THE CITY OF KEIDAN: An Historical Memoir by Boruch Chaim (Alter) Cassel

Alexander II was assassinated in March, 1881. The assumption of power by Alexander III opened an era of terrible pogroms against Jews throughout Russia. However, in Lithuania, Count Totleben, as governor-general, protected the Jews from pogroms. At times special units of Cossacks were sent in to protect the Jews.

For generations, from the reign of the Radzivills through the Czapskis, property owners in Keidan paid real estate taxes to the court of the local rulers, since the city belonged to them. But when the court was confiscated by the Russians after the Polish revolt, the residents sued to cancel their real estate taxes, claiming special privileges awarded them by the Queen of Poland, and also because Stanislaw had granted Keidan the status of a crown city. The lawsuit stretched out for years, and was finally settled on September 25, 1886, when the provincial court of Kovno ruled that property owners in Keidan no longer were obliged to pay taxes for the land on which their homes sat.

Much of the land in Keidan still belonged to the Calvinists, by then so diminished that there no longer were Sunday prayer services in the church. Once a year a preacher from Vilna conducted services for the handful of local Calvinists. The central part of the city around the church was built up with homes and stores, which were largely rented by Jews from the Calvinists.

After the Russians dissolved the autonomous municipality that had existed under the Poles, the town hall was rented as a saloon to a Jew. The man became known by the nickname "Podratushe," which means "beneath the town hall." Until the late 1880's one of the rooms in the town hall served as a small synagogue,

A minyan is the quorum of ten male adults required for formal prayer services.

known as "the soldiers' minyan," and was attended mainly by ex-soldiers.

Before the 1880's there was hardly any Jewish emigration from Keidan, except for some pious old Jews who would occasionally move to Palestine in order to die in the Holy Land. But a heavy emigration of Jews to America began in the 1880's after Alexander III's assumption of power, when pogroms spread through Russia and Jews were expelled from Moscow and other Russian cities. Later, many Jews left for England and South Africa, but most went to America.

Keidan was also bitten with enthusiasm to emigrate, especially after Count Totleben's death, when the heavy hand of Alexander III's regime was felt in the city. The first to leave were from the poor and working classes. Typically, a young man left to escape military service, and as he earned money and worked himself up in America he sent for his parents and eventually for other relatives as well.

At first, rich property owners were ashamed to admit that someone from their family had gone to America. Young people from wealthy families generally went to big cities to study, but eventually even they started emigrating, some to America, some to South Africa. As they sent money home, the shame of emigrating dissolved even among the wealthy.

At the end of the 1880's a large section of Smilga Street and its surrounding small streets were consumed by a fire. A volunteer firefighters' group was then organized. The first infirmary was established in 1888 in rented quarters. Later, the widow of Count Totleben erected a special infirmary building named after her husband on the courtyard road near the Smilga river.

In the early 1880's the Keidan talmud torah [Hebrew elementary school], which had been long neglected, was converted into a modern school, where, in addition to Jewish subjects, one studied Russian and other topics at the same level as in the existing Russian elementary school. Also, in 1892 the Lutheran community founded an elementary school near the German church. In the same year, the first bank opened in Keidan. It was a branch of the Vilna commercial bank. In a short time the volume of transactions in the bank exceeded a million rubles annually.

One Yosef Blumson (Yoseh Bereh Fachter's) devoted his life to various Zionist, Jewish-nationalist and cultural activities. Jews in Keidan were now heavily involved in the Haskala movement. Many were also active in an important Zionist organization, the Khovevei Zion [Lovers of Zion], especially since a mainstay of the group was Moshe Leib Lilienblum of Keidan.

In 1897 political Zionism arose.

The Jewish Labor Bund was a socialist labor party which was important in eastern Europe until World War II.

Many young people in Keidan were drawn into the movement, and waged battles against opponents of Zionism from the camps of the orthodox, and against the revolutionary workers in the Bund. The Bund also had supporters in Keidan, and there were many debates and conflicts between Bundists and members of the Zionist group, the Poale Zion [Workers of Zion].

In 1898 S.M. Ginzburg and P.S. Marek of St. Petersburg published announcements in the journals "Ha-Melitz," "Voskhod" and "Ha-Tzefirah,"asking Jewish intellectuals in Russia with ties with the masses to gather Jewish folk songs.

The Hebrew weeklies "Ha-Melitz" (The Interpreter) and "Ha-Tzefirah" (The Dawn) published in St. Petersburg and Warsaw respectively, and the Russian weekly "Voskhod" (The Sunrise) of St. Petersburg promoted enlightenment, Zionism and Jewish nationalism during this period.

There was a response from towns and cities, resulting in an anthology which was published in 1901 under the editorship of Ginzburg and Marek. It was the first book of such folksongs to appear in Russia.

"Evreiskiye Narodniye Pesni v Rossii" (Jewish Folk Music in Russia), published 1901 in St. Petersburg, [reissued 1991 in photocopy by Bar Ilan University Press, Jerusalem.].

There were 376 folk songs in the book, of which 154 were collected in and around Keidan by the author of this article and his friend, Dr. Aaron Leib Pick.

Incidentally, the book imprecisely states that the songs collected by Cassel and Pick came from Kovno province. In fact, they were collected in Keidan. These songs were the best and most interesting in the collection.

In those days, the Jews in Keidan lived without discernible differences from the other Jewish populations in the cities and towns throughout Russia. Yet in some ways Keidan was somewhat different from other Jewish communities. The Totleben family - the widow of the count, the new young count and the sons-in-law - had high status in the Russian government. Their friendly attitude toward Jews was very beneficial for the Jewish community of Keidan. Remarkably, even after the death of Alexander III and the bloody coronation of Nicholas II, when Jewish life and blood became worthless throughout Russia, the life of Jews in Keidan was not seriously affected.

Several residents of Keidan died at the front in the Russo-Japanese war in 1904. The 1905 revolution, which was put down with bloodbaths throughout Russia, passed over Keidan without consequence. When the systematic persecution of revolutionaries and ordinary Jews by Nicholas II's regime took place everywhere in Russia, again Keidan was not affected.

It is interesting that Stolypin,

P.A. Stolypin, prime minister of Russia from 1906 until his assassination in 1911.

who was known as "the black prime minister" and was Nicholas II's right-hand man, had his estate in the environs of Keidan. He was the leader of the nobility of the Kovno district, and had been the military draft representative in Keidan even before he was prime minister. He came to Keidan often and was known to do favors for many of the local Jews who knew him and traded with him. Throughout Russia, Stolypin was the nemesis of the Jews. Yet when he visited Keidan he remained their old, familiar, joking friend.

In 1897 the government assumed a monopoly on the whiskey trade which closed down the saloons which were almost all Jewish-owned. Thus, many Jews found themselves without a livelihood.

From 1881 to 1911 the Russian government carried on what the Jewish historian Dubnow refers to as the thirty-year war against the Jews. Stolypin was assassinated in Kiev in 1911, but this did not affect Jews in Keidan. But life was getting harder, because business was falling off and educational opportunities for young people were diminishing. More and more youths were leaving Keidan. The promenade walk - the old bridge over the Neviasha river which had long served as a rendezvous for young people and was packed with strollers on evenings, Sabbaths and holidays - became empty. The Jewish population was diminished, and it was difficult to earn a living. Many of the Jewish residents existed on stipends sent by relatives from abroad or from other cities in Russia.

A raging antisemitism burned in Poland and Russia, fed by the chauvinistic national movement of the Poles on one hand, and the Black Monarchists in Russia on the other. This drove many Jews to support the Lithuanian nationalists. The latter, who were culturally oppressed by both the Russians and the Polish Catholic church, welcomed support from their intellectual neighbors - the Jews.

Meanwhile, the political skies in Europe were darkening as the year 1914 approached. In the spring of 1914, a significant portion of Keidan burned down: From the bridge to the beginning of the main street and from the market to the synagogue courtyard. The fire was a foreboding of the coming world conflagration.

The insanity of world war ignited Europe on August 1, 1914, when Austria declared war on Serbia. Immediately Poland and Lithuania became fields of slaughter. Everyone suffered terribly, but Jews were the main victims. The war provided the terribly anti-semitic Poles with new excuses for attacking the Jews. Both the Russians and Germans tried to ingratiate themselves with the Poles to gain their alliance, and the Poles took advantage of this by falsely accusing Jews of spying against Russia and Germany.

The suffering of the Jews in those days is a story of its own. At the start of winter in 1914, many Jews from nearby villages came into Keidan. These were mostly older people and women, the youths having been swallowed up in the war. Germany achieved victory after victory, capturing many Polish and Lithuanian cities and inflicting heavy damages on the Russian army. The thoroughly corrupt Russian government attributed their failures, not to the ineptitude of their commanders and war ministers, but to Jewish espionage. Nikolai Nikolaevich, head of the Russian armies on the eastern front and Tsar Nikolai's uncle, decided that they could succeed against the Germans only if they evacuated all Jews from the region. So in March, 1915 the Russians began transporting the Jews of Poland and Lithuania deeper into Russia.

In Keidan and in Kovno the orders came on May 16: by midnight on May 18 all Jews - young, old, women, children, even the sick - must leave the town. Any Jew remaining after midnight would be hanged. The Jews were mercilessly packed into boxcars at the train station, the doors were sealed and the trains took off in various directions. People carried with them only the most minimal possessions.

Thus, the Keidan Jewish community, together with the recently arrived refugees, disappeared, repeating the historical expulsion of 1495 under the ruler Alexander. Many Keidan Jews went to Vilna, some went to Hamel, some to southern Russia. Many were dragged off deep into Russia, even as far as Siberia. Some died enroute. The blow fell equally on the "Keidaner aristocracy" as on the rest; Nikolai Nikolaevich made no distinction.

As soon as the Jews left, the Christians divided up all Jewish property among themselves - homes, furniture, bedding, clothes. Eventually they moved into the Jewish homes. Nikolai Nikolaevich's strategy of clearing out the Jews did not help the Russians, and they were forced to abandon Keidan, burning the wooden bridge over the Neviasha behind them. The Germans rebuilt the bridge. The Germans entered Keidan without firing a shot. Later there was a half-hearted exchange of fire with the retreating Russians. The Russian regime in Keidan was over.

Later, when the Germans occupied Vilna, the Jews of Keidan who had been transported there obtained permission from the German military government to return to Keidan. When they returned, the Germans helped them regain their homes. The Germans also helped them recover some of their household goods, although most of them had disappeared. These Jewish families who returned from Vilna formed the nucleus of a new Jewish community in Keidan. Slowly, more Jews returned from other towns, and the Jewish community of Keidan resumed life under German occupation. The same pattern was repeated in other towns and cities of the region.

Peace brought with it the creation of a number of new nations, including Lithuania. After 500 years of domination by foreign powers and cultures, Lithuania once again became a free nation, thanks to the Versailles peace treaty. Of the old Lithuania whose last flames of heathen glory were extinguished in 1417, only a small remnant now remained, the equivalent of several Russian provinces. And before the new, independent Lithuanian republic had come into being, Poland managed to diminish Lithuania by snatching away the capital city of Vilna.

The Lithuanians were left without their own culture, without a literary language or body of literature, without political experience, without knowledge of self-government or politics. They were tossed about erratically in their attempts to govern themselves. Thus, at one moment they were friendly toward the Jews, hoping for their support in building their new republic. Then in unexpected and chauvinistic swings of mood, the Lithuanians would turn to persecuting and suppressing Jews.

The Lithuanians replaced their lost capital of Vilna with Kovno. Keidan became the provincial capital, the site of the governor's offices. The Totleben family castle was nationalized and turned into an agricultural college. A Lithuanian gymnasium, and Hebrew and Yiddish high schools were established in Keidan. Many of the expelled Jews returned to Keidan, and with great efforts eventually succeeded in recovering their stolen homes. Many Jews who were not from Keidan originally settled in the city, and once again the Jewish community began to grow.

The old city of Keidan was renewed as a municipality, with representation in the free Lithuanian republic. But without the rich Russian hinterland, at odds with Poland over Vilna, in dispute with Germany because of the loss of the port city of Memel, Lithuania was cut off from the outside world. It was a country without industries, without exports or imports, with impoverished farmlands and stripped forests. Keidan was poor, had no sources of revenue and no prospects for improvement in the foreseeable future. The Jews sustained themselves from gardening, handicrafts, small trade, and some support from overseas relatives.

At this juncture, the chaotic political situation plays havoc with the economy, which feeds into the mood of anti-semitism, which keeps the Jews downtrodden in this free republic and adversely affects the chances for Lithuanian recovery.

What the country needs is someone like Gedimines, who realized that a free Jewish community with equal rights was necessary for the development of Lithuania. And the country also needs someone like Christopher Radzivill, who, by attracting a large Jewish population and granting them full rights, turned Keidan into one of the most important cities in Zamut.

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