LT-trav 12412 961122 Travels and Research in Lithuania +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Travels and Research in Lithuania by Linda Cantor +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ A JewishGen InfoFile Impressions ~~~~~~~~~~~ I would like to share with you some of the experiences I had this past July, 1995 exploring my roots in Lithuania. My Dad, Henry, and I travelled to Vilnius, via Helsinki, Finland, on Finnair and were met at Vilnius Airport by Regina Kopilevich, whom I had engaged to be our guide. We were whisked to our hotel for check-in and immediately set out to explore Jewish Vilnius. Our first stop, the Lithuanian State Jewish Museum set the tone for our visit by providing a photographic record of the Holocaust in Lithuania. Most sights in Jewish Lithuania - killing fields and memorials to the dead - remind you that almost all of Lithuanian Jewry was killed during World War II. The next day we began our journeys to the shtetlach of our ancestors with a visit to Uzpaliai - the "Ushpol" my Dad remembers his father and grandfather talking about - and, in the next several days, to Rokiskis and Kupiskis, both towns that were once the home of Cantor and Cohen family members. In addition, we stopped to explore many of the surrounding towns and Jewish cemeteries in Uzpaliai, Rokiskis, Vyzounas, Skapiskis, Pandelys, Suvainiskis, Birzai, and Vabalninkas. (northeastern Lithuania) There were no remaining Jews or synagogues in any of the communities but, in the smaller towns, the cemeteries appeared to be undisturbed. As a matter of fact, the grass was cut and reasonably maintained in most cases. We happened to chance upon a young man cleaning up the cemetery in Vabalninkas the modern Lithuanian way - with a scythe. We later discovered through conversations with Josef Levinson, the editor of Jerusalem of Lithuania and an activist in the Lithuanian Jewish community, that the present government of Lithuania has asked the local governments to care for the remaining Jewish cemeteries - a pleasant surprise. Wherever we explored we spoke to locals, particularly elderly ones, and found that they were quite friendly and willing to talk to us. People spent time with us, answered our questions, invited us into their homes, and were helpful. They spoke truthfully about the past, telling us how our families were killed - mostly by Lithuanians, shortly before German troops arrived in their communities. Many of the towns have memorials marking the killing fields and mass graves although most of these are hidden in forests and unmarked by directional signs. We spent an entire day in Kupiskis, the home of my paternal grandmother's Cohen family and of several branches of the Cantor family. We spoke to a number of elderly residents, several of whom remembered some of my Trapido relatives (Cantor cousins) who lived and had businesses in Kupiskis until the Holocaust. We met with the mayor and visited the local archives, where we were allowed to read the Jewish Metrical books in their possession. Records ~~~~~~~ The Jewish Metrical books covered death, birth and marriage records for Kupiskis for the years 1925 through 1940. (Earlier years' records are in the State Historical Archives in Vilnius.) I can't express the feeling we had as we sat and listened to Regina read the names of every Jewish baby born, of every Jewish bride and groom married, and of each Jewish man and woman who died in those years. The records, written in Lithuanian and in Yiddish, contained a great deal of genealogical information. For example, each marriage entry provided the name of the bride and groom, their ages, their fathers' names, their occupations, and their hometowns; each birth record provided the child's name, the name of the father, the first as well as maiden name of mother, the father's occupation, date of birth, and place of birth; and the death records provided the name of the deceased, their father's name, name of mother in some cases, the age of the deceased, and date and cause of death. I was able to photograph and take videos of the records I found for my Trapido cousins and will now be able to show these to the children and grandchildren of the people in the records. One of the nicest parts of genealogy is using it to connect to living family members. Whenever I find records I share them with those relatives who are most closely related to the people in the records. The look on someone's face when they discover the name of a grandparent they never knew or see their parent's name in an official document makes all the hard work worthwhile! We also visited the Lithuanian State Historical Archives (Gerosios Vilties 10, Vilnius 2015 Lithuania) and spoke to Galina Baranova, the Chief Archivist. Galina, who is friendly and charming (many of you heard her speak and met her at the Summer Seminar in Washington, D.C.), gave us a list of all the records that the Archives hold for the towns that we are interested in. The Archives will do the initial research for $70 per family (you must provide a family tree) and will then inform you of the records that they find. You can order the ones you are interested in at $18 per Xerox copy with a translation; $5 for just a Xerox copy; and $13 for just the translation without a Xerox copy. (Write to find out which records are available for your towns.) Galina happened to be working on records from Rokiskis and showed us the Census of 1895, which was quite similar to U.S. Federal censuses and had a great deal of genealogical information - names of family members, ages, occupations, and more. If you are fortunate enough to find records for your ancestral shtetlach, there is a treasure-trove of information to be had! I was able to get birth, marriage and death records for some years for Kupiskis and the 1858 Revision List (tax census) for Uzpaliai. (I will order the 1895 Rokiskis census now that I know it exists.) My family tree expanded, many details were filled in, and I was able to go back an entire generation to my great-great-great grandfather, Hersch Kantorovich. (since his son, Bunim Kantor, was born in 1817, I am assuming that Hersch was born in the 18th century - an exciting break for a genealogist!) In addition, the Kupiskis records enabled me to record my paternal grandmother's Cohen family. I found death records for my great-great-great grandfather, Berko Cohen, my great-great grandfather, Hillel Cohen, and two of his brothers (Moishe Elyash and Leiba) and marriage records for my grandmother's sister, Bluma. Researching Cohen in New York has been extremely difficult but I had no trouble doing so in Kupiskis. (The Cohen records also bring me back to the 18th century - Leiba was born in 1800 . His father, Berko Cohen had to have been born around 1780 or earlier.) Conclusions ~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the things that made this trip different than others that I have taken in the past is the extensive contact that I had with the Jewish community here and in Lithuania. This started with a request for information about travel in Lithuania on JEWISHGEN, the Jewish genealogical bulletin board. I was overwhelmed by the amount of time people spent trying to help me, sending detailed messages with recommendations, hints, warnings, and lots of good advice. Several people willingly offered their telephone numbers and spent time answering my many questions, helping me to plan my trip. Several people who had previously visited Lithuania gave me the names of people to contact and when I did, I was received graciously. I was able to learn, on a personal level, what life was like for Jews living in a largely non-Jewish Lithuania in 1995 as well as about the Jewish Lithuanian experience in World War II. I contacted the family of a JEWISHGENer that I had corresponded with and this resulted in an invitation to spend a day with them at their summer home. My Yiddish as well as my high school French were sorely tried but we did spend hours talking and learning about each others' lives. You can't take photos of these kinds of experiences. But I have come away from this trip with many memories, not just of historical sights and genealogical information, but of people -- a lifestyle that might have been mine if my ancestors had not chosen to leave, of gratitude that they did choose to leave, of sadness for what is now Jewish life in Lithuania, of happiness that most younger people are looking to leave (many people we spoke to told us that their children were in Israel in school and had no plans to return to Lithuania), and of happiness that I walked in the footsteps of my ancestors and was able to share that with my father. Other Sources ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1 - On August 3, 1995, Gary Palgon posted an article by Howard Margol, President, Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia, entitled "Lithuanian Ghetto Lists Discovered" in which Howard discusses records that were uncovered in the Lithuanian archives, as described to him by Rachel Kostanian, the Executive Director of the Jewish State Museum in Vilnius. The lists of people who were incarcerated in the ghettoes of Vilnius, Kaunas, and Siauliai provide information including surname, date of birth, profession and ghetto address. For Vilnius, the lists contain 14,300 names, for Siauliai 4,500 names, and for Kaunas about 5,000 names. The Kaunas list is different than the other two because it was compiled by the Soviets in 1944 after the liberation of the ghetto. You can inquire about your family names on these lists by sending your request to the Jewish State Museum of Lithuania, Pamenkalnio 12, Vilnius 2001, Lithuania. If any names are found, the museum will notify you. Upon receipt of $10.00/ surname (a personal check or money order is OK), a full record of every one on the list with that surname will be sent to you. The museum hopes to publish the complete lists in book form but does not have the necessary funds right now. ($5,000 is needed to publish the records of the Vilnius ghetto alone.) They are anxious to accomplish this in memory of those who were incarcerated in the Vilnius ghetto. If you wish to support this effort, send more than $10.00 per surname, and the extra will go toward this goal. 2 - Yakov Shadevich reports in "Avotaynu," Summer 1995, that a colleague of his recently inventoried until-now uncatalogued records in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives. These records cover the years 1843 to 1915 and include records of gubernia administrative offices, military institutions, police records, courts, financial institutions, and educational and religious organizations. The best results for Jewish genealogists would be expected from box tax records (lists of taxpayers who were required to pay taxes - similar to a census list), family and revision lists (also similar to censuses), and passport lists. He lists the records that exist for each of the following communities: Akniste, Alsedziai, Ariogala, Babtai, Cekiske, Dotnuva, Eisiskes, Grinkiskis, Gruzdzhiai, Jonava, Jonishkis, Joniskelis, Josvainiai, Jurbarkas, Kedainiai, Kaunas, Klykoliai, Krakes, Kraziai, Krekenava, Kursenai, Leckava, Linkuva, Lygumai, Meskuiciai, Novodvorsk, Pampenai, Panevezys, Pasvalys, Plunge, Puslatas, Radviliskis, Ramygala, Raseiniai, Rokiskis, Rumsiskes, Salakas, Saukenai, Seredzius, Siauliai, Siluva, Suvainiskis, Svekshna, Troskunai, Tryskiai, Ukmerge, Uzventis, Vandziogala, Veliuona, Vicksniai, Vilijampole, Vilkaja, Vilkaviskis, Vidzy, Zarasai, Zeimiai, and Zelva. For information on how to have searches done, send SASE to Yakov Shadevich, 10412 Parthenon Court, Bethesda MD 20817. -------------- [14Aug95lc]bik Provider: Linda Cantor +----------------------------------------------------------------------+