Sudarg Information and Recent Photos

Provided through the kind courtesy of Martin Miller and Barbara Clow

<millerm@mailbox.syr.edu>

From: "Martin Miller"

Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2000

 

This information following will be of interest to those who are interested in the families of Sudargas, Lithuania and nearby towns such as Siaudine, Kidiuliai, Jurbarkas and others. Some of the names are BLOCH, BERKMAN, ROTHSCHILD, FRIEDMAN, GUTMAN, LEBIUSH, GANABERG/HANABERG, and GARBER. Recently I have learned that the MALOFF family of Syracuse was also from Sudargas. The original name was MICHALOWSKI. Names related to them are KIZEL and GANANBERG/HANABERG. I believe that the KASSEL families of Syracuse that are related to the BLOCKS are also KIZEL from Sudargas.

 

In June the journal Landsmen published list of residents of Sudargas that had to have been compiled in the 1870's. Much of the information that the various researchers had accumulated was validated by this new source, and much information was added.

 

In my own case I found my great-grandmother Zyvia Sallinger on the list with the names of her parents and grandparents. My wife's grandmother told me over thirty years ago that my people had lived next door to hers in Europe, and this list confirmed it. The name of my great-great-grandmother was DOLINSKY. This name is also found in my wife's ROTHSCHILD family.

 

The five BLOCH lines that we had established going back to a common ancestor were confirmed, and the common ancestors now have names, Abram BLOCH and Sorah LEBIUSH. Judging from the dates of birth of their children the couple had to have been born around 1779. The name LEBIUSH also appears as the maternal ancestor of a branch of the BERKMAN family.

 

Even though my mother taught me never to talk to strangers, I have made many contacts over the Internet as I cruise looking for possible relatives. Early last year I met Barbara Clow. Barbara is not Jewish, but has roots in Sudargas, and her family's journey somewhat parallels ours. I am including some extracts from our correspondence. She was going to Lithuania for the summer, and I asked her to speak to current residents anyone could recall any Jewish neighbors of long ago. At the beginning of WWII, my wife's grandparents had four siblings still living in Sudargas with their families, and none of the names of their offspring are known. They were:, Chaya Rifka and Meyer GUTMAN and five children, Hoshea Hirshel and Shula BERKMAN and four children. Sorki and Meyer BLOCH and four children , Abram BLOCH and his wife.So we were related to a large number of the Jews remaining in Sudargas.

 

Some of our BERKMANS were related to GARBERS, who were in turn related to the GOLDBERGS, and I'll bet that the one GOLDBERG in Yosef Rosin's family was of that GOLDBERG family. Even in this country the intermarrying continued. My father in law's second cousin Ruth FRIEDMAN (related through both her parents) married Henry HILLSON (HILELSON), Yosef Rosin's first cousin.

 

According to the dates in the Sudargas list the BLOCHS were there by 1803. The earliest date for my SALINGER family is 1831, My father-in-law had three grandparents named BLOCH from Sudargas. The fourth was BERKMAN His father's parents were first cousins. So my wife is three times a BLOCH!

 

Last Thursday I received a letter from Barbara Clow and some material. Included were:

1. Photographs of the entrance to the Jewish cemetery in Sudargas. There are signs in Lithuanian (old) and Yiddish (newer):

 

Entrance to the Jewish cemetery in Sudargas

 

The Jewish Cemetery in Sudarg

 

 

Old Sign in Lithuanian

 

 

Newer sign in Yiddish

2. Photographs of several gravestones, which are all the stones that remain standing. There may be others that could be excavated or otherwise restored:

 

a. Keyla Rifka bat Shlomo ROCHELSON

 

b.Sorah Freyda bat Yitschak LEBIUSH, who died in 1928. This may be Sorah Freyda GOLDENKNOPF, who married a LEBIUSH.

 

c. Yitschak ben Zalmen VOLOVITSKI of Siaudine (name spelled with bet, rather than vav, however), died 1/24/1933.

 

 

d. Devorah Leah bat Shabtai ROSIN, died 3/29/1929.

 

e. Dov ben Dov ROSIN, died 1/8/1921 at the age of 63.

 

f. Esther Libe bat Shlomo (no other name)

 

g. Meyer BROMBERG.

 

h. Leah Beile?, appears to in close proximity to Sorah Freyda Lebiush.

 

i. Appears to be Chai-Taube bat Moshe

 

j. Shlomo Zalman ben Tsvi

 

Site in the forest between Kidiuliai and Sudargas

3. Photographs (above and below) of a site in the forest between Kidiuliai and Sudargas where a plaque in Lithuanian states, "In the forest between Kiduliai and Sudargas, Lithuania Hitler's occupation forces took 40 women and 16 children from Sudargas and shot them here. August 11, 1941."

 

Plaque in Lithuanian states, "In the forest between Kiduliai and Sudargas, Lithuania Hitler's occupation forces took 40 women and 16 children from Sudargas and shot them here. August 11, 1941."

 

4. Photographs (below) of another site in the forest outside Sudargas where a plaque in Yiddish reads, "In this place Hitler's murderers and their local helpers slaughtered 48 Jews men, women and children on 8/12/1941

 

Unidentified

 

Site in the forest outside Sudargas

 

Plaque in Yiddish reads, "In this place Hitler's murderers and their local helpers slaughtered 48 Jews men, women and children on 8/12/1941."

 

Former Jewish homes.in Sudargas

 

5. A photograph of a couple of former Jewish homes.in Sudargas. These are across the street from the former synagogue. They are the only buildings, which survived the burning of Sudargas by the Germans during World War II.

 

 

Site where the Sudargas synagogue was located

6. A photograph of the site where the Sudargas synagogue was located. An apartment house is located there now.

 

Exterior of a house formerly, the location formerly of a Jewish bakery

 

 

Interior of a house formerly, the location formerly of a Jewish bakery

 

7. Photographs (above) of a house formerly, the location formerly of a Jewish bakery and then a school, in Kiduliai (exterior and interior).The woman who lives here now went to school here. The house is over 100 years old and has original hinges and door locks.

Building in Kiduliai that was built in 1884

 

 

8. A photograph (above) of building in Kiduliai that was built in 1884.

9. A list of Jewish residents of Siaudine and Kiduliai:

Names of Jewish Residents of Siaudine and Kiduliai, Lithuania Remembered by Local Residents in 1999:

Rabbi Alter Levenstein

Moshe Lebiush

Motel Lebiush

Yossel Freiman

Mork? Rupkis?

Moshe Meyer Pesachson

Meyer Feldman

Yankel Bendalin

Shlomo Bendalin

Ilya Pesachson

Zelman Giterson

Isaac Zundel

Minke? Idelson

Abram Bachman

Leyb Meigel?

Hirsh Volovitski

Shaya Auerbach

 

10. A list of Jewish residents of from Sudargas:

Name of Jewish Residents of Sudargas, Lithuania Remembered by Local Residents in 1999:

Kayam? Azenovski

? Rosenberg

Isaac Kizel

Jonah ?

? Gutman

? Lipski

? Hilelson

? Goldberg

Berko ?

Isaac ?

Meyer ?

Taube Briski

Minah Hilelson (Yosef Rosin's aunt), Shlomo Hilelson (her son), Elka Hilelson-Goldberg (her daughter), Yehudah Goldberg (Elka's husband, Leah'le Goldberg (their little daughter) [these names were added by Yosef Rosin of Haifa, Israel - they were all murdered in the Holocaust]