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Švėkšna,
Lithuania
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Please refresh your browser view of this page and views of any sub-pages if you have visited this site before the most recent update on 1 June 2024.
Other Names: Sveksnos, Szweksnie, Sveksna, Schvetnau, Shveksni, Suveksniai, Shvekshne (Yiddish), Shvekshna. See also: JewishGen Locality Page
Location:
157.0 miles (252.7 kilometers) west-northwest of Vilnius, Lithuania.
Maps showing Švėkšna:
MapQuest
at Latitude 55°31' N, Longitude 21°37' E;
Bing;
JewishGen Resource Mapping;
Google
(location in Lithuania); Google
(satellite view of the current town).
Švėkšna is located in western Lithuania, east of the Baltic Sea, and has been inhabited for over two thousand years.
Švėkšna Aerial View
This aerial photograph appeared as the
cover of a booklet about Švėkšna that Petras (Peter) Čeliauskas published in 2003.
Photo Copyright ©
2002
Sigitas Grincinaitis. Permission
to print here was granted by the copyright owner in April 2012.
Click on the photo to view a larger version (1.45 MB), which will open in a new window. Close the new window when you want to
return here.
History of Švėkšna
Švėkšna: Our Town
(PDF - 1.46 MB)
This is an article
by Esther (Herschman) Rechtschafner about Švėkšna, home of her
maternal Grandfather ZACHARIA MARCUS, including information about
the Jewish Community of Lithuania as a whole.
Mr. Marcus and Esther appear in the photo
at the left (circa 1950).
Student Articles
--
The English translations of these articles were done by the Google
translator program offered by the
Stars21.com
website.
By Jonas Girskis:
Original Lithuanian
(PDF - 267 KB)
|
English Translation
(PDF - 217 KB)
-- The translation does not include any of the footnotes of the
original article.
By Viktorijos Kinčiūtės:
Original
Lithuanian (PDF - 68 KB) |
English Translation
(PDF - 68 KB)
By Gabija Kumetytė:
Original Lithuanian
(PDF - 4.0 MB) |
English Translation
(PDF - 192 KB)
Photographs of Švėkšna
Pictures of Švėkšna
(PDF - 1.05 MB)
This is an article by Esther (Herschman) Rechtschafner, with many photographs of Švėkšna and
descriptions.
Švėkšna
Jewish Cemetery
Švėkšna
Jewish Cemetery in 2011 by Monika Žąsytienė
(16 images)
Inscriptions on Tombstones
2012 by Monika Žąsytienė (22 images)
Volunteers from
Alicija Rugytė Scout Group Working in the Old Švėkšna Jewish Cemetery in
2012 (19 inages)
Many thanks to them and their leaders and organizers: Violeta Stonienė,
Vilma Adomavičienė, and Monika Žąsytienė.
Click here for further information about the Lithuania-Jewish-Cemetery-Project.
Holocaust Memorial Mass Grave Photos by Monika Žasytiene (9 images)
Švėkšna Museum's Project - "Švėkšna's Jewish
Community is still alive in our memories" (9 images)
The opening show in June 2012 was wonderful. The Youth Theatre from Klaipėda
opened the event with their "impromptu performance." After that Monika
Žąsytienė showed the exhibition and publications, etc., about Švėkšna's
Jews. Then all the museum's guests went to the Synagogue. They all noted the
condition it was then in. Important guests were representatives of the
Klaipėda Jewish community, Šilutė's district mayor, Švėkšna's elder, the
director of Cultural Heritage and others. The project was organized and the
photographs were sent by Monika.
Švėkšna Museum Website – May 2018
Švėkšna
Synagogue Renovation and Use
2015 by Monika
Žąsytienė
(14 images)
2021 by Monika Žąsytienė
Several photos and videos of the renovation project appear here.
The new
Švėkšna Museum is housed in the Synagogue building.
2023 by Monika Žąsytienė
(4 images)
(14 Jan 2023)
Lietuva Senose Fotografijose (Lithuania in Old
Photographs):
Švėkšna
These pre-World War II photos of
Švėkšna appear on a Facebook site managed by Jonas Keturka
(jonasketurka@gmail.com).
Maps of Švėkšna
1910 Map
This link displays two views of the town plots of Švėkšna
in 1910.
The two images were sent by the courtesy of Monika Žąsytienė.
1924 Map
This is a map of Švėkšna that was
drawn in 1924 before the great fire there.
The image was sent by the courtesy of
Petras Čeliauskas.
1935 Map
This link shows a diagram of the town layout of Švėkšna
made by
Esther
(Herschman) Rechtschafner as Zipporah Sandler remembers
it from 1935.
1941 Map
This map is from the Holocaust. It shows Švėkšna
and the surrounding area and the dates of the murders.
Inkakliai is where the Jewish women, children and some of the men of Švėkšna
were murdered.
The image was sent by the courtesy of Petras
Čeliauskas.
1941 Map by Naftali Ziv
This is a map of Švėkšna as Naftali Ziv remembers
it from the Summer of 1941, along with Naftali's explanation of the places
depicted.
The image was sent by the courtesy of Naftali Ziv and his wife Hanna.
1952 Aerial Photograph
This aerial photograph of Švėkšna
from 1952 shows the development of the town.
The image was sent by the courtesy of Petras
Čeliauskas.
1960 Map
This map shows the development of the town.
The image was sent by the courtesy of Petras
Čeliauskas.
2002 Map
This map of Švėkšna
was drawn by Petras
Čeliauskas in about 2002, who provided
this image and gave his permission to display it here in April 2012.
2002 Aerial Photograph
This is an aerial photograph of Švėkšna
(also displayed above on this page)
that Petras
Čeliauskas
used on the cover of his booklet about Švėkšna.
Peter added labels to this copy pointing out places that would be
interesting for people to see and know about before forwarding it to Esther
Rechtschafner.
Town View on Google
This links to a satellite view of the current town of Švėkšna,
opening in a separate window.
German Maps of Švėkšna
(These maps and links are provided by
the courtesy of John Jaffer.)
Royal Prussian
General Staff, 1860, new edition 1880, Sheet 4 (Paaschken)
Prussian Survey 1920, last printed 1940, Sheet 4 (Paaschken)
This map shows the symbols for the
synagogue and the Jewish cemetery.
1913,
Sheet 4 (Paaschken - Szweksznie)
The number 143 under the town name is
the number of dwellings.
Mapywig.org Maps (Note: These maps are very large and may
take several minutes to download.)
Reymanns_Special-Karte_B_Memel.jpg -- 4.92 megabytes
GSGS4081_GERMANY_100K_SHEET_1_Memel_Heydekrug_1929-43.jpg -- 25.0
megabytes
Gb_1_Memel_IX_1944.jpg -- 34.7 megabytes
Testimonies About the Holocaust
Naftali Ziv Testimony about the Holocaust:
English Version
Hebrew Version
Collective
Testimony of Four Witnesses
English Version
The material in this testimony was
used as reference in my article about Sveksna --
Esther (Herschman) Rechtschafner.
The original Yiddish documents and translation to Hebrew may be
viewed at the Yad Vashem Documents Archive.
People of Švėkšna
Berg-Friedman Family (PDF - 16 KB) David Pinn Family (PDF - 16 KB) Esakovitch Family (PDF - 33 KB) Freedman Family (PDF - 39 KB)
Fregin Family (PDF -9 KB) Galis-Eliasowice Family (PDF - 18 KB) Gershenovich-Ribkin Family (PDF - 46 KB) Gold-Pinn Family (PDF - 20 KB)
Ichacovich Family (PDF - 14 KB) Jaffe Family (PDF - 72 KB) Ladon Family Levinson Family Naftali Ziv
Ofsaiof Family
(PDF - 16 KB)
Press Family
Prisman
Family
Pushkin-Solomon Family
(PDF - 43 KB)
Ripkin Family
(PDF - 1.39 MB)
(Updated 26 October 2022)
Segal Family (PDF - 586 KB) Smulovicas Family (PDF - 16 KB) Stein Family (PDF - 22 KB) Teveye Ladin Family Velvelovich and Goldstein Families
Velvelovich and Marcus Families Zacharia Marcus Family The Schenker Family The Srolowitz (Israelson) Family
1938 Švėkšna Telephone Numbers (PDF - 119 KB)
A Jewish Neshama (PDF - 44 KB) Chat with"Charlie" (PDF - 38 KB) Monika Žąsytienė Petras Čeliauskas
Laura Taylor (PDF - 120 KB)
Other
JewishGen Links
JewishGen Lithuania Database -- A multiple-database search engine, which incorporates databases containing more than two million entries from Lithuania.
The JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF) for Sveksna - A database of ancestral towns and surnames currently being researched by Jewish genealogists worldwide.
Other Links
Yad Vashem - Yad Vashem, containing the world's largest repository of information on the Holocaust, is the center for Holocaust research, documentation, education and learning. It is located in Jerusalem, Israel.
Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel - This website includes a collection of memoirs of Lithuanian Jewry. The Association is located in Tel Aviv, Israel. [Note: Website is not available as of 22 Apr 2018.]
The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People - This facility was established in 1939. It holds the archives of hundreds of Jewish communities, as well as of local, national and international Jewish organizations and the private collections of many outstanding Jewish personalities. The Archives now hold the most extensive collection of documents, pinkassim (registers) and other records of Jewish history from the Middle Ages to the present day. It is located in Jerusalem, Israel.
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - This organization is America's national institution for the documentation, study and interpretation of Holocaust history. It is located in Washington, DC, USA.
Website of Dr. Ruth Leiserowitz
Note, 16 Nov 2014: This material is currently
not available. Please check back later.
Request for Further
Švėkšna
Information
Please help us expand this web site
by sending further information about the Jews of Švėkšna,
including personal stories, pictures, documents and comments to:
Esther (Herschman) Rechtschafner
This site is hosted at no cost by
JewishGen, Inc., the Home of Jewish Genealogy.
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