Vorne Home Page During the 1st World War the entire Jewish population of western
Lithuania was expelled by the Russian authorities in May 1915 and forced
to move eastwards; because the Russians thought the Jewish population
might support the German army that was advancing through Lithuania.
However, there are conflicting reports as to whether the Russian
proclamation affected Vorne, or whether Vorne had already fallen into
German hands at the time of the proclamation.
In the Chapter on Vorne in Preserving Our Litvak Heritage by Josef Rosin the author suggests that Vorne was occupied by the Germans relatively early in the War, which suggests the Russian proclamation would not have affected the Jewish population of Vorne. However, although Josef Rosin's work is a remarkable achievement, covering the entire history of dozens of Jewish communities, there are known to be inaccuracies as it would not have been possible for the author to have verified every fact. In Dan Jacobson book, "Heshel's Kingdom" the author describes being told by his aunt, who was a child in Vorne during WW1, that the entire Jewish population of Vorne had to leave (causing much hardship). As his aunt was giving a first hand account this is most likely to be correct.
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