KehilaLinks/JewishGen

Families of Troškūnai (Trashkun)

Lithuania

Konkurovich family

alternate spellings: Konkurowich, Konkorovich

outside the Konkurovich house

Outside the Konkurovich house, early 1930s  (enlarge)                         (another view of the Konkurovich house)

The earliest known family member is Moshe Konkurovich. His two known children were Chaim Sholem (Shlomo) Konkurovich (born ~1860) and Sora Feyga Konkurovich (born ~1862). More is not known about Sora Feyga.

Chaim Sholem Konkurovich married Chaya Sora Levinson, born 20 March 1867, daughter of Moshe Rafael Levinson and Chana. In 1912 Chaim went to South Africa, where he changed his surname to Cohen. Over a period of years, he sent for four of the family's ten children. Two others emigrated to the United States, and the remaining four continued to live in Trashkun with Chaya Sora. Chaya Sora and her daughters were all teachers. Berl Glezer wrote of them in his memoir, “They had a very large house where weddings were held and where traveling preachers could rent a room. You could always hear laughter coming from their house.” Chaya Sora was killed in Payost (Pajuoste) on 23 August 1941, along with the rest of the Jews from Trashkun and nearby towns.

The ten children of Chaim Sholem Konkurovich (Cohen) and Chaya Sora Levinson:

I.  Avraham Yehuda (Yudel) Konkurovich (later Julius Konkorowitz) was born in Trashkun on 18 August 1888. He emigrated to the United States in 1907-1910. He married there and lived with his wife in Brooklyn, New York, where he was a businessman. Julius died in Brooklyn in 1944.
DOCUMENT Julius Konkorowitz' Declaration of Intention to become a US citizen (New York, 1911)

II.  Ester Bluma Konkurovich (later Esther) was born in Trashkun on 6 December 1893, and migrated to the United States around 1907. On 27 December 1914 in Manhattan, New York, she married Samuel Lampert, who was born in Vilna in ~1892 and migrated to the U.S. in 1906. Esther died in Brooklyn, New York, on 23 February 1947.

Cile Konkurovich

Cile (Tzili) Konkurovich Hartsman

Rafael Hartman

Rafael Hartsman

Freda Konkurovich

Freda Hartsman

Yasha Hartman

Yasha Hartsman

III.  Cile (Tzili, Rochel Tzirel) Konkurovich was born in Trashkun in 1895. She married Jakov "Yasha" Hartsman, who was born in Vilna (Vilnius) in ~1889. Yasha migrated to South Africa in the late 1920s and settled in Pretoria. Cile and their two children joined him in 1933, and a third child was born in Pretoria. Cile died in 1959, and Yasha died in 1963, both in Pretoria, South Africa.
PHOTO Cila Hartsman with children Rafael and Freda (1931)
PHOTO Yasha Hartsman, Tzila's husband

wedding photo

Wedding photo of Freda Hartsman
and Louis Back (enlarge)

Chana-Rivka Konkurovich Hurwitz

Chana Rivka Konkurovich Hurwitz

Idel Hurwitz and family

Idel Hurwitz with Chana-Rivka and
Idel's sister and mother (enlarge)

IV.  Chana Rivka Konkurovich was born in Trashkun in 1897. On 26 March 1926 in Trashkun she married Idel Hurwitz (also Gurwich), who was born on 12 June 1888 in Rakeshik (Rokiškis), son of Yisrael Zalman Hurwitz (1858-1920) and Raisa Luria (1860-1939). Idel had tuberculosis, so after unsuccessful treatment in Switzerland, he moved to South Africa in 1932 with his mother. Chana Rivka and their daughter remained in Trashkun and moved into Chaya Sora's (Chana Rivka's mother's) house. Idel died in Johannesburg, South Africa, in ~1935. Chana and her daughter were killed at Payost (Pajuoste) on 23 August 1941.
PHOTO Chana Rivka with her husband Idel Hurwitz and his sister and mother (1926-1932)

V.  Gita (Freda Gitl) Konkurovich was born in Trashkun in 1899. On 20 March 1928 in Trashkun she married Mortchel (Mordechai) Chait, who was born ~1886 in Birzh (Biržai), son of Avram Chait and Ita Pesa Abramson. Gita and Mortchel Chait lived in Birzh and had three sons, whose names are not known. The entire family was killed in the Astrava forest, outside of Birzh, on 8 August 1941.  (World War II in Birzh)

Berl Konkurovich

Berl
Konkurovich
(1920)

Luba Konkurovich

Luba
Konkurovich
(1921)

VI.  Berl Konkurovich (later Barney Cohen) was born in Trashkun in 1901 and emigrated to South Africa in 1921. He was a businessman and lived in Pretoria. He died in 1972 in Tel-Aviv, Israel.
PHOTO Berl Konkurovich (1920)
DOCUMENT Berl Konkurovich application for internal passport (1920)
PHOTO Berl visiting his brother Itzik and friends in Vilnius (1961)

VII.  Luba Konkurovich was born in Trashkun in ~1904. She emigrated to South Africa in 1924-1925 and took the surname Cohen, the adopted surname of her father. Luba married Nathan Gordon, and they lived in Pretoria.
PHOTO Luba Konkurovich (1921)
PHOTO Luba Konkurovich with unidentified (1922)

Etel
Konkurovich
(1930)

VIII.  Etel (Etta, Etka) Konkurovich was born in Trashkun on 22 April 1905. On 7 February 1936 in Trashkun she married Josef (Josel) Brazg, who was born in 1908 in Kurkl (Kurkliai), son of Sholem Brazg (born 1874) and Hena Charn. Etta, Josel, and their children lived in Trashkun during the war, and the entire family was killed at Payost on 23 August 1941.
PHOTO Etel (Etka) with three Trashkun friends (1930)
PHOTO Etel (Etka) with group of Trashkuner youth (1930s)
PHOTO Etel Konkurovich (1930)
DOCUMENT Etel Konkurovich application for internal passport (1930)

IX.  Jean Konkurovich was born in 1910. She migrated to South Africa in 1937. She married Chaim (Hymie) Pulerewitz, who was born in Yanishok (Joniškis), Lithuania. The family lived in Johannesburg. Jean died on 26 July 1983, and Hymie died on 25 September 1983, both in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Itzik Konkurovich

Itzik Konkurovich
(1951)

Itzik age 9

Itzik Konkurovich
age 9, 1921
(enlarge)

Itzik plays accordion

Itzik Konkurovich
Vilnius, 1951
(enlarge)

X.  Itzhak Eliezer (Itzik) Konkurovich was born in Trashkun on 22 February 1912. After attending cheder (Jewish primary school) in Trashkun, he attended a secular gymnasium (equivalent of high school) in Ponevezh [Panevezys]. He was at university in Kovno, studying chemical engineering, when World War II broke out. Caught in the Kovno ghetto, he managed to escape and then joined the 16th Lithuanian Division of the Soviet Army. After the war he settled in Vilnius, and in 1952 he married Bluma Sondak, who was born 17 February 1918 in Zarasai, Lithuania, daughter of Kopel Sondak (born 1876) and Sara (born 1881). In 1972 the family moved to Israel and settled in Kiryat-Ono. Bluma died in 1978, and Itzik died on 12 October 1990.
TESTIMONY  “Trashkun,” Holocaust testimony in Yahadut Lita (1984)
LETTER  “Reb Avraham Elye ‘der Got’” (Itzik writes about Avram Puner and the shtetl of Trashkun, 1988)
PHOTO Itzhak Leizer Konkurovich at age 9 (1921)
PHOTO Itzik Konkurovich visits his family's house in Trashkun after the war (1947)
PHOTO Itzik Konkurovich playing accordion in Vilnius (1948)
PHOTO Itzik Konkurovich with his friend Chanka Kushner in Vilnius (1948)
PHOTO Itzik Konkurovich near Vilnius (1951)
PHOTO Itzik Konkurovich visits the Glezer family near Vilnius (1951)
PHOTO Itzik Konkurovich with his friend Shmuel Kovnovich in Vilnius (1957)
PHOTO Itzik Konkurovich with his friend Shmuel Kovnovich at Pajuoste (1957)
PHOTO Itzik Konkurovich with other Trashkuner survivors at Pajuoste (1959 and 1961)
PHOTO Itzik with Trashkun survivors (Vilnius, 1962)
PHOTO Itzik with Trashkun survivors and their families (Vilnius, 1962)
PHOTO Konkurovich family with friend Luba Shepshelevich (Vilnius, 1969)
PHOTO Itzik with Trashkun survivors in Israel (Tel-Aviv, 1987)
PHOTO Gravestone of Itzhak Eliezer Konkurovich

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