Hope in Darkness (The Aba Gefen Holocaust Diaries) by Aba Gefen. {New York: The Holocaust Library, 1989, 184 pages, ISBN: 0-89604-126-9} A memoir: the diaries of Aba and Joseph Gefen, brothers in Kovno (Kaunas) from 1941-1944. Map.

If I Forget Thee... by Riva Lozansky and other witnesses. The destruction of the shtetl Butrimantz / Yizkor Book. Includes four chapters of detailed testimonies; a brief history of the shtetl Butrimonys (Butrimantz, Baltrimantz) in Lithuania; a Victim's list of almost 200 families; 33 pages of photographs; and other front and back matter. This book is entirely in English and is the first substantial publication about this community.

In Search of Your European Roots, Second Edition, by Angus Baxter. {Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985, 1994, 292 pages ISBN: 0-8063-1446-X} This guide to European research includes some information on East European and Jewish records.

In Search of Sugihara: The Elusive Japanese Diplomat Who Risked His Life to Rescue 10,000 Jews from the Holocaust by Hillel Levine. {London-New York: Free Press, 1996, ISBN: 0684832518} SUGIHARA, Chiune, 1900-1986. Righteous Gentiles in the Holocaust - Biography.

Jerusalem of Lithuania: The Rise and Fall of Jewish Vilnius: A Personal Perspective by N. N. Shneidman { Mosaic Press, 1998, 210 pages, 1998, ISBN: 0889626596}

A Jewish Life Under the Tsars: The Autobiography of Chaim Aronson, 1825-1888 
{Totowa, N.J.: Allanheld, Osmun & Co., 1983. Translated from the Hebrew by Norman Marsden. 287 pages, ISBN: 0865980667} To read a review of this book, click here.

Jewish Vital Records, Revision Lists and Other Jewish Holdings in the Lithuanian Archives, compiled by Harold Rhode & Sallyann Amdur Sack. {New Jersey: Avotaynu, 1996, 160 pages. ISBN 1-886223-02-5} Inventory of holdings of the State Historical Archives in Vilnius.

My Childhood in Trishik: Recollections of a Lithuanian Shtetl by Ita Melamed Hersch. {Johannesburg: Ammatt Press, 2000, 130 pages, ISBN: 0-620-26108-0} In her writing, Ita Melamed Hersch recalls her childhood in the 1870's and 1880's in Trishik (Tryskiai), the Lithuanian shtetl of her birth, her early married years in Warsaw in the 1890's, as well as her life as an immigrant in the Transvaal dorp of Elsburg, and later in Johannesburg. Originally written in Hebrew in Johannesburg in 1951, and later published in serial installments in Jacob Rubik's Hebrew journal Barkai in the 1950's, the full memoirs have recently been translated into English by her great-nephew Joshua Jacobson which is available from her grandson, Dr. Joshua Levy (joshlevy@hixnet.co.za) and published as a book, with Photographs, Foreword, Footnotes, Tributes, and Reproductions of the Hebrew columns.

The Jewish State Museum, {Vilnius, Lithuania: The Jewish State Museum, 1996; 52 pages. ISBN: 9986901936} The Museum’s official booklet, with numerous photos.

The Jews of East Central Europe Between the World Wars by Ezra Mendelsohn {Indiana University Press, 1989, 320 pages, ISBN: 0253204186} Demographic, cultural, and socioeconomic conditions of East Central Europe Jewry; covers Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The book focuses on the internal life of Jewish communities in the region as well as on the relationships between Jews and gentiles in a highly nationalist environment.

The Jews in South Africa: A History, Edited by Gustav Saron and Louis Hotz. { Cape Town, 1956} A history of Jewry in South Africa from the earliest white settlement until 1955, this work describes the immigration of Jews, their settlement, and their adaptation to the cultural and economic life of South Africa. There are chapters that deal with Jewish communities in particular localities, and others that deal with more general topics, such as the Zionist Movement, the immigration of Lithuanian Jews, and the relations between Jews, Boers, and Uitlanders before the South African War. An epilogue covers the period from 1910 to 1955. Saron was chairman of The South African Jewish Board of Deputies for many years.

The Jews of Lithuania: A History of a Remarkable Community, 1316 – 1945, by Masha Greenbaum. {Jerusalem/Hewlett, NY: Gefen Publishing House Ltd., 1995, 405 pages, ISBN: 965-229-132-3} A history. Masha was born in Kovno (Kaunas), lived in the Kovno ghetto, was sent to concentration camps in Estonia and Germany, and was liberated from Bergen-Belsen. Now in Israel. More than 2/3 of her book is about Pre-WWII Lithuania. Includes maps, illustrations, 8-pg town list, 6-page bibliography, index; extensively footnoted.

Jurbarkas, The Memorial Book (Yizkor Book) for the Jewish Community of Yurburg, Lithuania (Jurbarkas, name in Lithuanian) Translations. Compiled by Joel Alpert. {Tel Aviv, 1991} Written in Hebrew and Yiddish, 524 pages. Significant contributions for this material were made by members of the American branch of the Krelitz family and the Canadian branch of the Beiles families. All contributors and translators are indicated at the beginning of each article. Written in Hebrew and Yiddish and 524 pages, The Yizkor book is now on line and completely translated. The link is: www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/Jurbarkas/yurburg.html

Kaddish for Kovno: Life and Death in a Lithuanian Ghetto 1941 – 1945 by William W. Mishell (MISHELSKI) (1918-1994). {Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 1998, 398 pages, ISBN: 1-55652-340-8} A memoir. Mishell was born in Kovno (Kaunas), deported to Stutthoff, Camp #2, Camp #7, Camp #1, liberated from Dachau. Photos, illustrations, "The Jaeger Report" translated in an appendix; chronology of events in history, and of the evolution of the Kovno (Kaunas) Ghetto.

Kaunas, Lithuania Phonebook, 1922 / Archives. (Looseleaf) Copy of 1922 Kaunas, Lithuania, Phonebook. Copy of item from Gitlin Library, Capetown, South Africa. Please be aware that this is NOT a full copy. LitvakSIG now has a complete translation of the Jewish names (many listing occupations) in the 1930 and partial sections of other Lithuanian phonebooks in the "All Lithuania" database under the "Directories" table.

The Kovno Ghetto Diary by Dmitri Gelpernus {Moscow: State Publishing House,1948, Yiddish, 214 pages. Translated from Yiddish to Russian by Chaim Bargman (1993). Translated from Russian to English by Robin O'Neil (1994)} Available online in translation. For further information, contact Robin O'Neil.

Last Walk in Naryshkin Park by Rose Zwi {North Melbourne, Australia: Spinifex Press, 1997, 252 pages, ISBN: 1 875559 72 8} "In Zhager, a small town on the Lithuanian-Latvian border, well over 3000 Jewish men, women and children were massacred on 2 October 1941, by memebrs of the Lithuanian Militia. They lie in a mass grave in Naryshkin Park, the heart of the shtetl, where lovers once walked. Last Walk in Naryshkin Park is the story of Rose Zwi’s quest to discover the fate of her father’s family who perished in the Holocaust, and that of her uncle, Leib Yoffe -musician, lover, barber, soldier, revolutionary."

Lekorot Ir Novohrdok Verabaneiha by David Volbrinski. This book (in Hebrew) is an old source for the history of the community and principle personalities (mainly rabbis). Novaredok, one of the oldest Jewish communities in Lithuania, is first mentioned in documents in 1529. It was within Poland until the third partition of Poland (1795), when it passed to Russia, and from 1842 a district capital in the province of Minsk. It reverted to Poland in 1921, but was passed to the Soviet Union in 1939.

Life: A True Story by Steven V. Gure. {NY, NY: Vantage Press, 1988, 355 pages, ISBN: 0-533-07670-6} "This honest, thought provoking, and compelling autobiography describes the life and times of Steven V. Gure, a former New York City policeman. His is a remarkable story. Born into a family of wealthy European Jews, Steven found his life filled with horror and upheaval All of his family except his older sister, Ann, perished in the Holocaust. Eventually, Steven and Ann managed to make their way to the United States, where further insecurities awaited in the form of a series of foster homes, orphanages. With determination and perseverance, however, Steve managed to survive and even to prosper. He served in the military, worked his way through college, got married and had children, and joined the New York City police force. " See website: www.lifeatruestory.com. 

The Life of an Immigrant by Joseph Bennett. This autobiography traces life in Simnas, Lithuania, from 1864 of the Applebaum, Karchmarsky, and Krulewich families till 1880 emigration to Pittsburgh via Berlin and Hamburg on the SS Vaterland. Details the author's reunion with his father and early life in America peddling in western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Illinois. Simnas shtetlinks page.

Light One Candle: A Survivor’s Tale from Lithuania to Jerusalem by Solly Gaynor. {New York: Kodansha America, 1995, 353 pages, ISBN: 1-56836-098-3} A memoir by a survivor of the Kovno (Kaunas) Ghetto, a boyhood friend of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul who save thousands of Jews by signing exit visas to Japan.

Lita (Yiddish), Vol 1 Edited by Mendel Sudarski et. al., New York: Jewish Lithuanian Cultural Society, 1951. Vol 2 Edited by Ch. Leikowicz. {Tel Aviv: IL Peretz Publishing, 1965}

Lithuania, Land of My Birth, Avraham Kariv. {New York: Herzl Press, 1967}

Lithuanian Jewish Communities by Nancy Schoenburg and Stuart Schoenburg. {New York and London: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991, 502 pages. Reprinted by Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, NJ/London, ISBN: 1-56821-993-8} A history. An unofficial English translation of the Hebrew Yehadut Lita, Vols. III, IV. With some additional material. Comprehensive commentary on communities, with lists of family names, glossary, bibliography. A remarkable source for researchers of Lithuanian Jewish history and for people descended from Lithuanian Jews. Short sketches, by town. Information is listed for the major Jewish communities before World War ll. Appendices list names of Lithuanian Jews who survived the War and the countries where they were found

The Litvaks, to be published by Yad Vashem in Spring 2000, is a translation of the first 107 pages of Pinkas Hakehillot Lita, Encyclopedia of Jewish Lithuanian Communities from their foundation till after the Holocaust. Editor, Dov Levin. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1996. Professor Levin taped interviews with about 300 Litvaks (soldiers, partisans, community leaders, Ghetto Fighters,Art men, etc.) The theme and contents of this book serve as a short history of the Jews of Lithuania from the earliest settlements in the country until the destruction of the community in the Holocaust of the Second World War. The book's four main chronological sections describe the history of Lithuania and its Jewish residents, including: (1) Lithuania from the Late Thirteenth to the Late Twentieth Centuries; (2) The Jews of Lithuania from the Middle Ages until the end of the First World War; (3) The Jews in Independent Lithuania During the InterWar Period; and (4) W.W. 11 and the Holocaust: The Jewish Survivors. 300 pages, 60 plates, 3 Maps, Bibliography in seven languages, Lexicon of place names in both official modern description and the traditional spelling used by Jewish residents, statistical tables, Facsimiles of documents and unique photographs many of which appear in print for first time.

Marijampole on the river Shewshupe Translation of the Necrology of: Marijampole al gedot ha-nahar Sheshupe (Lita), Edited by Avraham Tory-Golub, translated by Orly Biggie. {Tel Aviv: Committee of Survivors from Marijampole in Israel, 1983, Hebrew, Yiddish, English, 319 pages}

Memoirs of a Governor: A Man for the People by Ralph M. Paiewonsky. {New York: New York University Press, 1990, 494 pages, ISBN: 0-8147-6613-7} In the opening chapters of this autobiographical memoir, the former governor of the US Virgin Islands, Ralph Paiewonsky, goes into great detail about his Paiewonsky and Kushner family background in Vilkaviskis and Mariampol, Lithuania, including life in the Age of Imperialism in Tsarist Russia, as well as the life of Lithuanian immigrants in the Virgin Islands and elsewhere in the Caribbean. Index, photographs of Paiewonsky and Kushner family.  

Never Judge an Archival Collection by Its Description or, Never Judge a Book by Its Cover: The contents of YIVO's Lithuanian Communities of the Interwar Period Collection, by Deena A. Berton. {LitvakSIG Online Journal, 1998}

No Time for Patience: My Road from Kaunas to Jerusalem: A Memoir of the Holocaust by Zev Birger, with foreword by Shimon Peres {Newmarket, 1999, 128 pages, ISBN: 1557043868 }

Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning. {New York: Aaron Asher Books/ HarperCollins, 1992, ISBN: 0060995068} A historical analysis. How is it possible that ordinary middle-aged men become mass murderers, personally shooting thousands of men, women and children? Browning’s book draws on the postwar interrogations of 125 former members of Reserve Police Battalion 101 (a unit of the German Order Police, or ordinary local policemen) from Hamburg, Germany. This unit of less than 500 men directly participated in the shooting deaths of at least 38,000 Jews in the Lublin district of Poland, and in the deportation of another 45,000 to Treblinka’s gas chambers. Browning’s conclusion: they acted less out of deference to authority or fear of retribution than from careerism and peer pressure. Photos.

Perpetrators, Victims, Bystanders: The Jewish Catastrophe, 1933-1945, by Raul Hilberg. {New York: Aaron Asher Books/HarperCollins Publishers, 1992, 340 pages, ISBN: 0-06-019035-3} A history, examining and juxtaposing the lives and points of view of three distinct groups of people in the mass murder of Jews. Extensive footnotes, index.

Pinkas Hakehillot Lita: Encyclopedia of Jewish Lithuanian Communities from Their Foundation till after the Holocaust, Editor, Dov Levin, {Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 1996} While this encyclopedia is in Hebrew, it also has an English language version of the table of contents as well as an alphabetical listing of the Lithuanian towns. Chapters on nearly all Jewish communities with population over 100. Defined by pre-WWII borders. This book is an excellent source book containing information on about 500 Jewish communities. The first 107 pages (see The Litvaks) contain an introduction by Professor Dov Levin (Hebrew University), followed by an article for each of about 500 shtetlekh. ( Each article is on average one full oversized page). This book contains a wealth of information compiled by the editor, Prof. Levin, and the assistant editor, Josef Rosin, both originally from Lithuania. This book is the latest authoritative source on Lithuanian Jewish Communities, and deserves to be translated into English for the benefit of the English speaking Jews with roots in Lithuania. This book covers Lithuania as of the outbreak of the Second World War, September 1939. It therefore excludes Vilna, Sventzionis, and other areas of interwar "Polish" Lithuania.

Memorial Book of Rokiskis, Translation of Table of Contents, Preface, Selected Chapters, and Memorial Lists from Yisker-bukh fun Rakishok un umgegnt (Yizkor Book of Rakishok and Environs), Edited by M. Bakalczuk-Felin {Johannesburg: The Rakisher Landsmanshaft of Johannesburg, 1952, 626 pages in Yiddish} The following sections are available online at http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/rokiskis/ Table of Contents, Preface, and Skopishok Chapter (Contributed by Tim Baker), Abel Chapter (Contributed by William A. Saxton),  "What I Experienced", "Why?", "Three Years in Rokishok" (Contributed by Mathilda Mendelow), and Memorial Lists (Steven Weiss).

Rescue Attempts During the Holocaust: Proceedings of the Second Yad Vashem International Historical Conference, April 1974 {Jerusalem: Yad Vashem }

Russian-Jewish Given Names: Their Origins and Variants by Boris Feldblyum {New Jersey: Avotaynu, 1998, 138 pages, ISBN: 1-886223-07-6}

The Shadow of Death: The Holocaust in Lithuania by Harry Gordon. {Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 1992, 174 pages, ISBN: 0-8131-1767-4} A memoir of an ordinary teen-aged Kovno (Kaunas) boy through the Russian and German occupations, the Ghetto, and transfer to Auschwitz and then Dachau, highlighting the role of Lithuanians. Photographs, maps.

Shtetl Finder Gazeteer by Chester G. Cohen, {Bowie, MD: Heritage Books Inc., 1989, 145 pages, ISBN: 1-55613-248-4} A book of lists: Jewish communities in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries in the Pale of Settlement, with names of residents, Hatzefira obituaries, short list of Jewish communities in Russia, Germany territories, Hungary and Romania.

Slaughter of the Jews of Erzhvilik ("The collective and eyewitness testimony of Khayem GOLDSHTEYN, his wife Menukhe DRUKER, from Kelm. (His parents: Avrom-Berl and Gitl-Rivke PAGLINSKY ) edited by L. KONIUCHOWSKY, 1987; 30 double-spaced typewritten pages. Archived at Yad Vashem. Personal testimony, translated from the Yiddish by Dr. Jonathan Boyarin in 1987.

Surviving the Holocaust: The Kovno Ghetto Diary by Avraham Tory {Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1990, 554 pages, ISBN: 0-674-85811-5} A memoir in the form of a diary, covering June 1941 – January 1944 in the Kovno (Kaunas) Ghetto, written by the Secretary of the Jewish Council of the Kovno Ghetto. Photos, maps, index.

To Give Them Light by Roman Vishniac. {New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993, 160 pages, ISBN: 0671638726} Roman Vishniac's previous collection, A Vanished World gives us a magnificent, kaleidoscopic view of Jewish life in distant cities and hamlets. Here the approach is more structured, more deliberate. After all, this is a posthumous book.... To Give Them Light takes us on a journey, an unforgettable journey, from Bratislava to Mukachevo and the Carpathians, where Jews believed in G-d's light alone; and on through the distinct and irreplaceable Jewish communities of Poland and Lithuania: Warsaw and Lodz, Lublin, and Cracow, Slonim, and Vilna. We meet Jews in those last minutes before they were torn from history by a tempest of fire and ashes; when their lives still coursed with energy and creativity. We encounter their towns and villages before they were consumed by flames.

Thanks to My Mother by Schoschana Rabinovici, translated from the German version, Dank mein Mutter, by James Skofield. {New York: Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 1998, 246 pages, ISBN 0-14-130596-7 , with pictures}. This very moving book starts in 1941 in Vilnius, and moves, inexorably through the days of the Vilnius ghetto, its liquidation, then through Kaiserwald and Stutthof concentration camps, and a winter death march. It relates how Susie Weksler, the author, was helped as a young girl of ten in 1941 to survive by dint of her mother's incredible courage and ingenuity.

There Once Was a World: A 900-Year Chronicle of the Shtetl of Eishyshok by Yaffa Eliach (creator of the "Tower of Life" at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, DC.) { Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1998, 818 pages, ISBN: 0-316-23252-1} An exhaustive history of Eishyshok (Eisiskes), with numerous photos, charts, maps, footnotes, bibliography, index.

They Fought Back: The Story of the Jewish Resistance in Nazi Europe, edited by Yuri Suhl. {New York: Schocken Books, 1989, 327 pages, ISBN: 0-8052-0479-2, Originally published 1967 by McGibbon & Key Ltd.} An anthology. Elie Wiesel: "Read this book and you will never again ask why they went to the slaughter like sheep." 33 Separate stories of Jewish resistance, many here in English for the first time. Footnotes, index.

A Time To Keep: Grammy Cherie's Story by Cherie Goren {Merion Station, PA:Cherie Goren, 1999, 78 pages, with 28 captioned photographs} This is a story of life in the 193O's in Memel, Lithuania, for the Golden and Fleischmann family, and of the Fleischmann family's immigration to the United States. This account relates their journey through pre-war Europe capturing the pathos and humor of their travels, and, finally, adjustment to America in 1939. This book can be ordered from cg407111@msn.com or 40 Old Lancaster Road #407, Merion Station, PA 19066; Phone: 610 664-8036; FAX: (610) 664-4619.

Tradition and Modernism in the Shtetl Aisheshuk, 1919-1939, An Oral History, by Ellen Livingston. {Princeton University Press, 1986, 150 pages} This work focuses on a shtetl some thirty-five miles south-southwest of Vilna, Lithuania, which was called Aisheshuk in Yiddish, Ejszyski in Polish, and Eiseskes in Russian. Livingston's history presents "a portrait of a single town that includes both the static and the changing features of daily life." The book includes an overview of the history of the town going back to 1070. Includes: Profiles of Interviewees, Glossary, End notes, Bibliography, and Photographs. This book was written as Ms Livingston’s undergraduate thesis at Princeton University.

Vilna (Vilnius) by Israel Cohen. {Philadelphia and Jerusalem: The Jewish Publication Society of America, Facsimile edition, 1992. Originally published 1943}

War Criminal on Trial: Rauca of Kaunas, by Sol Littman. {Toronto, Canada: Key Porter Books Ltd., 1998, 256 pages, ISBN: 1-55013-967-3} First published in 1983, this is a revised update by a reporter who covered the story from the beginning, highlighting the failure of the Canadian war crimes prosecution program. Helmut Rauca, who died of natural causes in 1983, was an SS officer charged with aiding and abetting in the murder of 10,500 persons on or about October 28, 1941 in Kaunas (Kovno) Lithuania. Finding sanctuary in Canada for over 30 years, he was the first Nazi war criminal in Canada to be extradited (to GERMANY) for war crimes. Footnoted, with a bibliography and index.

Yahudat Lita:

Vol 1: Jews of Lithuania to 1918, Editors: N. Goren, L. Garfunkel, et. al. {Tel Aviv: Am Hasafer, 1959}
Vol 2: 1918-1941, Editors: R. Hasman, D. Lipec et. al. {Tel Aviv: The Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel, 1972}
Vol 3: A: People B: Places, { Tel Aviv: The Association of Lithuanian Jews in Israel, 1967}
Vol 4: The Holocaust: 1941-1945, Edited by Leib Garfunkel. {Tel Aviv, 1984}

Vilniaus Getas (Vilnius Ghetto), Lists of Prisoners, Vols. I & 2. {Vilnius, Lithuania: Jewish State Museum of Lithuania, 1996} Prepared and published by The Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum of Lithuania, Vol. I contains 15,300 names of Jews who were living in the Vilnius Ghetto in 1942, listed by street address, together with interesting articles and information written in English. Vol. 2 lists the names and information about the Jews living in the various work camps in the vicinity of Vilnius. Important explanations about the work camps themselves are also included. Vol. 2 contains all of the names from both volumes, listed alphabetically, including the Vol. and page number for easy reference. You can order directly from the Jewish State Museum of Lithuania, Pamenkalnio 12, 2001, Vilnius, Lithuania, ATT: Jevgenija Sedova. E-mail: jmuseum@puni.osf.lt (The Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum)

Three new publications from Vilna Gaon Museum are due for publication by the end of the year 2000. They are:

Rescuers of Lithuanian Jews (2nd Volume)
The Siauliai Ghetto: List of Prisoners
The Jews in the Lithuanian Press (A Bibliography) for the years 1985- 1987.

We Shall Not Forget!: Memories of The Holocaust, edited by Carole Garbuny Vogel. {Massachusetts: Temple Isaiah of Lexington, 1995, ISBN: 0-9637686-0-3 1995} Forty two powerful essays, including over 200 photographs, written by Holocaust survivors and sons and daughters of survivors, who are now all members of Temple Isaiah in Lexington, Massachusetts. These stories of family survival or death took place in Vienna & Burgenland, Austria; in Landau, Bielefeld, Feurth, Berlin, Heidelberg, & Hessen, Germany; in Aarberg, Switzerland; in Paris, France; in Lwow, Tarnopol, Stojanow, Bialystok, Lodz, Warsaw, Pultusk, Brzeziny, Wloclawek, Zychlin, & Drobnin, Poland; in Amsterdam & Sandvort, Holland; in Novo_Svenciana, Shavl, & Vilna, Lithuania; in Salonika, Greece; and in Baranovich & Vitebsk, Russia.

Where Once We Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust, by Gary Mokotoff and Sallyann Amdur Sack {Teaneck, NJ: Avotaynu Press, 1991, 514 pages, ISBN: 0-9626373-1-9} A gazetteer of over 21,000 Central and Eastern European localities, arranged alphabetically and phonetically, with references for each locality.

The World That Was: Lithuania. A Study of the Life and Torah Consciousness of Jews in the Towns and Villages of Lithuania and Northeastern Poland by Rabbi Yitzchak Kasnett. {Cleveland Heights, OH: The Living Memorial, c/o Hebrew Academy of Cleveland, 1996; 143 pages, ISBN: 0-9635120-8-0) While this volume was intended as a Yeshiva study guide, complete with lesson plans and punched binder holes, it has a point of view not found in many other books covering the period: a Torah-oriented appreciation of the Orthodox "world that was," and of "the modesty and incisive minds that personify Lithuanian Jewry." Chapters include "Reflections on Telz and Lithuanian Torah Life," by Rabbi Mordecai Gifter, "Reflections on Slabodka," by Rabbi Avigdor Miller, "Remembering Kelm and Telz," by Rabbi Nochum Zev Dessler, "Remembering the Mir," by Rebbetzin Ginsburg, and "Portrait of a Lithuanian Torah Personality," by Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein. Numerous photographs, maps and a bibliography.

Yidishe Shtete Shtetlech un Dorfishe Yishvim in Lite... (Jewish Cities, Towns and Villages in Lithuania up to 1918) by Berl Kagan. {New York, 1991, 796 pages} This is a scholarly survey in Yiddish of Lithuanian localities.

Zelva (Lithuania) Yizkor List Compiled by Menachem (Mendel) Charit, Translated by Steven Weiss. We are indebted to Mr. Menachem Charit for compiling this list of his Pazelva neighbors. Our sincere appreciation to Yehuda Wolfson of Israel who sent this material to Steven Weiss to be translated and donated to JewishGen. 

PUBLICATIONS: ARTICLES

     Professor Dov Levin has compiled a comprehensive bibliography of articles about the origins of Jews in Lithuania, which is listed   in chronological order. You can search this database using the search function in your web browser.

    JewishGen InfoFiles: There are informational files, organized topically and by country, about various aspects of Jewish genealogical research in many countries. Available on the JewishGen Web site.

LitvakSIG Online Journal: The best source for information on Lithuanian genealogical research is the award-winning LitvakSIG website.  Host to the "All Lithuania" Database as well as to articles of genealogical interest. This site is updated regularly. Become a subscriber to the LitvakSIG Digest.

The Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum 10th Anniversary. "Thank you letter from Deputy Director," Rachel Kostanian (Added Dec. '99)

"Afrikaner Yidishe Tseitung Article" by Ada Green. This Yiddish-language weekly newspaper published in Johannesburg from 1942 to 1971, ran a series of pictures that were taken in Lithuanian shtetls before World War II.(Added May 1999)

An Eye Witness Series Article #1. "Following the Traces Left by Fascist Killers," by Mary Javno-Voronova, Siauliai, 1960. Translation by LitvakSIG. (Added Nov. 1999)

An Eye Witness Series Article #2. "Glimpses of History: Jewish Organizations in Kelme" by Vaclovas Rimkus, "Biciulis," December 16, 1992. Translation by LitvakSIG. (Added Nov. 1999)

An Eye Witness Series Article #3. "The Jews of Uzventis in 1941" This is a list of Jewish People, compiled in 1977, by Mrs. Stases Butkeviciene from the town of Uzventis. Translation by LitvakSIG. (Added Dec '99)

An Eye Witness Series Article #4. "List of Jews in Kelme," compiled by Mrs. Emilija Valanciene, April 8, 1988. Translation by LitvakSIG. (Added Dec '99)

Catalog of the Jewish Holdings of the Kaunas Archives, by Vitalija Gircyte, with an introduction by David Hoffman and Davida Noyek Handler. LitvakSIG, Inc., 1998. This catalog is available free online for non-commercial use and is continuously updated as new information becomes available.

"Excel, Schmexcel, Dig Up Those Relatives!" by Barry Spinak. When you have identified 100 likely relatives on the 1858 Revision List, how do you know they are really your relatives? (Added March 1999)

"Jewish Genealogical Resources at the Kaunas Regional Archives," presented at the 18th Annual Seminar on Jewish Genealogy July 13th, 1998 in LA, California, by Vitalija Gircyte (Added Dec 1998)

"Never Judge an Archival Collection by Its Description or, Never Judge a Book by Its Cover: The contents of YIVO's Lithuanian Communities of the Interwar Period Collection" by Deena A. Berton (Added April 1998)

"South African Landsmannschaften Records" by Ada Green (April 1999)

"Visiting The Jewish Cemeteries in Kaisadorys and Zasliai" by Aleksandrs Feigmanis (April 1999)

"What Does a Litvak Look Like?" by Judith Shulamith Langer-Surnamer Caplan. How many of you have ever wondered what a LITVAK looks like? (Added July 1999)

Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy is a quarterly publication, devoted to Jewish genealogical issues, including articles about the Lithuanian archives, travel experiences in Lithuania, book reviews, etc. It is the premier publication documenting Jewish genealogy today. You may contact the publisher, Avotaynu, Inc., by e-mail: info@avotaynu.com or through the Avotaynu Website.

"Archival Sources in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives," by Laima Tautvaisaite, Director, in Avotaynu, XI:3 (Fall 1995), pp. 3-7. {Excellent overview}.

"A Genealogical Trip to Lithuania: The Host's Perspective" by Yakov Shadevich, in Avotaynu, VII:1 (Spring 1991), pp. 3-5.

"Jewish Culture, History, and Religion: Keys to Understanding Our Ancestors' Lives and to Asking the Right Questions" by Harold Rhode. Avotaynu, Spring 1998, page 4.

"Jewish Genealogical Resources at the Kaunas Regional Archives," by Vitalija Gircyte, Presented at the 18th Annual Seminar on Jewish Genealogy, 18^th Annual Seminar on Jewish Genealogy, July 13, 1998, Los Angeles, CA, and published Online by the LitvakSIG, November, 1998.

"Jewish Revision Lists in Lithuanian Archives," by Harold Rhode. Avotaynu, Fall 1997, page 23.

"Jewish Vital Statistic Records in Lithuanian Archives," by Alex Friedlander, in Avotaynu, VI:4 (Winter 1990), pp. 4-12. {The complete story. With inventories}.

"Kaunas Archives," by Howard Margol and Harold Rhode. Avotaynu, Fall 1997, page 25.

"Lithuanian Central Civil Register Archives Revisited," by Ada Green. Avotaynu, Spring 1998, page 22.

"More on Revision Lists," by Len Yodaiken. Avotaynu, Winter 1997, page 46.

"New Archival Finds from Lithuania" by Yakov Shadevich, in Avotaynu, XI:2 (Summer 1995), pp. 10-13. {Includes listing by town of some non-vital records}.

"Research and Travel in Suwalki Gubernia Towns" by Bruce Kahn, in Landsmen, IV:4 (Spring 1994), pp. 10-14.

"Revelations and New Discoveries in the Vilnius Civil Registry Office," by Howard Margol. Avotaynu, Spring 1998, page 21.

"Some Problems in Researching Eastern European Records" by Boris Feldblyum and Yakov Shadevich, in Avotaynu, IX:3 (Fall 1993), pp. 12-13.

PUBLICATIONS: AUDIO CASSETTE and OTHER RECORDINGS 

Publications: Audio Cassette and Video Tapes

by Judith Langer-Surnamer Caplan and Andrew Kapochunas

     In this incredible age of information, in addition to print resources for information on Lithuanian Jewish Genealogy, there are an increasing number of multimedia resources available, both on audio cassette, as well as video tape, including: 

    Repeat Performances records the talks presented at many conferences, including at the annual Jewish Genealogical Summer Conferences. They can be reached via their web site at http://www.audiotapes.com, or at 2911 Crabapple Lane, Hobart, IN 46342,  (219) 465-1234.

"All-Lithuania Database" presented by Davida Noyek Handler {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 99-96, 19th Annual Jewish Genealogy Conference, Aug. 1999}

"Belarus Records in the Vilnius Archives" presented by Regina Kopilevich {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 00-JG-27, 20th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, July 2000}

"Connecting the Links Between the 'All Lithuania' Database and the 'Shtetls of Lithuania' Website, " presented by Davida Noyek Handler {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 00-JG-60, 20th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, July 2000}

"Jewish Wills in the Kovno Archive, " presented by Harold Rhode {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 00-JG-68, 20th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, July 2000}

"Lithuanian Holocaust Names Research Project" presented by Rose Lerer Cohen and Dr. Saul Issroff {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 99-89, 19th Annual Jewish Genealogy Conference, Aug. 1999)

"Lithuanian Jewish Genealogical Research" presented by Ada Green {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 99-01, 19th Annual Jewish Genealogy Conference, Aug. 1999)

"LitvakSIG Luncheon, Memorable Experiences as a Guide in Lithuania, " presented by Regina Kopilevich {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 00-JG-84, 20th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, July 2000}

"Matzeva Matters: How to Decipher and Read a Hebrew Tombstone" presented by Judith S. Langer-Surnamer Caplan {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 00-JG-92, 20th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, July 2000}

"Organizing Researchers to Develop a Mid 19th Century Census of Lithuanian Jews" presented by David B. Hoffman, PhD. {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 99-60, 19th Annual Jewish Genealogy Conference, Aug. 1999)

"Planning a Trip to Your Ancestral Shtetl" presented by Regina Kopilevich {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 00-JG-75, 20th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, July 2000}

"Travelling and Doing Research in Lithuania" presented by Dr. Saul Issroff, Bruce E. Kahn, and Howard Margol {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 99-100, 19th Annual Jewish Genealogy Conference, Aug. 1999)

"What the 19th Century Czarist Marriage Records Tell Us" presented by Harold Rhode {Hobart, IN: Repeat Performances, tape 00-JG-44, 20th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, July 2000}

PUBLICATIONS: VIDEO TAPE

Forests of Valor {Israel Educational Television, 1989, 52 minutes, Color. English. ISBN: 1-56082-157-4. Producer: Izzy Avron. Writer/Director: Zvi Godel. Historical Consultant: Prof. Dov Levin. Camera: Gila Brand. Video released in 1996 by Ergo Media, Teaneck, NJ.} "Rare archival footage from previously restricted Russian military museums sheds new light on the story of the Jewish underground, the resistance fighters and partisans who fought the German army while hiding in the forests of Eastern Europe in WWII. We travel deep into the forests to learn the story, to see the Jewish underground’s weapons caches, their hiding places, as well as their escape routes. We follow the labyrinth of sewage canals beneath Vilna through which underground fighters made their escape from the Ghetto. We visit the Ninth Fort, in Kovno, which served as a center for mass murder. Here, the film re-enacts the daring escape of sixty Jewish prisoners from the heavily defended fort."

Highlights of the Lithuanian Yeshiva Tour  {sponsored by Yeshiva Ahavas Torah Baranovich: Jerusalem, 1999, 1 VHS cassette; 55 minutes, Library of Congress Call Number: DS 135 L5 Y5 1999}

Jewish Life in Vilna {Warsaw, Poland: Sektor Films, 1939, 10 minutes, B&W. Yiddish. Producer: Yitzhak Goskind. Text and Narration: Asher Lerner. Photography: V. Kazimierczak. Restored as a video with new English subtitles in 1989 by The National Center for Jewish Film, Waltham, Mass.} "This rare film document captures the spirit of Jewish life in pre-WWII Vilna. Lively narration and music accompany film sequences of people engaged in the rituals and realities of daily existence – at work, at play, in the synagogue and in school. Vilna’s famous landmarks – the Strashun Library, Shnipeshiker cemetery, YIVO Institute – are among the film’s highlights. In 1938 and 1939, Shaul and Yitzhak Goskind produced six short travelogues abut urban Jewish communities in Poland: 'A Day in Warsaw,' 'Jewish Life in Bialystok,' 'Jewish Life in Cracow,' 'Jewish Life in Lodz,' 'Jewish Life in Lvov,' 'Jewish Life in Vilna.' No copy of the Lodz film has been found."

Jewish Videos from Lithuania and Latvia  Each of the videos in this series features local Jewish sites and highlights, including the synagogue (or the place where it once was), the cemetery, the cheder if it remains, as well as Jews who are still living in that locality. For further information on ordering any of the videos in this series, which all have English sound tracks, contact Dr. Aleksandrs Feigmanis: Grestes 2-12, Riga, LV-1021, Latvia; tel. (371) 7246-893; e-mail aleksgen@mailcity.com  

1. Kovno This video focuses on Jurbarkas, Kaunas/Kovno, Siauliai, Pokrojis, Birzai.  (1998/1999, Feigmanis, color, 45 minutes)
2. Kaddish This film about the Latvian Jewish community features clips from documentaries from 1920-1945 (1996 remade version produced in Riga by the Museum and Documentation Center for Jews in Latvia, written and produced by Margers Vestermanis, camera: Rodrigo Ricards, 11 minutes) This is an emotional video with music, but no special text nor subtitles, which depicts: the burning of the synagogue in 1941 in Riga, the beating of Jews on Riga streets in 1941, the shooting of Jews in Libau/Liepaja in 1941, and the trial of over chief of SS Jekkelm in 1946.  
3. Baltic Jewish Travels, Part I This video focuses on Riga, Windau, Ludza, and Vilnius/Vilno. (1998/1999, Feigmanis, color, 45 minutes)
4. Baltic Jewish Travels, Part II This video focuses on Kaunas, Saulenai, Siauliai, Joniskis, Taurage, Vainutas, Silute, Telsiai, Mazheiki, Leckava, and Bauska. (1998/1999, Feigmanis, color, 45 minutes)
5. Birzai  (1998/1999, Feigmanis, color, 30 minutes)

Kovno Ghetto: A Buried History {A&E Television Networks: The History Channel, 1997, 100 minutes, Color. English. ISBN: 0-7670-0710-7. Producer/Director/Writer: Herbert Krosney. Writer/Narrator: Sir Martin Gilbert. Distributed in US by New Video Group, 126 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011} "Before the World War II, 35,000 Jews lived in Kovno, Lithuania. In a story familiar throughout Europe, few escaped the Holocaust. But, despite their great suffering, the courageous people of Kovno risked their lives to record their fate in thousands of photographs and documents. Many of these artifacts survived the war, and they form the most complete record of any Jewish community's experience during the Holocaust. 'Kovno Ghetto' pieces to gather the stories of the Jews of Kovno from the first stirrings of war to the annihilation of the ghetto just days before the city's liberation. And for the first time, 18 survivors of Kovno -- including photographer Zvi Kadushin, whose images are the heart of Kovno's moving legacy -- tell their harrowing stories of survival and loss."

Ponivez Revisited  Ponivez, Lithuania 1932/1997 {Hoffman Visual Communication: Patchogue, NY ; Brooklyn, 1998, English Narration accompanied with Music, Produced and Directed by Chaim Mechanic. Photographed by Irving Wiener, a former Ponivez resident in 1932, and Harold Rhode in 1997. About 30 minutes, in Black and White.} The older original movie footage on this video, which is owned by Rabbi Moshe Wiener,  was photographed by his Grandfather in 1932. This video contains film of Ponivez, the Old Cemetery (before the Russian destruction) with shots of the graves of Reb Itzle and the Ponivez Rav, as well as   pictures of the famous Ponivez Rav , Rabbi Kahanaman, teaching the students of his Yeshiva Kolel. There are  pictures of Modern Ponivez, with  many of the same places, taken by Harold Rhode when he was there in 1997.  This video can be ordered through Chaim Mechanic.

    Uncle Chatzkel {Australia: Film Australia National Interest Program, in association with ROBE Productions and SBS Independent, with the assistance of the New South Wales Film and Television Office,   Producer/Director/Writer: Rod Freedman; Co-Producer: Emile Sherman; Cinematographer: Nicholas Sherman; Principal Photography in Lithuania (June 1997) and Australia (July 1999);  52:20 minutes long, in colour with some black and white footage}
    "Uncle Chatzkel portrays the patient triumph of one man’s dignity and intellect over genocide, oppression and personal adversity. Chatzkel Lemchen has lived through the Russian revolution, two world wars, a communist regime and the transition of Lithuania from Soviet republic to an independent state. During the Holocaust his parents and children, along with many of their fellow Jewish citizens, were killed by the Nazis and their Lithuanian supporters. He and his wife were sent to separate concentration camps in Germany.  Chatzkel survived through his skills as a linguist and lexicographer, and his dictionaries helped preserve the Lithuanian language during the Soviet era. At 93, he still lives and works in Vilnius, Lithuania, providing a bridge between Lithuanian, Russian and Yiddish cultures. Now regarded as a national treasure, Chatzkel displays the strength of a survivor, the insight of an intellectual and the humour of a wise man."
    "Born in 1904 in the small town of Papile to Rocha and Avraham Yaakov Lemchen, Chatzkel Lemchen was the youngest of seven children. During World War I, the frontline came dangerously close to Papile, forcing his family to flee across several countries, eventually settling in Penza, Russia, where they lived for seven years under the new Communist regime. At the age of 17, Chatzkel and his family returned home to find it in ruins and settled in nearby Zagare. It was at University Jonas that Chatzkel became an assistant to Professor Janos Jablonskis, widely recognised as the “Father of the Modern Lithuanian Language.” His talent as a linguist and scholar was evident early in his ‘apprenticeship’ to Jablonskis and he went on to become a highly respected teacher and translator.
    In the late 1920s, Chatzkel met and married Ela ‘Lena’ Wohlson, a fellow teacher. Together they raised two sons, Azarye and Victor, and moved to the city of Kaunas (Kovno in Yiddish). In 1939, Lithuania became another Soviet republic under the non-aggression treaty between Russia and Germany. However, when the latter invaded and occupied Lithuania in 1941, Chatzkel and his family were imprisoned in the Kaunas (Kovno) Ghetto and later transported to separate concentration camps in Germany. The Holocaust claimed the lives of his parents and his sons, and on release from Dachau at the end of World War II, Chatzkel returned home to hear that his wife was seriously ill in a German hospital. After they reunited, he nursed her back to health and from that day until this, even after his wife’s death in 1979, he has lived in Vilnius working as a linguist and lexicographer. "   

Update: "I am sorry to tell  you the sad news that Uncle Chatzkel died on Sunday, November 11, 2001. Born on April 21, 1904, he had reached the age of 97, extraordinary for a man who had endured so much," wrote his great-nephew Rod Freedman (rfreedman@filmaust.com.au), who produced, directed, and wrote the video about Uncle Chatzkelis Lemchenas.
 
   This video can be ordered from Film Australia Sales,  PO Box 46,  Lindfield NSW 2070,  Australia, or mmullen@filmaust.com.au.

The Visas that Saved Lives {Japan, Kazumo Co., 1992, 115 minutes, Color. Japanese with English subtitles. ISBN: 1-56082-144-2. Producers: Tetsuo Suzuki (Fuji TV), Naonori Kawamura and Toshio Ozawa. Director: Katsumi Ohyama. Original story by Yukiko Sugihara. Video released in 1995 by Ergo Media, Teaneck, NJ.} "This is the story {originally shown on Japanese television} of a of a man {Chiune Sugihara, Japan’s consul-general in Lithuania in 1940} who sacrificed his own bright career to write the precious visas {estimated at 1,600} that saved an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 lives."

PUBLICATIONS: SUGGESTIONS BOX

    Please send all suggestions for additional works to be included on this web page to LitvakSIG@lvcm.com