Pikeln (in Yiddish) is situated in the northwestern part of Lithuania, in the Zemaitija region, 1 km. from the Latvian border. Pikeln was named after the nearby Pikelhof estate. Beside the town the Lusis River flows, and forested hills encircle it.

In the second half of the seventeenth century Pikeln became a town. In 1769 it received permission to maintain one weekly market and four yearly fairs. In particular the town developed at the second half of the nineteenth century. There were then in town about thirty shops, four workshops for processing leather, two liquor factories, and other workshops. Until World War I the town was an important center of trade with agricultural products. During the Russian rule (1795-1915) Pikeln was included in the Vilna province (Gubernia) and from 1843 in the Kovno Gubernia and Telzh district. During Lithuanian rule it was included in the Mazheik administrative center.

The first Jews probably settled in Pikeln at the end of the eighteenth century. Over time, two prayer houses and other community institutions were erected. A yeshiva operated in the town, directed by Rabbi Ze'ev-Volf Avrekh and later by Rabbi Hayim Nathanzon. Over the next hundred years, the number of Jews in town increased to more than a thousand and became two thirds of the total population. According to the all-Russian census of 1897, 1,758 residents lived in Pikeln, including 1,206 Jews (68%).

In the decades before World War I the number of the Jews in Pikeln decreased as a result of a strengthened emigration abroad, so that by 1914 only about 150 families remained in town.

In a list of donors for the victims of the great Persian famine in 1871-72 the names of 130 Pikeln Jews are given, as published in the Hebrew newspaper HaMagid (see Appendix 1).

The Zionist movement became popular in these years, and in the regional conference of the Lithuanian Zionists that took place in 1900 in Vilna, a delegate from Pikeln, Z. Zaks, participated. Twelve Pikeln Jews donated money in 1898 for the Settlement of Eretz Yisrael as published in the Hebrew newspaper HaMelitz (see Appendix 2).

Among the rabbis who officiated in Pikeln were Mosheh-Shimon Vizitz; Benyamin Rabinovitz (1812-1870) 1832-1842; Avraham Harif (?-1877); Ya'akov Vilentchik (?-1888).

Personages born in Pikeln included writer and translator Dr. Aba-Yits'hak Krim (1893-?), who lived in America from 1906; the brothers Robert and Albert Shif, known philanthropists from New York; Rabbi Marcus Shif from Cincinnati; Rabbi Eliyahu-David Rabinovitz-Teomim (1842-1905), in 1901 emigrated to Eretz Yisrael and was elected as the rabbi of Jerusalem. He published many books on Judaism. The chief rabbi of Eretz Yisrael Avraham-Yits'hak Kook was his son in law.

Rabbi Eliyahu-David Rabinovitz-Teomim

At the beginning of World War I, by order of the Russian army, the Pikeln Jews were exiled deep into Russia. During the years 1915-1918 the town was under the German military rule.

The marking of the border between Lithuania and Latvia cut Pikeln Jewish traders off from the markets of Latvia and seriously reduced their livelihood. As a result they dealt now with small trade, peddling and crafts. Most of them maintained auxiliary farms next to their houses.

According to the government survey of 1931, three Jewish businesses operated in town: one grocery, one textile shop and one pharmacy. There were also two big flour merchants and two horse merchants in Pikeln. The Jews owned a bakery, a leather processing factory, a workshop for producing soap, two flour mills, one sawmill and two taverns.

In 1937 Pikeln had seven Jewish artisans: two bakers, two butchers, one glazier, one tailor and one shoemaker.

The Jewish Popular Bank (Folksbank), directed by Mosheh Nathanzon, played an important role in the economic life of Pikeln Jews. In 1927 it had 97 members. Other public institutions in Pikeln were Bikur Holim, Gemiluth Hesed fund, a library and a Heder where just seven boys studied before World War II.

The Leibovitz family with two German soldiers (1916) First line from left: soldier, small boy, Hanah, Sonya Second line: Hirsh, Ya'akov, soldier (Courtesy of Naomi Musiker, from the Jewish Board of Deputies archive in Johannesburg, scanned by Barry Mann and Maurice Skikne)

During this period the rabbis who officiated in Pikeln were:

Josef Ben Zion Fridman (1858-1920)
Hayim Zalman Kron who in 1925 was the counselor for Jewish affairs in the Lithuanian Ministry of the Interior
Yisrael Farber, the last rabbi, murdered by the Lithuanians in 1941.

The table below shows how Pikeln Zionists voted for five Zionist congresses:

Congress No.	Year	Total Shkalim	Total Votes	Labor Party Z”S Z”Z		Revisionists	General Zionists A B		Grosmanists	Mizrakhi
16	1929	13	6	—	—	—	3	—	—	—
17	1931	—	12	—	—	7	5	—	—	—
18	1933	—	45	10		32	2	—	1	—
19	1935	—	36	35		—	1	—	—	—
21	1939	10	10	7		—	2	—	N. B. 22	—
—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	1	—

In 1940 Lithuania was annexed to the Soviet Union and became a Soviet Republic. During the year of Soviet rule (1940-1941), Zionist activity was disbanded, as in all Lithuania, and there were great changes in their economic circumstances.

After the German army invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June, 1941 and Soviet rule ceased in Pikeln, Lithuanian nationalists took control of the town. During July 1941, Pikeln Jews suffered greatly from the abuse and oppression by their Lithuanian neighbors. On 5 August they were transferred to the Latz barns near Mazheik (Mazeikiai). The men were put to work digging pits, while the women and children were imprisoned in the barns together with the women from Mazheik and the surroundings, and kept there for four days under terrible conditions.

On August 9, 1941 (Shabbat, 16^th of Av, 5701) all were taken to the same pits where a few days earlier the men were murdered, and there they too were killed in the most vile and cruel manner. Women were forced to undress. The children were thrown into a long ditch and many of them were buried under heaps of soil and lime while still alive. In the same place, together with the Mazheik Jews, Jews from the nearby towns of Akmyan (Akmene), Vekshne (Vieksniai), Zhidik (Zidikai), Tirkshle (Tirksliai), Pikeln (Pikeliai), Klikol (Klykouliai) and Siad (Seda) perished.

Sources:

Yahaduth Lita (Hebrew), Vol.1-4, Tel Aviv
Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, Files Z-4/2548, 13/15/131, 55/1788, 55/1701
JIVO, New York, Collection of Lithuanian Jewish Communities, Files 869-875
Gotlib, Ohalei Shem (Hebrew), page 155
Hamelitz (Hebrew), St.Petersburg, No. 120 (1893), No 29 (1894)

The mass murder site near the Jewish cemetery

The monument at the entrance of the murder site with the inscription in Yiddish and Lithuanian: “At this site Hitler's murderers and their local helpers executed about 4000 Jews and people of other nationalities”.

Surname	Given Name	Comments
AKMOIANER	Leib
BEITLER	Michel
BROIDA	Shraga Feiwish
BROIDA	Yakov Yitzchok
BUCHMAN	Meir
CHAYAT	Avraham Yitzchok
CHAYAT	Dovid Yitzchok
CHAYAT	Mendel
CHAYAT	Yitzchok
DALTAR	Shmuel
FELSER	Shraga
GARBER	Yitzchok	boy
GEITON	Yitzchok
GERBER	Dovid
HELMANN	Shmuel
HENER	Shmuel
HENES	Yitzchok
HODES	Aharon	father of Meir & daughter Sheina
HODES	Avraham Segal
HODES	Eliezer Yitzchok
KATZ	Isser
KATZ	Leib
KATZ	Meir
KATZ	Moshe
KATZ	Shneur
KATZ	Uri	boy
KATZ	Yehuda ben Moshe
KATZ	Yosef Eliezer	boy
LONG	Shlomo
LONG	Yakov
MAMARER	Yosef
MASHOD	Simcha	woman
MELTZER	Chaim
MILNER	Aharon
NAMAKSES	Meir
NEIAWADIL	Boruch Netanel	s-i-l of the rabbi
OHRMAKER	Dov	nephew of Falk ben Moshe Yom Tov
PARNFELD	Leizer ben Tzvi
PARNFELD	Tzvi	father of Leizer
PIWANDENER	Dovid
PLUNGIAN	Yechezkel
RABIN	Eliahu
REIN	Chaim
REIN	Michel
REIN	Yechezkel ben Michel
SALANT	Kalman
SALANT	Shraga
SEGAL	Avraham
SEGAL	Chaim Tzvi	boy
SEGAL	Kasil	bridegroom
SEGAL	Moshe
SEGAL	Moshe	brother of Shmuel Raphel
SEGAL	Shmuel Raphel	brother of Moshe
SEGAL	Tzvi ben Chaim
SEGAL	Uri	boy
SEGAL	Yechezkel
SHEMESH	Mendil
SHTROL	Meir
SHU"B	Eliahu
TELZER	Yakov
WEKSNER	Avraham
YELAK	Yakov
ZELAK	Chai'	woman
ZOLOMON	Meir
	Abba ben Yitzchok
	Aharon Leib
	Avraham	Rabbi Gaon ABD
	Avraham ben Aharon
	Avraham ben Kadosh
	Avraham Binyomin
	Binyomin ben Eliahu
	Boruch Zalman
	Chaim ben Noson
	Chaim ben Yoel
	Ches ben Aharon
	Dov ben Eliahu
	Dov ben Menachem
	Dovid ben Yisroel
	Dovid Yosef	boy
	Dvorah	woman
	Eizik ben Shmuel
	Elchanan
	Eliahu ben Yehuda
	Eliezer Tzvi
	Falk ben Moshe Yom Tov	uncle of Dov Ohrmaker
	Fruma	woman
	Leib ben Shlomo
	Libe	woman
	Meir Aharon
	Meir ben Nachum
	Mordechai	s-i-l of Zev
	Mordechai ben Yehuda
	Mordechai Leib
	Moshe ben Yakov
	Moshe ben Yehuda
	Moshe ben Yitzchok
	Moshe Meir
	Moshe Meir	boy
	Moshe Yitzchok
	Nachum	boy
	Nachum ben Aharon
	Shalom ben Noson
	Shalom Dov
	Shaul ben Yehuda
	Sheima son of the Rabbi
	Shlomo ben Yitzchok
	Shmaya ben Shraga	boy
	Shmuel Eizik
	Shmuel Moshe
	Sima	woman
	Tzvi ben Elchanan
	Tzvi ben Mordechai
	Tzvi Dov	from Deselen
	Yakov ben Nachum
	Yakov ben Shmuel
	Yakov ben Yechezkel
	Yakov ben Yechezkel
	Yakov Menachem
	Yekutiel ben Yitzchok
	Yissachar Moshe
	Yitzchok	boy
	Yitzchok ben Abba
	Yitzchok ben Binyomin	boy
	Yitzchok ben Mordechai
	Yitzchok Leib
	Yosef ben Eliahu
	Yosef ben Shraga
	Zalkind	grandfather of Eidil son of his daughter
	Zev	boy
	Zev ben Moshe	boy

Surname	Given Name	Comments	Town	Source: Hamelitz	Year
DONCHIN	B		Pikeliai	#107
FRIDBERG		Doctor	Pikeliai	#107	1898
HARS	Fani fiancee of Avraham Segal of Shavel		Pikeliai	#201	1900
KOHN	Ch Y		Pikeliai	#107	1898
KWEIT	Dovid son of Rabbi Gaon Sh. Helman Kweit		Pikeliai	# 120	1893
NUROK	B		Pikeliai	#107	1898
NUROK	Z		Pikeliai	#107	1898
SHLEZ	L		Pikeliai	#107	1898
YELOWITZ	K		Pikeliai	#107	1898
ZAKS	N	husband of Devorah Sergei of Krotingen	Pikeliai	#156	1895
ZAKSH	Selig	at Chan Purim dinner in Vilna	Pikeliai	#77	1901
ZAKSH	Z	on occasion of Weisbord-Glemba wedding	Pikeliai	#185	1895

The above article is an excerpt from “Protecting Our Litvak Heritage” by Josef Rosin. The book contains this article along with many others, plus an extensive description of the Litvak Jewish community in Lithuania that provides an excellent context to understand the above article. Click here to see where to obtain the book.

http://yurburgfriends.com/Rosin/Heritage.html

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