Eišiškes, Lithuania

Ejszyszki, its History and Destruction
(Eišiškes, Lithuania)

54°10' / 25°00'

Translation of
Eishishok, koroteha ve-hurbana

Editor: Sh. Barkeli

Published in Jerusalem 1960

Acknowledgments

Our sincere appreciation to Kenneth Juris who has kindly donated this translation
for online presentation on the JewishGen web site.
Translated in 1980 from the Hebrew by Shoshanna Gavish
Copy editing and proofreading by Judy Baston

Text scanning by Seth Morgulas

This is a translation of: Eishishok, koroteha ve-hurbana (Ejszyszki, its history and destruction),
Editor: Sh. Barkeli, Committee of the Survivors of Ejszyszki in Israel, Published: Jerusalem 1960 (H,Y 136 pages)

Note: The original book can be seen online at the NY Public Library site: Eisiskes

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
This material may not be copied, sold or bartered without JewishGen, Inc.'s permission. Rights may be reserved by the copyright holder.

JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification.
JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions.
Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

Translated by Yocheved Klausner

Yizkor
Introduction	The Committee for Holocaust survivors in Israel	V
Foreword	The Editor	VII

Eishishok in the Past
Beginnings		3
The beginning of the Jewish community in Eisiskes		4

The Eishishok surroundings
The old cemetery		7
The “Mayak”		9
The pool		11

Eisiskes the town of Torah and Learners (articles and letters)
M. Tzinowitz		12
Rabbi Meir Stalwitz z”l		15
Rabbi Avraham Berish Rosing		16
An article in Hashachar in 5638 (1878)		18
A.A. Friedman (from his Memories, Tel Aviv 1926)		20
The great fire in 1895		22
A call from the editor of Hamelitz (24 Sivan 5655)ש		23
The fires and the burned	A.L. Levinski (Hamelitz Tamuz 5655)	24
A call from the community leaders	(Hamelitz 1896)	25
From the book “From wave to wave”	Meir Wilkenski	25

The Zionist Movement in Eisiskes
Foundation of the Zionist Organization		27
The Rak Ivrit [Only Hebrew] Association		31
Zionist Youth Movements		32
The Library and the Theatre Group		34

The Economic Situation
The Economic Situation		40
The Artisans Union (Craftsmen's Association)		41
Some Figures Concerning Trade and Commerce in Eishishok		42
The workers' professional unions		44

The Destruction of Eishishok
Before the earthquake (Eishishok a shelter for refugees)		47
“Don't be afraid, we will take you out” (from the diary of a military interpreter)	M. Chodorovsky	48
“The cordial Jews” (from the mouth of a Zionist “border smuggler”)	Shlomo Brener	50
Eishishok, Eishishok, how pleasant and beautiful you were…	Ben-Zion Ben-Shalom (from the book “In a day of storm”)	54

The Holocaust	By witnesses and survivors
The Holocaust		56
The last days of Eishishok	Shalom Ben-Shemesh (Sonnenson)	57
In hiding	Yafa daughter of Moshe Sonnenson (aged 10)	67
With the Partisans	Rachel Futchter	70
From a Prisoner's Camp to a Partisan Troop	Shneor Glembotzky	75
The White Partisan Attack on Eishishok	Alter Michalovski	82

Yiddish Section
The History of Eishishok (A brief historical overview)		89
The Jewish Community		90
The Economic and Cultural Life		91

The Destruction of Eishishok	As told by Eishishok refugees
The Last Days of Eishishok	Shalom Sonenson (Ben-Shemesh)	93
In the Bunkers	Yaffa Sonenson (10 years old)	101
The life of Jewish “forest-people”	Rachel Futcher	105
From a Prisoner's Camp to a Partisan Life	Shneur Glembocki	111
The Attack of the White Partisans Upon Eishishok	Alter Michalowski	117

Miscellaneous
The Rabbi and Gaon Rabbi Shimon Rozovski, may G-d avenge his blood		125
As a Fleeting Dream…	Yitzchak Ogen	127
Yizkor - (In memory of my kindergarten children)	Rachel Abiri (Strikovski)	130
Aliya from Eishishok to the Land of Israel - Memories	Uri Rozovski	131
My Shtetl	Mordechai Kaleko	134

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