KEIDAN E-LIST ARCHIVES, 1997 - Vol. 3
(May - June)
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From: "Gladys E. Camber" 4/22/97 1:34
Subject: Keidan? Close Enough
Hi, I'm the new kid on the block. I don't claim any direct link to
Keidan itself, but Andy Cassel's persistent patience with my pestering
emails has convinced me that Kaunas comes pretty close. Actually, if it
hadn't been for his kind assistance in figuring out that the "Kowno, Russia"
on my grandfather's Scottish birth record and the "Keowno, Poland" on my
cousin's birth record were now Kaunas, I wouldn't have made it to the front
door.
If anyone had told me a month ago that there was a support group for
people from the Baltic States who ended up in South Africa, I would have
laughed. It seems, however, that it truly is possible to find just about
anything on the internet, and I am truly grateful that there is such a place
as the Keidan site and people like Andy and Bruce Kahn.
I find myself about to have a first try at searching records in
Lithuania, to find the link which I am sure is there between the Camberg
family in South Africa and Australia, and the Camber family in the U.S.
(They aren't quite so efficient in their spelling as we are, but it's the
same family.)
What I would really like is to find the birth record for my great
grandfather, Lewis Camberg, to hopefully find that his father is also the
father of Gershon Camberg (1861 - 1942). (He is the grandfather of my
cousin in Johannesburg.) What I have to start with, however, is a firm date
of marriage for my great grandparents, Lewis and Hannah, of 15 August 1871.
Without even an approximate birth date for Lewis, I am thinking I should see
what kind of information there might be on the marriage certificate and try
to work from there.
I would be curious to know if anyone else is familiar with the kind of
information available on Lithuanian marriage records, and also the best form
of payment to send there. (At this point, I am thinking of going through
the Lithuanian State Historical Archives.)
I would appreciate anyone's input. The information which abounds at
your email site has already been quite valuable in giving me some insights
into how to go about this. Thank you for that.
- Ken Camber
Salem, Oregon
email: hapnken@teleport.com
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From: Bernard Seeff 4/22/97 4:34
Subject: Re: Keidan? Close Enough
Dear Ken
Your cousin, Dennis, contacted me yesterday to ask if I could help you
with your search in South Africa.
Please let me know if there is anything specific that I can help you
with.
Regards,
Bernard
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From: Dcochelin@aol.com 5/4/97 18:07
Subject: Re: Keidan, Lithuania
Dear Andrew,
Thank you for the web site and your web page and your research.
In reading the historical memoirs, I scrolled ahead quickly to the time
when I think my grandmother may have left Keidan. When I read the paragraph
about the population being shipped on boxcars in 1915, I doubled over and
wept and shook, for I now know that is what happened to my grandmother. She
would have been about 15 years old in 1915. She told me about that trip.
Her parents died on that trip, and their bodies were thrown off of the train
into the snow. She told me they were so hungry that they had to eat dirt.
Life for her was always a struggle, and I never understood her pain and
ability to survive until I was old enough and mature.
Bubbi's Certificate of Citizenship hangs on my office wall, showing a
picture of a 38 year old woman, who looks about 58. I look at her photo
every day, and makes me appreciate how far I have come...that certificate
hangs next to my law school diploma.
Deborah Cochelin
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From: 5/4/97 18:30
Subject: Keidan
Deborah, My grandfather immigrated from Keidan to Chicago on a cattle boat
and train. He was dead before my birth.
I have addressed my message to the Keidan group. I suggest that you send a
message to the group introducing yourself and describing your information
to me. Possibly one of them has suggestions as to how to proceed.
Andrew Cassel posted the Keidan home page and I am sure he will gladly
introduce himself and direct you to his beautiful piece of work.
Bert
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From: Dcochelin@aol.com 5/4/97 22:34
Subject: Re: Keidan, Lithuania
I am embarrassed to say that I have somehow managed to have forgotten my
grandmother's maiden name. However, I am planning to obtain her death
certificate in the near future which should state her maiden name. Bubbi's
parents died on the trains out of Lithuania, so I guess if her paternal
grandparents are buried there, that would be the only link. I do not even
know what her parents prenames were. Unfortunately, my mother died within 11
months of her mother's death in 1985, and there is no one else to tap as to
the line. I am however, trying to contact my mother's first cousin, who is
impossible to reach because of his fame. Any clues how to find someone who
conceals himself besides a private detective? You see, my cousin Hal Blaine
(real name: Harold Belsky, the son of my Bubbi's older sister, Rose) was a
prolific drummer...he did the drumming for Simon and Garfunkel on the "Bridge
Over Troubled Water" album, and was John Denver's drummer for a while, among
other things.
Deborah
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From: andrewsb@smartlink.net (Bob Andrews) 5/6/97 22:34
Subject: Kaplans from Keidan
Hello everyone --
I recently came across some family documents that indicate that my
great-great-grandmother was a Keidan native. Her maiden name was Riva
Kaplan and she was born around 1866. She married Aaron David Epstein, from
Punyavez, and they lived in the Keidan area until moving to New York around
1900. They had children by this time, including Anna (Hinda Golde) and
Harris.
I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who knows of Kaplans from Keidan,
or with any related information.
Bob Andrews
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From: ESalen294@aol.com 5/10/97 16:01
Subject: trip to Keidan
Hello all.
I'm writing to ask if anyone on this list has been to Keidan or other parts
of Lithuania in recent years. I'm thinking about a trip some time in the
coming year and would like to correspond about your experiences traveling
and doing research there.
For those of you who haven't personally visited Lithuania but know of
relevant information on the internet, I'd be grateful for your
recommendations.
Thanks,
Liz Salen (ESalen294@aol.com) Brooklyn, NY
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From: 5/10/97 22:30
Subject:Re: trip to Keidan
Hi Liz, I was in Lithuania a couple of years ago, but at the time I wasn't
aware that my grandfather came from Keidan. My trip took me to Vilna and
then to some of the shtetl's in and around Vishtinetz and over to Poland,
mainly, Suvalk.
Since I was in Lithuania I am sure that things have improved. The food and
water problems were not expected. I didn't have hot water in the hotel in
Vilna and none in any of the hotels that I stayed in. I was able to arrange
to have a bucket of hot water brought to my room every evening for a small
tip. I also used cola to brush my teeth. I would suggest that you not use
the water. Later, I was able to get a hotel employee to find some bottled
water.I is always a good practice in any country to use bottled water.
I suggest that flying in to Frankfort, Germany and then a German airline to
fly to Vilna. Vilna holds the National Archives and a must on your trip.
Vilna has the vital records for Keidan and I would contact Galina Barinova
at the archives in advance to arrange her looking up your family prior to
your arrival. Give her as much time as you can in that she is very busy.
She is second in command and handles all Jewish inquires.
You won't want to get sick from food and I suggest that you only eat cooked
foods and no salads. Fruit that can be peeled is always good. I took two
boxes of breakfast bars. The ones that are called high energy. Take
medicine as a precautionary need. Watch your money and cameras. I always
reloaded a new roll of film every day to limit my loss. I was told before I
left that theft was a problem. I guess it is everywhere including America.
If you have any specific questions please call on me.
Bert Oppenheim
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From: "A.W.Cassel" 5/11/97 20:22
Subject:Re: trip to Keidan
Liz:
I visited Keidan two years ago next month, on a 10-day trip to Lithuania
and Latvia that now seems to have gone by in an eyeblink. With my
father, I flew SAS from Newark to Vilnius, changing planes in
Copenhagen; the fare was about $800 round-trip at the time. We spent
roughly three days in Vilnius, three in Kaunas and the last two in Riga,
spending our last night in the Latvian capital on St. John's or
Midsummer's Night, when the sun stays up well past 11 p.m.
In Vilnius we were guided by Regina Kopilevich, a bright, dedicated and
warm person with a passion for the story of Jewish Lithuania. She took
us around the old city, the ghetto area and to Ponar, the forest where
the mass killings took place during the war. We also visited Trakai, an
interesting (if slightly touristy) historic spot. We stayed in the
Turistas hotel, a Soviet-era place which was undergoing renovation. It
wasn't terrible, but was a long way from western comfort. I didn't mind
it, but my dad (75 then) found it difficult. I think the hotel situation
has improved markedly in the last few years; you ought to check out the
Vilnius In Your Pocket guidebook, which you can get over the web, for
up-to-date details.
In my short visit I was impressed with how passionate Jews there seem to
be regarding the recognition of their history. Everyone we met wanted to
show us the burial sites and memorial markers, and to tell us in detail
all that they knew of the massacres.
Bring rain gear; it rained off and on most of the time we were there.
Weather changes hourly. If you speak any German, you'll be way ahead,
unless of course you know Russian or Lithuanian. English was spoken less
than I had imagined. Food wasn't really a problem; if nothing else was
available or looked appealing you could always order borsht and a boiled
potato. Breakfasts tended to be the best meal of the day, German-style
buffets with lots of fish, cheese and bread. A couple of times
(particularly in Riga) we ate like kings, with blini, smoked salmon,
even caviar at (for us) bargain prices. But it's an adventure. Bottled
water and fresh fruit (particularly bananas, for some reason) were
readily available.
One mistake we made was hitting Vilnius on a weekend, when many places
were shut down. We had to limit our visit to the Jewish Museum to an
hour Monday before leaving for Kaunas. You should give yourself more
time there; Make sure you stop in and see Josef Shapiro and his
bookplate collection; it's pretty amazing.
Our time in Keidan was much too short, only one afternoon. We were taken
there from Kaunas (about 25 mi. away) by Yehuda Ronder, a Jewish
Keidaner with whom I'd been corresponding. He's about 75, lives in
Kaunas; a retired lawyer, he spends much of his time tormenting the
local authorities on behalf of the tiny remnant Jewish community, and I
believe is personally responsible for the maintenance of the old Keidan
Jewish cemetery, as well as of the two mass grave sites outside the
town.
Since our only common language was Yiddish -- and mine is pretty
elementary -- I may have missed some of the details. However, as I
understood him, about half of the old cemetery was destroyed in the last
few decades by a combination of natural erosion (it sits above a ravine
through which the Smilga river flows; when this flooded, part of the
burial ground was washed into the creek) and vandalism. There is now a
road and several houses on what was cemetery land, and some of the old
stones were appropriated by gentile Lithuanians for use as doorsteps.
But a substantial part -- I guessed about 100 gravestones, but others
tell me it may be as many as 450 -- remains. Ronder at first indicated
that this constituted the newer portion of the cemetery, and that the
burials here took place (I thought) from about 1930 until the massacre.
However, to our great surprise and amazement, we discovered in about the
middle of the cemetery the gravestones of my great-grandparents, Sheyna
Chaya and Moshe Zusman Cassel, who died in 1914 and 1915 respectively.
As for Keidan itself, the town is also remarkably well preserved. The
main synagogue and bes-medresh are both abandoned, but standing. At
least a few dozen houses remain which Ronder identified as former Jewish
homes -- some with doorposts that still show traces of the nail-holes
where mezuzot were hung. There is a "Zydu" or "Jews" street, although
this is not, as Ronder pointed out, its former name. Commercial
buildings like the old apothecary and office of the Yiddishe Folks-Bank
are also still standing, though the only evidence of the town's former
population are a couple of six-pointed stars in the structures.
Then there is the Kloyz. This former synagogue building -- which is
larger than its name (usually applied to a small prayer-house or chapel)
implies -- is not only standing, it was in the midst of restoration, and
the last I heard had become a shoe store. As best I could understand
Ronder, the work was financed by a Jewish Keidaner now living in Paris,
named Simon Kaplan. This same Simon Kaplan was also the owner of a
not-very-successful Jewish restaurant-nightclub that opened in Vilnius a
couple of years ago, called Jerusalem of Lithuania. I tried contacting
Kaplan in Paris myself, but received no reply.
At any rate, after Keidan we returned to Kovno, where we stayed in a
real fleabag called the Lietuva. The hotel choices in Kaunas were
decidedly less appealing than in Vilnius or Riga; perhaps they've
improved by now. Other than that, Kaunas/Kovno is a beautiful city, well
worth visiting. Again, much of our time was spent at Jewish memorials.
The Ninth Fort, just out of town, is incredible. There is also a
functioning synagogue that is amazing to see. (There's one in Vilnius
too, but we couldn't get in.)
Our guide to Riga was Aleksandr Feigmanis, who had been my first contact
when I began writing blind letters over there in search of my
grandfather's traces. He's all of about 26 years old, a very fine young
man, personable as well as knowlegable, and quite dedicated to
preserving Jewish memory in Latvia. His mentor is a man named Marger
Vesterman, who has produced a guidebook and map of Jewish Riga, and both
have been quite active, during the few short years since the Soviet
collapse, in the construction of Jewish monuments, such as a very
moving one on the site of the former Riga Choral Shul, which was burned
by the Nazis (murdering about 300 Jews inside) on July 4, 1941.
Prices in Lithuania were quite low; at the time, the exchange rate was
fixed at 4 Lits to the dollar. They've had some serious banking problems
there in the last couple of years, so I don't know how that might have
changed. We found it very handy to carry U.S. dollars. Latvia seemed
much more expensive than Lithuania, for reasons I didn't understand.
Riga is a much bigger city, and the old town is gorgeous.
There's a ton of material on the web with tourist & travel information
about the Baltics. The "in your Pocket" guides were excellent, at least
a couple of years back, and there is probably lots more available now.
Also, JewishGen has info files on Baltic travel, some of it first-person
accounts. And among our Keidan list members, Zvi Halevy and Bert
Oppenheim have visited Lithuania and can offer some pointers. It's
absolutely a worthwhile trip to make; if you do go to Keidan, I hope
you'll have the chance to poke around and maybe develop some contacts
there. Let me know if you have more specific questions.
Some Internet links:
http://ww w.omnitel.net/OurSite/Travel/viyp/vihome.htm
http://www.ciesin.ee/LITHUANIA/
http://www.city.net/countries/lithuania/vilnius/
http://base.acadlib.lv/e/database/balt_bib/descript/203.htm
http://www.mcs.com/~thomas/www/lt/nemunas/cities/kaunas.html
http://neris.mii.lt/towns/vilnius/vilnius.html
http://www.virtual.co.il/communities/wjcbook/lithuan/index.htm
http://nearnet.gnn.com/gnn/meta/travel/index.html
Good luck,
Andy
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From: Bruce Kahn 5/12/97 23:27
Subject: Re: trip to Keidan
At 07:30 PM 5/10/97 -0700, bert.oppenheim@worldnet.att.net wrote:
>Since I was in Lithuania I am sure that things have improved.
I have been traveling to Lithuania approximately once a year since 1994
(including Keidan in 1994) and the only thing certain is that things are
improving/westernising.
>I didn't have hot water in the hotel in
>Vilna and none in any of the hotels that I stayed in.
This sounds a bit extreme. I have not encountered much in the way of hot
water problems since my first trip there. But I am a much more savvy
traveler now, and I have, you might say, learned that this can be a problem.
It is a very good idea to check if your accomodations have hot water before
booking/confirming them.
>I would suggest that you not use
>the water. Later, I was able to get a hotel employee to find some bottled
>water.I is always a good practice in any country to use bottled water.
It is a good idea to use bottled water when you can, but I generally don't
bother for brushing my teeth, and I have never had any trouble. I don't
think that the water is so unsafe that you could get sick from it, but it
certainly doesn't taste like what we are accustomed to.
>I suggest that flying in to Frankfort, Germany and then a German airline to
fly to Vilna.
There are many options including Frankfurt. You can fly directly from
Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, London, Paris, and Rome on Lithuanian
Airlines, or via Copenhagen (on SAS), Helsinki on Finnair, etc.
>You won't want to get sick from food and I suggest that you only eat cooked
>foods and no salads.
This is a great exageration, I think. There isn't any problem eating
salads. Many of my fellow travelers have eaten nothing BUT fruits and
vegetables, and primarily salads.
>I was told before I
>left that theft was a problem. I guess it is everywhere including America.
Yes, but in a very different sense. You don't have to worry about violent
crime. You won't be mugged. But don't leave anything unattended,
particularly in vehicles.
Bruce Kahn bkahn@servtech.com
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From: Bruce Kahn 5/12/97 23:27
Subject: Re: trip to Keidan
At 08:22 PM 5/11/97 -0400, A.W.Cassel wrote:
>We stayed in the
>Turistas hotel, a Soviet-era place which was undergoing renovation. It
>wasn't terrible, but was a long way from western comfort.
Quite true. I have stayed in worse, but there are also some much better
ones now.
>I think the hotel situation
>has improved markedly in the last few years; you ought to check out the
>Vilnius In Your Pocket guidebook, which you can get over the web, for
>up-to-date details.
Definitely good advice.
>Bottled water and fresh fruit (particularly bananas, for some reason) were
>readily available.
Bananas are an interesting item. I think that you will find them quite
popular all over the "East Bloc". It has to do with them being unavailable
for so many years. Now that they are available, they are quite popular.
>Make sure you stop in and see Josef Shapiro and his bookplate collection;
it's pretty amazing.
Ah yes, Josef is my 3rd cousin once removed. Quite an amazing guy! His Ex
Libris collection (only one of many of his) is the largest in the former USSR.
>There is a "Zydu" or "Jews" street, although
>this is not, as Ronder pointed out, its former name.
There are photographs of this on my web site.
>At any rate, after Keidan we returned to Kovno, where we stayed in a
>real fleabag called the Lietuva. The hotel choices in Kaunas were
>decidedly less appealing than in Vilnius or Riga; perhaps they've
>improved by now.
Yes, much.
>Prices in Lithuania were quite low; at the time, the exchange rate was
>fixed at 4 Lits to the dollar.
Still is.
>We found it very handy to carry U.S. dollars.
This is still the best way.
>There's a ton of material on the web with tourist & travel information
>about the Baltics. The "in your Pocket" guides were excellent, at least
>a couple of years back, and there is probably lots more available now.
Definitely.
>Some Internet links:
>
Andy, I am offended (g). How many of these sites offer photographs of
Jewish Keidan, and tips for Jewish research and travel there?
'Nuff said. Check out
Bruce Kahn bkahn@servtech.com
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From: ESalen294@aol.com 6/22/97 6:52
Subject: Landsmanshaftn archives
Hello all. Has anyone on this list done any research on the membership of a
Keidaner society? If not, would this not be a worthwhile project for our
SIG?
There have been some postings on JewishGen lately referring to the YIVO
Landsmanshaftn Archive. In my copy of "Genealogical Resources in the New
York Metropolitan Area" it says that the Archive includes "minutes...;
financial records, including membership dues books; records of special
committees (relief, burial, loan fund, old age...); membership records
(application lists, cards, censuses); burial records (golden books listing
names, dates of death, records of interments, endowments, cemetery maps,
burial permits); anniversary celebration and banquest programs, menus,
journals, photographs; correspondence, meeting announcements, and bulletins;
honorary certificates and citations; memorial (yizkor) books, publications
manuscripts and materials; ...personal immigration records and papers of
society members."
This list of items is derived from "A Guide to YIVO's Landsmanshaftn
Archive." Sounds like a wealth of information may be available.
What do you think?
Liz Salen (ESalen294@aol.com) Brooklyn, NY
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From: "A.W.Cassel" 6/22/97 18:45
Subject:Re: Landsmanshaftn archives
Liz:
You're right on target that YIVO's Landsmanshaftn archives are an
valuable resource; in fact, it's there that I discovered a huge trove of
material about Keidan, and was so absorbed by it all that I ultimately
conceived the Keidan web site & email list. The Keidaner Association
file at YIVO consists of two things: 1) a copy of the 1930 association
anniversary book, containing my grandfather's history of Keidan an other
articles; and 2) a partial collection of monthly Keidaner Association
bulletins running from 1936 to 1949, most of them edited by my
grandfather, with numerous essays, sketches and other articles in
Yiddish & English. Most of what's on the Keidan web site is taken from
these two sources, translated from the Yiddish. As for the soceity
membership list, I think I've posted somewhere the list that appeared in
the 1930 book. A later list is in the posession of Victor Kane, the
Keidaner Assn.'s last secretary-treasurer, who kept a little book with
the name of every member crossed off as they died. I visited Victor in
his Bronx home in 1990; if you'd like to contact him yourself, let me
know and I'll send the address.
By the way, a second file of Keidaner Association material similar to
Yivo's is in the American Jewish Historical Society archive at Brandeis
U. I've copied all the bulletins from both collections (they have
overlapping but not identical series') so I guess I've got the most
complete collection in existence, (although YIVO and the AJHS will
presumablyi merge theirs when they both move to the new joint Jewish
history center now under construction in New York.)
On another topic, this week I received a package of photographs taken
recently at the Keidan Jewish cemetery, by a recent traveler there. This
person photographed more than 90 of the 200 or so tombstones still
standing at the cemetery; however, of the photos I received, I can only
decipher about 37. The rest are either too deteriorated to read, or just
need some highlighting in order to be photographed effectively. At any
rate, I'm attaching those names and dates from the gravestones that are
readable, and they include a couple of names that I know are of interest
to members of this group.
R' Kapel Ber b'r Tsvi ABRAMOVITZ
10 Elul 5692/1932
"Advokatas ... "
Shmuel Henokh b'r Avroham ALTMONER
6 Adar 2 5697/1937
Yitzhak b'r Yehuda APELSHTEIN
25 Kislev 5684/1934
Reb Moshe b'r Shmuel BEKER
16 Ab 5693/1933
Eliezer Eliahu B'r Yitzhak BERGEL
17 Ab 5690/1930
Yosef Shraga b'r Eliezer BERKMAN
6 Shevet, 5686/1926
Simeon b'r Chaim Natan BERNSTEIN
5686/1926
Reb Avroham Mordechai b'r Yehoshua BERNSTEIN
16 Sivan, 5676/1916
Rochel b'r Chaim BIRMAN ?
26 Nisan, 5689/1929
Chaim Leib b'r Tsvi BLASER (?)
26 Tevet, 5677/1917
Sheyna Chaya CASSEL b'r Aizik
3 Elul, 5674/Aug. 25, 1914
Chaim B'r Yehuda CHARNES
2 Iyar 5690/1930
Riva Reyza COHEN b'r Boruch
27 Tevet, 5680/1920
Sarah COHEN b'r Zalmen haCohen
9 Nisan, 5684/1924
(double stone)
Mrs. Fruma Gitl DITZ b'r Dovid Yosef
7 Heshvan, 5692/1932
Youth Dovid Yosef ben Benyomin
27 Nisan, 5691/1931
Moshe DVARKOVITZ
5683/ 1923
Meyer Mikhl ben HaRav HaTzadek R' Shmuel FELDBERG
17 Adar 5690/1930
Meir Dovid b'r Tzodek FENSTER
26 Kislev 1940
Mordechai Tsvi b'r (illegible) GEBEN
2 Nisan 5682/1922
Chana Miriam KAMBER b'r Yitzhak
21 Kislev, 5690/1930
Moshe b'r Eliahu KIR
5684/1924
Yekhezkel b'r Avroham PERLMAN
16 Adar 5685/1925
Peseh Leah ROM b'r Yitzhak
4 Ab, 5690/1930
Chava Beyle b'r Aba Kalman RUSHKIM (DUSHKIM?)
14 Tamuz, 5690/1930
R. Chaim Leib b'r Yosef HaLevi SEGAL
6 Adar(1) 5681/1921
Devorah Miriam SHAMESH b'r Chaim
7 Iyar 5677/1917
Yisroel Moshe b'r Hillel SHAPIRO
21 Kislev 5690/1930
Moshe b'r Sholem Halevi SHAPIRO
?Adar 5696/1936
R' Peseh b'r Hoshea Meir SHER
20 Kislev 5694/1934
Rochel SHLAPOBERSKI b'r Arieh?
(date illegible)
Borukh b'r Yisroel SHLAPOBERSKI
14 Tevet 5684/1924
Yosef Yakov SHUR ben HaRav HaGoen ? ? Shmuel Meir
25 Nisan 5684/1924
Harav HaGaon R' Shmuel Meir Ben HaGaon R' Yosef Yakov SHUR
21 Heshvan, 5655/1895
Henokh b'r Chaim TOYB
3 Nisan 5684/1924
Chaim b'r Yehuda Leib VULFOVITS
27 Kislev 5686/1926 ?
Yisrael Hirsh b'r Yehuda Leib ZIF
22 Adar 1 5689/1929
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From: Zvi Griliches 6/23/97 20:01
Subject: Re: Living Litvaks
Some of you may not be aware that there are still active organizations of
"Lithuanian Jews", primarily survivors, active both in the U.S. (NYC and
Miami) and Israel. The Israeli organization puts out a publication
GACHELET, in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish, and has a library and archive
in Tel Aviv.
The current issue, May 1997, reports on a letter by Eliyahu Ginzberg to
Yehuda Karni from Ramat Hashofet, about the fate of Keidan Jewry in the
Holocaust, based on various sources, but especially on interviews with the
late Haim Runder, a survivor from Keidan. The letter contains a list of
those who were killed in the early "actions". It is now in the Archive of
the Association. I presume it should be of interest to these lists.
Perhaps it is already known.
Zvi
Zvi Griliches grilic@kuznets.harvard.edu
Dept of Economics
Harvard University 617-495-2181
Cambridge, MA 02138 495-7730f
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From: "A. Cassel" 6/24/97 11:19
Subject:Re: Living Litvaks
Zvi Griliches:
Thanks very much for the note re Gachelet. Would it be possible to
reproduce the English version of the article you mention for this list? I
myself was not aware of the publication, and would be fascinated to see it.
Haim Runder, or Ronder, was the cousin or uncle of Yehuda Ronder, who lives
in Kaunas, and whom I met when I visited Keidan two years ago.
I wonder, also, if it's possible to make contact with representatives of
the Lithuanian survivors' organizations, with the idea of possibly tapping
their knowlege and resources for our list?
Regards,
Andy
-=-
From: Zvi Griliches 6/24/97 20:08
Subject: Re: Living Litvaks
The story in Gachelet is only in Hebrew, under the general heading of the
"Central Archive for the History of Lithuanian Jewry". I abstracted the
story in my previous message. Unfortunately, I dont have the time now for
a full translation. But the operational question is can one of the
Keidaners in Israel get an actual copy of the Ginzberg letter?
I"ll be happy to send a copy of the Hebrew story to those of you who send
me their snail-mail address.
By the way, the story is signed by Batya Kvint. The address of the
Association of the Lithuanian Jews in Israel is 1 Hamelech David Str, Tel
Aviv 64953, Tel 6964812, fax 6954821.
Zvi
Zvi Griliches grilic@kuznets.harvard.edu
Dept of Economics
Harvard University 617-495-2181
Cambridge, MA 02138 495-7730f
-=-
>Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 10:55:57
>To: keidan@mail.jewishgen.org
>From: halevy
>
>A few days ago Zvi Griliche told us about the journal Gachelet, the orgasn
of the Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel. I have obtained the journal
from the office of the Assiociation and have translated the article which is
really a long note on the murder of the Jews in Keidan during the Holocaust.
Gachelet which means ember or glowing coal in Hebrew is a journal which
would interest many of us I believe. In the latest issue there are 26 pages
in Hebrew, three in Yiddish and 11 in English. I spoke to a few people in
their office and I used only Hebrew. Among themselves they seemed to use
Hebrew. Here is the brief article translated in full.
>
>The Bitter Fate of the Jews of Keidan and Its Surroundings
>(Ariogola, Dotnova, Kruk and Shat)
>According to the notes of Eliahu Ginzburg.
>Presented to us by Eliezer Rabonovitz from Ramat Hashofet.
>
>Here is a summary from the letter of Yehuda Karni, a member of Ramat
Hashofet and a native of Keidan (The editor).
>
>The material was gathered from various sources including the Keidan
Memorial Book and, in the main, conversations with Chaim Rodner, a Keidan
survivor, who died shortly before he was to immigrate to Israel.
>The letter describes in minute detail the history of the Jews in Keidan
from 24 June 1941 until the murder by shooting in pits which were dug for
that purpose by Russian prisoners in the course of Augusy l941.
> In the murder participated Lithuanian "partisans," Shavliites and
"leaders"of Keidan including the headmaster of the Lithuanian high school
and all of the teachers. Others included Arzhanski, a doctor of the district
hospital, the pharmacist Stantsas, the mayor of Keidan Publiar and the
investigating magistrate Shaprauchik. During the murder there were efforts
at resistance by the Keidan Jews but everything ended in murder in the
cruelest manner opossible.
> It is worth mentioning a well-known person named Tsadok Shlapovarski
who succeeded in grabing the revolver of the murderer Alfsas Chisas and
wounded him in the teeth.
> Few Jews in Keidan succeeding in escaping and joining the ranks of the
fighters against nazism either among the ranks of the partisans or in the
Red Army.
> An exact list is attached to the letter of those murdered in the small
towns of Lithuania by date and the number of those killed.
>Batya Kvint
>
> I will write a letter to Eliezer Rabinovitz in Ramat Hashofet and ask
for a photocopy of the letter.
>
>Zvi Halevy
>
Zvi Halevy
8/27 Levitan Street
Tel Aviv
Israel 69204
Phone :(03) 6411907 Fax: (03) 6421927
e-mail address: halevy@netmedia.net.il
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