. Although because of the change of the
economic conditions they had to reduce their prices and received only
minimal profits, the traders and the craftsmen did not give up their
business. Among the expatriate emigrants there were the Jews of Kupiškis
as well, but the emigration did not reduce the Jewish part of the town,
it even allowed the Jewish community of Kupiškis to spread wider around
the world. Under favorable demographic situation, according to the
general census of the population of the Tsarist Russia in 1897 Kupiškis
totally had 3742 residents and 2661 from them were the Jewish people. It
means that 71 percent of
Kupiškis people
of that time observed the religion of Judaism.
At the beginning of the twentieth century Jews were already firmly
settled in Kupiškis and formed an important part of the townspeople.
They lived in the central streets of the small town. This is confirmed
in the memoirs of Professor Povilas Matulionis written in the end of the
nineteenth century. There he tells about the living spaces of Jews in
the central streets of the town and about the Catholics, the vast
majority of whom were peasants and their residential area was in the
streets located around the town. However, according to the memoirs of
the Professor and the reminiscences of his other contemporary allow to
make a conclusion that Jews of Kupiškis did not live rich and their
shops were described as rather poor. The fire broke out not once in the
town of Kupiškis and destroyed a large part of the property of the
Jewish community. Therefore few Jews of Kupiškis and its suburbs were
wealthy and lived rich.
At the beginning of the twentieth century further away from the market
square separated by the residential houses and stores, the three
Synagogues were located in the town. Their set consisted of the
following buildings: Kupiškis Great Prayer House, Hasidic Prayer House
and Kupiškis Jewish Synagogue.
From all the available information we can see that at these times Kupiškis
already had a fully functioning Jewish religious association with its
own Houses of Prayer, a sauna, a house of the butcher and over the
centuries established community.
In 1908 the registration of the Jewish metrics began and it recorded births,
deaths and marriages. During the first year 49 newborn babies were
registered, 25 boys and 24 girls. The Kupiškis metrics was also used by
the residents of the surrounding towns: Anykščiai, Rokiškis, Troškūnai,
Užpaliai. All these facts once again certify that at that time Kupiškis
had a strong and influential religious community. This can be confirmed
by the emigrants from Kupiškis who tell stories to their children about
the lifestyle of the Jewish people of Kupiškis. Liberation from the
Tsarist Russia gave new possibilities for the Jewish community and for
Lithuanians to develop business, culture and religion.
Public
Organisations
After the war the Jewish community was actively involved in the social and
political life of the country and created Kupiškis departments of their
religious, sports, cultural and educational organizations. During the
inter-war period the town had a Jewish school, a bank, a kindergarten,
the national and the Zionist organizations. Jonė Žebrytė in her article
"The Jews and Their Social Life in Kupiškis Region" describes in detail the 19 public organizations. Their activities were
varied. The Lithuanian Jewish Education Society (established in 1925)
should be mentioned among larger organizations. The activity of the
Kupiškis Support Committee for the Jewish refugees is noted only once.
This shows that Kupiškis Jewish community lived an active social and
cultural life and its activity was not limited to religious and Zionist
organizations only.
The subsections of the major Zionist organizations acted in Kupiškis:
Zionists socialists, Agudot Israel and General Zionists. This movement
had influence for the Jewish
emigration trends. Economic emigrants retreated to the South African
Republic or the USA. These organizations in Kupiškis had an impact on
the religious emigration to Palestine. It is not known exactly how many
people from Kupiškis emigrated to the Promised Land, but it is
calculated that 9-12 thousands during the inter-war period left
Lithuania. The Zionist organizations earned positive opinions because of
the complicating economic conditions in Lithuania, spreading of
nationalism and anti-Semitism and
the threat of the great economic crisis. However, the
predominance of positive demographic situation against emigration did
not reduce the number of the Jews in Kupiškis significantly. For
instance, in 1935 the number of the Jewish people living in this region
was 1444, in 1938 about 1200 Jews were settled in the town. As the
Regulations of the Zionist organizations describe, their divisions had
to encourage young people to develop the Jewish identity, nationhood and
culture, were aimed to educate honest and useful citizens for Lithuania
and their own nation, to restore the Jewish State, to prepare skilled
workers to be employed in Palestine. So the doctrines of Zionism had
goals to develop high moral standards and to educate virtuous, educated
and skilled people. After achieving this objective it was expected that
they would emigrate to Palestine to create the new Jewish state.
However, despite how nicely the goals were presented, divisions of these
organizations in Kupiškis had not shown great results of work. Most of
the divisions had been closed because they had not reregistered after
the legislative amendments of the Laws of Societies in 1936. From the
stories of representatives of these organizations we find out that many
of the divisions finished their activities already at the beginning of
the 4th decade. These data reveal that the Zionist organizations in the
province of Lithuania were established easily but failed to develop
prominent and significant activities. Yet we can conclude that during
the time period of the establishment of these organizations Kupiškis had
already had socially responsible
and educated Jewish generation that seeked its cultural and religious
enhancement and development, worked for Lithuania and dreamed of their
own state in Palestine. These citizens also contributed to the
activities of educational organizations.
The Lithuanian Jewish Education Society (LJES) had the biggest impact on the
educational development of the Jewish community in Kupiškis. Its goal
was to help their fellow countrymen to acquire general and vocational
education and develop their culture. The activity of LJES lasted from
1925 to 1940 until it was formally prohibited.
Its department of Kupiškis was established in 1927. The Society
opened the primary Jewish school where the Yiddish language was taught,
but experiencing the shortage of financial resources this educational
institution was nationalized and later the organization stopped its
activity in 1937. The poor financial situation allowed to employ only 3
teachers to work there. There was another Jewish elementary school with
the Hebrew language taught in it. However, its economic situation was no
better than of the first mentioned. Many Jewish children attended
Kupiškis Gymnasia school until the 4th decade. At first the school
admitted only Jewish girls, then the situation changed and Jewish boys
were in the list of pupils too. Mr. Teodoras Blinstrubas was appointed
the Principal of the school from March 1, 1938. Two hours were dedicated
for the lessons of the Jewish religious education at school.
From the memoirs of Kupiškis people and the available material it can be
suggested that there were no significant or scandalous occurrence of
anti-Semitism at school. The Lithuanian and the Jewish children played
together in the schoolyard. The Lithuanian pupils often helped the
Jewish classmates if they themselves could not do tasks in writing in
observance of the Sabbath. The atmosphere was positive in the
educational institutions. Sarah Ainbinderaitė-Levinskaja, one of the
first graduates from Kupiškis Gymnasia school describes it in her
memoirs though she also mentions occasional unpleasant facts or
situations, but they mostly were indiscreet and anti-Semitic remarks of
the teachers and not some wrong attitude of the youngsters.
Sports societies were of the equal importance as the educational
organizations were. Kupiškis had divisions of the main sports
organizations, i.e. Hapoel and Maccabi. The goals of these societies
were to take care of national, spiritual and physical upbringing of
young people, to give lectures on sports, to arrange festivals and
competitions. It should be mentioned that the Maccabi Society originally
was created as a Zionist sports organization and only later grew into an
independent sports society. Although no records about its activity in
Kupiškis could not be found, surely the biggest Societies had their
divisions throughout Lithuania. Thus, Kupiškis was not an exception. The
Kupiškis school sportsmen‘s newsletter „Vytis“ gave only a brief message
about the mentioned organizations. We assume that the activities of the
town sports societies were rather passive. The Society to Support the
Lithuanian Jewish Scouts worked more actively and like the sports
societies it was apolitical. It was defined and emphasized in its
Regulations. The main intention was to develop high-principled and
devoted citizens for Lithuania. The Kupiškis Division belonged to the
Panevėžys department of Hashomer Hatzair Jewish Youth Movement
established in 1930. At the beginning it had 24 members, but no material
is available about its further development and trends. It is not
possible to state firmly that the mentioned Societies had an active and
important influence to the community of the town.
There were more organizations with special aspects of activities that
existed and acted in Kupiškis. The before mentioned Committee to Support
the Jewish refugees and The Jewish Soldiers‘ Union, the members of which
participated in regaining Lithuania's independence. Their titles prompt
us that these organizations had their own specific directions of action
and gave only a limited right to join them. The Committee mentioned
above did not do much work in Kupiškis as the majority of the war
refugees at the beginning of World War II found their shelter in Vilnius
and its region. Therefore, the department of Kupiškis issued only one
certificate to testify the refugee status. Then the activity of such
committees in Lithuania was terminated in October 1941, so the people of
Kupiškis had no opportunity to develop their work and help the refugees.
Another indicated organization that started its activities from 1927
unofficially and since 1933 already legally was one of the most active
in Kupiškis. Its objectives were closely related to the Lithuanian state
and its independence. It supported the armed forces of the country, it
encouraged love and public spirit to Lithuania among its Jewish members
and the Jewish community in general, promoted the cultural cooperation
between Lithuanian and Jewish people, the convergence of the two
societies and the usage of the Lithuanian language among the Jewish
countrymen. It is not exactly known how many veterans belonged to this
union in Kupiškis, but throughout Lithuania it had more than 2 000
members. The activity of Kupiškis department was vital and they even
managed to establish a library that was opened at the beginning of 1939.
The library had books in Lithuanian, Hebrew and Yiddish languages, the
head of the library was Samsonas Feinbergas. There are no more
informative resources about who else belonged to the Board of
Administration of the department. Unfortunately, it is not known whether
this public organization organized any celebrations and commemorations
for the society, but its consistent and patriotic work speaks about
Jewish devotion to the Republic of Lithuania, good cultural relations
between Lithuanians, other Christians and their Jewish autonomy. The
Union of the Jewish soldiers who took part in regaining Lithuania's
independence is a proof that the Jews were loyal to Lithuania that
granted them freedom and self-government.
Through the established public organizations the Jewry in Kupiškis and
elsewhere in Lithuania took care of education, sports development and
obtained knowledge about the lifestyle of the local people. It is true
that there was a lack of cultural organizations, e.g. the theater, but
occasional performances were given by various societies that had no
direct connection with this form of art. It should be further noted that
the people of the Jewish nation were not closed in their own circle of
social organizations. They also participated in the Lithuanian movements
such as volunteer firemen. For example, Nochemas Schmidtas was a member
of the Management Board of the Lithuanian National Union. The Jews did
not avoid participating in the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union activity in
Kupiškis. Active involvement in the public organizations helped them not
only to cherish and uphold their own religion and culture, but also to
integrate into the local public life, to express themselves better and
to grow together with the Lithuanians.
Trade, Crafts, Services
When analyzing this subject, it should be noted that the Jews themselves
often used to make products and sell them in markets or fairs, worked in
the sector of services, providing the services of hotels, cafes, tea
shops. There is no available statistics what activity was predominant.
The works fulfilled by them are mentioned in the memoirs and written
sources of their contemporaries.
The trade was concentrated in the center of the town in the Market Square.
Owned by Joselis Jechilevičius, located on one side of the Square
"Austerija" hardware store of metal items served not only the residents of Kupiškis but
also the people from the surrounding towns and villages. Totally the
Jews had about 50 various shops in the center of the town. Some of them
were richer than the others, some poorer. The Jewish offered a variety
of goods - from a box matches to bicycles and radios. The Jews were
clearly dominant in the trade, while the Lithuanians at that time just
started their businesses. Jewish traders were vey united and worked
together with solidarity, if any of their shops was at risk of
bankruptcy, their other kinsmen always helped to avoid the failure. The
solidarity allowed the Jews to stay in business throughout the entire
inter-war period. They did not avoid sharing the goods among themselves,
ordered them in time , provided some credits for regular customers, so
that they could pay later. Honestly speaking, sometimes they faced some
credit related problems. Occasional cases were known when the debtor
accused the shopkeeper because of the excessive debt, or the trader
thought the customer was avoiding to return the debt. Such buyers then
never received the goods on credit. It should be noted that the sellers
never applied to the Court to get back smaller debts. Thus, the Jewish
shopkeepers had always been inclined to find a compromise with the
customers.
The traders closely communicated with the customers. Such relationship
strengthened their mutual understanding, reduced isolation between the
two communities. The harshest interwar accident for the Jewish community
of Kupiškis is not related with any religious disagreements or myths
about their holidays, but with the personality of Director of the Jewish
People's Bank Kupiškis Division. Totally 369 people kept their savings
in this Bank in 1929 and all of them were observers of the Judaic
religion. When the great economic crisis began and everyone experienced
hard times, in 1931 the Director of this bank stole all the bank savings
and escaped from Lithuania. Not one business of the Jewish shopkeepers
and craftsmen was destroyed. Such action of the banker spread widely
throughout Lithuania and so far receives attention in the published
articles about the Jewish community of Kupiškis nowadays. This
unprecedented event made a disrupting economic blow on the Jews of the
town and it took a lot of time, effort and investment of emigrants and
other Jews of Lithuania until they recovered financially.
Another large part of the community were the craftsmen. The Jews had more
competitors among Lithuanians in this branch of business. From the
recorded memories about crafts by V. Sasnauskas we assume that
representatives of both confessions could be proud of skilled masters
and professional artisans. Various craftsmen worked in Kupiškis:
watchmakers, potters, barbers, bakers, confectioners, butchers, wool
carders, furriers, tinsmiths and millers.
D. Vileišis suggests adding photographers and blacksmiths and he
distinguishes the Jewish smiths Leiba and Moishke as exclusive masters.
The craftsmen of Kupiškis established a division of the Lithuanian
Craftsmen's Union in 1927 that survived until 1935. The same as the
shopkeepers, the craftsmen were located in the center of the town. A
large variety of handicrafts guaranteed jobs for the residents of
Kupiškis, a wide range of goods and assortment of products, enabled
competition in the market that had been beneficial to the consumers. The
Jewish people's names who were real specialists of their craft were
often mentioned among watchmakers, potters, barbers, confectioners,
butchers and millers. The most famous miller who started to supply
electricity for the town was Nochem Schmidt. He inherited the mill from
his father.
This skillful man provided grain milling and wool felting services for
Kupiškis people. As Mr. N. Schmidt was a monopolist in the market of
electricity he sometimes became entangled in legal disputes with the
rural district Council. The Council obligated him to reduce the price of
electricity. During the inter-war period N. Schmidt was considered the
richest man in Kupiškis. He did not even leave the town during World War
II and was killed.
Some Jewish people of Kupiškis were engaged in the activities that were not
very common to them, e.g. agriculture and horticulture. However, there
is not much information remained about such persons. V. Sasnauskas
mentions in his notes the Jewish gardener Faifka who could grow the best
cucumbers and other vegetables for the local market. He could make a
living through all the winter from his grown and sold vegetables. Akiva
Slavinskas was also known and mentioned as a farmer, who was employed as
a secretary of the Hapoel Sports Society,
but we have no more detailed records about his activities.
Another farmer named Abramas Golumberas was mentioned in Rabbi‘s metrics
in 1928. It is not clear if they were large or small-scale farmers. Most
probably their farm property was not large because they were not
mentioned anywhere else. There is also no data on whether they were land
owners or land tenants. According to D. Vileišis research , the Jews as
landowners were mentioned at the beginning of the 4th decade. The
newspaper Panevėžio balsas (Engl. Voice of Panevezys) wrote in 1934 that
wealthy Jews bought plots of land near the town, they worked themselves,
grew wheat, potatoes and vegetables. The author of this message was
surprised about the good harvests of the Jewish that were often better
than the harvests of the experienced local farmers.
More information can be found about the Jews who worked in the sector of
services. The Jewish people dominated among the owners of hotels, pubs,
inns, tea shops and various snack bars. Mostly it was a family business.
Usually all the Jewish family was employed in such type of business. We
do not mention restaurants because there were very few of them in
Kupiškis and they did not belong to the Jewish owners. Most
restaurant-type pubs had the status of the pub because of the cheaper
licenses. The biggest network of eateries belonged to Sloma Kaplan who
owned 6 pubs and a shop that applied the commercial take-away form.
Every year he had to pay about 2000 Litas/LTL for the licenses. The
majority of customers of the Jewish pubs and inns came on market days.
The main drinks were beer and vodka and the main snack was herring.
Customers could acquire non-alcoholic drinks too: lemonade or tea.
According to V. Sasnauskas, mostly peasants gathered there after the
market was over. People came to have a drink with the neighbors, but
seldom remained to sleep overnight and never idled daily outside the
pubs. The cheapest license was for the tea shops. It was prohibited to
sell alcohol, but everybody assumed that it was sold there. V.
Sasnauskas says that in most cases the officials were given bribes and
were expected to give a favor in return for personal gain. The owners
and tenants of such institutions had securely installed hiding places.
So almost all the Jewish or Lithuanian inns had alcohol available to
purchase. Often the Jews would arrange a pub in the same household
together with the hotel,so in case the customers drank too much they
occasionally could stay overnight.
Two of the most successful hotels in the inter-war Kupiškis belonged to the
Jewish families. The first one was owned by sisters Jofaitė, who both,
according to V. Sasnauskas, had support of the police. One of the
sisters was married to a Lithuanian.
"Adirim" was another hotel owned by Ainbinderas family. There was a store in the
same house. The hotel owners were not likely confined to a single
activity and knew how to better use the remaining space of the building.
This chapter makes an overview of various businesses and the relationships
of businessmen with customers,shows that inter-war Jewish community was
concentrated and united in seeking the economic prosperity, but it does
not reveal what problems at that time people had to encounter, what
influence the businesses experienced under the great economic crisis,
and so on. The community of Kupiškis at that time was economically
strong, the more prosperous townspeople supported the poorer with money
and goods.
Politics
As the largest national minority in Kupiškio region the Jews took an active
and united part in the political life and demonstrated their solidarity.
The Zionists, the Folkists
and the Orthodox Jews did not act separately. Such common approach to
the policy of the country was benefitial and useful during the first
elections to the Kupiškis Town Council. In 1920 Lithuanians chose to
boycott them and the Jews got 7 out of 12 seats. One of the main tasks
that the town Council had to solve was the restructurization of the real
estate of the captives and prisoners of World War I. The town council
members reacted very sensitively towards the subject of their
countrymen's real estate and provided all possible assistance to find
solutions of their problems. The Council had existed for four years
until 1924, when the local Kupiškis government, putting pressure on the
regional Panevėžys administration Head, was able to render the elections
to the city Council not valid. Trying to separate from the rural
district had not been very successful. A large part of the townsfolk
both Lithuanians and Russians already in 1921 wrote requests to the
district Council that they wanted to be admitted to the district
citizens. The total number of such townspeople was 1051 and their
requests were fulfilled.
Already at that time the Jews had shown their political unity and the desire
to defend their interests in the local government. Meanwhile, the
internal political life of the community was divided because of the
aforementioned political currents. During the elections to the district
Council that consisted of 48 members, the Jews raised their own 9
delegates and 6 of them were elected. The first position in the list was
won by Director of the Jewish Bank Lipa Furmanovski. The Jewish list
received totally 682 votes, 652 of them were won in the second district
that included the town of Kupiškis, and they won only 30 votes in the
first district that included villages and granges. Thus, these results
clearly confirm the Jewish residential geography trends. Since 1925 the
rural district Council started various construction works in the town.
The Council decided to lay paving over the streets of the market place
and several streets nearby. By the initiative of Leiba Assas, the Jewish
Representative in the Council, the night security guard was set up in
Kupiškis, thereby enhancing the safety of the town. These means gave a
positive impuls to the development of the town urbanization, its
security and the population had gained more comfort.
The first decade after the World War I was the period of rapid
reconstruction and building of the state. A large number of the Jews
willingly and actively took part in not only economic, but also in
political and cultural areas throughout Lithuania and in Kupiškis.
There were no bigger changes in the rural district Council and its
composition during all the time period of the independence. In 1934 the
Jews tried to establish self-government of the town for the last time:
the District Council had been given a letter with signatures of 103
citizens (96 of them Jewish), requesting the establishment of Kupiškis
municipality. However, due to the numerous Jewish community in the town
the rural district Council, as well as other higher authorities
were worried that the Jews could take all the leadership in the
self-governance. Therefore, the Ministry of Interior Affairs and the
Department of Municipalities rejected the request. The reluctance of the
state authorities to grant self-government to Kupiškis revealed and
highlighted some of the Lithuanian phobias associated with the Jews,
especially because of their potential dominance in politics. Thus, the
town remained under influence and government of the rural district
Council. The Jewish politicians actively participated in the political
life of the town. A good example is N. Jachilevičius who was in the
leading position the Elder of the eldership in the interwar time.
Although the Jews failed to establish a separate self-government of the
town, they exerted their influence over the district council, constantly
had their representatives in it. So they practically were involved in
the local government and seeked more empowerment in it.
Commemoration of the Jewish Community.
Contribution of Their Descendants
Coming back to our days, we can say that the memory of the expatriates of
Kupiškis is still alive. They always try to visit the town, contribute
to the initiatives through which they seek to commemorate
the community that had lived here and its heritage.
The town of Kupiškis is one of the Lihuanian periphery areas that is
completing comprehensive and thorough commemoration of the Jewish
community. The Jewish tombstones in the cemetery had been restored, the
former Synagogue, the current town library had been equipped with a
Memorial Plaque with all the Jewish names of the people who were killed
in Kupiškis inscribed on it.The descendants of Kupiškis Jewry created a
film
"Kupishok: for Eternal Memory" that tells about their visit in this significant place and the Jewish
community. When they started making this film in 2004 the Memorial
Plaque on the Synagogue had been placed and unveiled, Then over 50
descendants of the Kupiškis Jewish community from the United States, the
South African Republic, the United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, Denmark
and, of course, from Lithuania were visiting Kupiškis. The initiators
and makers of the film were the active people of the new generation of
the Kupiškis Jewry coming from the same family
-
Norman Meyer and Harvey Sherzer.
Norman Meyer was the first Jew who dared to look for his family roots in
Kupiškis. He first visited Lithuania in 1997 and from that time he began
a continuous work to properly commemorate the Jewish community. His
loving efforts had not been fruitless. He was one of those who
contributed and organized the unveiling of the Memorial Plaque,
communicated and interacted with all the descendants of the Kupiškis
Jewish community, shared opinions, often had consultations with the
Lithuanians, made translations and otherwise contributed to the
preservation of the Jewish heritage in the town. Mr. N. Meyer brought
his grandchildren with him to the ceremony of the unveiling of the
Memorial Plague. This clearly proves the loving desire of this person to
remember his family roots, nurture them, to share his ideas with the
others, to help them find their ancestors so they could be able to honor
their memory. N. Meyer unexpectedly passed away in 2004. The unveiling
of the Memorial Plaque was the culmination of all his efforts. At that
time he last visited Lithuania and Kupiškis.
One of the largest internet websites devoted to the Jewish history,
jewishgen.org mentions
several prominent expatriates from Kupiškis who respected their
ancestors, wrote about them and had an enthusiastic
interest in their roots. The
first should be mentioned Rabbi Ephraim Oshry. He prepared the
publication
"The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry" (the original in Yiddish
"Khurbn Lita"). It contains data about Kupiškis too. Another outstanding representative
of the Jews, son of the expatriates from Kupiškis, Stanley Mayersohn
wrote a book
"Kupishok: Memory Stronger". It is like a handy tool to gain knowledge about the Jewish roots in
Kupiškis. The Jews begin their search for relatives from this book.
Unfortunately, none of the books is translated into the Lithuanian
language, so they are rarely used in the research of the Holocaust in
Lithuania and for the local historic research works Kupiškis. The
honorable authors of both publications had never visited Kupiškis after
the war , but the son of S. Mayersohn had come to see the land of
ancestors and to honor them.
Going back to the promotion of the
heritage of the Jewish community in the town, Anna Rabinovich must be
mentioned first. According to the local press of Kupiškis she could be
called Encyclopedia of Kupiškis. This woman in one of the most active
descendants, who had visited Kupiškis not once. The mentioned website
presents observations of the elderly people and grandchildren, their
experiences, memories of parents and grandparents, the list of the
victims of the Holocaust, photographs and other information about the
history of the Jewish community in Kupiškis. A. Rabinovich contributed
and supported the developing and enriching this website.
The press
of Kupiškis had always written about the visits of the Jewish people in
the town on the river Kupa, publicized the events and assisted in their
ancestry search. The publicity of this information in the local media
helps the people of the nowadays Kupiškis to remember the history of the
town and to understand it correctly. The government of the local
Municipality and Kupiškis Etnographic Museum put every effort into the
commemoration of the heritage. Without their contribution and help the
actualization of the Jewish heritage would have taken a much longer time
if not failed to be completed. Descendants of the expatriates express
gratitude to the former mayor of the Kupiškis Municipality Leonas Apšega
and the employees of the museum of the town. The staff of the latter
institution actively research and nurture the Jewish heritage and they
are considered to be among the leading researchers throughout the
province museums of Lithuania
|