The first references to Jewish settlement in Šiauliai date back to the late 17^th century. In 1681, King John III Sobieski granted a privilege to a man named Wulf, commonly known as Nurok, which exempted him from taxes and provided him and his family with hereditary right of residence in the town. Legend has it that the act was given to the Jew as a token of gratitude. When the tower of St Peter and Paul Church in Šiauliai was struck by lightning and collapsed, the residents decided to bring in a new bell. While the transport was crossing the frozen lake, the ice gave way and the cargo fell into the water. Wulf then plunged into the lake and retrieved the bell; this is how he got his nickname Nurok (diver). However, the privilege did not allow other Jews to settle in Šiauliai, except for the Wolf family (which had 42 members). This condition was demanded by the townspeople, who were afraid of Jewish competition. The situation changed with Jakub Sobieski’s charter of 30 April 1701, which allowed Jews to settle in Šiauliai and purchase land to erect a synagogue and establish a cemetery. The new regulation attracted Jews from Kelmė, Žagarė, Šiaulėnai, and other nearby towns. As many as 55 Jews settled in Šiauliai in 1701.

However, data from later years indicates that the town was not fully open to Jews. The ban on their settlement was formally lifted in 1731, but for a long time they only constituted a small community. The town’s records of the years 1738–1754 show only four to six Jewish families. The conditions for Jewish settlement improved after 1750, when Jews were exempted from trade taxes. The first record of a wooden synagogue dates back to 1748.

Some publications claim that the Jewish cemetery in Šiauliai was established in 1701, but the first person was buried there only in 1749. Earlier, the dead had been buried in cemeteries in Kelmė, Žagarė and Šiaulėnai. The necropolis was located at today’s intersection of Žalgirio Street and Rėkyvos Street. It was surrounded by a two metre high stone wall, a part of which has survived to the present day. After 1945, after a new cemetery was opened on Donelaičio Street, the old Jewish graveyard was closed and destroyed. The gravestones were put on a pile and later taken away. Matzevot in good condition were sanded into new gravestones, while those more worn out were smashed and used for building walls or making gravel. In 1965–1966, some of the matzevot were used to in the construction of stairs at the Church of St Peter and St Paul. In 1965, after the Jewish cemetery was destroyed, a crèche and a kindergarten were built at the site. However, a few upturned gravestones with inscriptions in Hebrew can still be found there.

In 1768, Antoni Tyzenhauz majorly transformed the town, destroying half of the buildings and erecting a castle called Gubernia. At the time, the local Jewish population noted a clear growth. In 1775, the community had 687 members, with some of them renting inns in the nearby villages and towns. Financial inequalities soon began to emerge. The wealthiest Jews in the town were merchants, such as Izrael Welwelewicz, Notel Kalmanowicz, and Maus Rabinowicz.

The municipal records of 1789 show there were 107 houses belonging to Christians and 55 owned by Jews in Šiauliai. Jewish households were located around the market square and in Wileńska and Rudawy streets. A significant number of Jews lived in the new main street, Mitawska, which had a total of 65 houses, or one-third of all the town’s buildings. The records mention a Jewish school, a bath, and an almshouse on Mitawska Street.

According to municipal records, the Šiauliai kehilla was established in the late 18^th century. On 9 December 1804, a regulation was issued under which the community board was to be elected for a three-year term of office, subject to the approval of the governorate authorities. Rabbis and elders, elected in numbers reflecting the size of the community, were the most important figures in the kehilla. Rabbis played a crucial role in the local spiritual life. They were elected every three years, and they dealt not only with religious matters, but also signed the kehilla’s decisions and court rulings, supervised schools, registered births, weddings, divorces, deaths, and issued birth certificates. Šiauliai’s most famous rabbis included: A. Bakszt, A. J. Nochumowski, J. Szapira, N. Lewita, and A. Abelson. 

Under the decree of 9 December 1802, Jews had the right to hold one-third of the seats on the municipal council. Thanks to the legal changes, two Jewish community members joined the council in Šiauliai after the 1804 election. However, another regulation introduced by the authorities prohibited electing Jewish councillors in all towns of the Vilnius Governorate. It was the aftermath of complaints filed by Christian burghers. Jews regained the right to run in elections to municipal councils under the decree of 18 May 1836. In 1856, 34 Christians and 190 Jews were eligible to become candidates to the post of councillor.

The Jewish community suffered significant damages during the November Uprising, when heavy warfare took place near Šiauliai. The insurgents accused the Jews of supporting the Russians, plundered their property, and executed (hanged) several individuals.

In 1843–1845, the Russian Empire was affected by draught and famine. The natural disasters did not spare Šiauliai, where many residents died of hunger, and some of them, including Jews, migrated to the United States or South America.

The situation improved only in the final quarter of the 19^th century, largely due to the construction of the Liepāja-Romny railway line, with its intersection with the Saint Petersburg-Warsaw line located in the vicinity of Šiauliai. The town became the key centre of trade in northern Lithuania. In 1897, as many as 6,978 Jews lived in the town, making up 43% of all its inhabitants.

In 1870, the community’s wooden synagogue was replaced with a brick one. In 1879, Šiauliai boasted eight synagogues and 14 houses of prayer. The brick synagogue was considered the most beautiful and important temple in the town. Called the White Swan Synagogue, it was located at 35 Varpo Street. It was destroyed during World War II. The building was erected from funds donated by the community.

Only the synagogue located at 68 Vilniaus Street has survived until today. It was erected in the early 20^th century by Ch. Frenkel near his factory, and was originally meant to be used by his workers. However, its holiday services attracted Jews from all over the town. After nationalisation, the synagogue was converted into a sports hall. The interior layout was changed, some of the windows were bricked up, the Torah ark was destroyed, and a social room was opened on the first floor. Only the exterior of the building remained virtually unchanged.

The late 19^th century was a period of intensive growth of industry and trade. Chaim Frenkel’s steam-powered leather factory was opened in 1887. It was one of the biggest leather and footwear producers in Russia. The facility imported massive quantities of animal hides from South America (Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro). Thanks to its huge volume of production, the factory quickly dominated the whole industry, surpassing competitors in Minsk, Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Before World War I, it employed 800 people and its sales reached 14 million roubles. The outbreak of the war interrupted the factory’s fast growth. Some of the machines were transported to Russia, others were destroyed on site, similarly to the huge warehouses of tanned hides. After the war, Chaim’s son, Jakub Frenkel, returned from abroad and rebuilt the factory with the help of its former workers. A total of seven units were reactivated to manufacture soles, footwear, saddles, belts, leather caps, coats, suitcases and other items. In the inter-war period, the factory employed 200 people.

A testament to the former glory of the factory is the Modernist palace of Dora and Chaim Frenkel, built in 1908. During the inter-war period and in the Soviet times (1940–1941), the building was used by the town’s cultural and educational authorities. During WWII, the palace housed a German war hospital, and between 1944 and August 1993 – a military hospital. A number of original decorations have survived, including wainscoting, stairs, and painted ceilings. Today, the building houses the Šiauliai municipal museum.

In 1894, the Rogalin brothers founded a second, smaller leather factory. In 1902, they employed 40 people. Hides were imported from abroad, and the final products were sold mainly in Šiauliai and Lithuania. The third largest factory in the town was established in 1898 by the Nurok brothers – Wulf, Josel and Bencel. It also dealt with steam processing of hides. The enterprise manufactured soles and insoles made of yuft and chrome-tanned leather. Yuft was also supplied to the army. The plant’s annual sales amounted to almost 30,000 roubles and the facility had about 100 employees. It went bankrupt during the economic crisis of 1931–1934.

A soap, wax and shoe polish manufacturing plant owned by Wulf Ziwi operated in Šiauliai from 1877 until World War I. In 1898, Iserl opened his wheel grease factory. B. Klejn’s workshop produced vaseline and shoe polish.

The biggest tobacco factories in the area were owned by J. Podlaszuk and M. Iserl, while the local confectionery plant was the property of the Kagan brothers. In 1892, a fire broke out at J. Podlaszuk’s plant, destroying the facilities for the production of cigars, cigarettes and tobacco. Even when reconstructed, the plant was no match for its competitors from Riga and Grodno and went out of business in the late 19^th century. Only M. Iserl’s plant survived. Established in 1882, it proved unable to further develop its scope of operations despite producing 20,000 poods of tobacco exported to the Kaunas District, Estonia, and Latvia. The confectionery plant owned by the Kagan brothers, established back in 1876, processed sugar delivered from Kyiv. The facility boasted three steam boilers and two engines with an output of 50 horsepower each. It employed ca. 200 people. Its sweets and chocolate were sent to the biggest cities in Russia. 1888, Arie Rappaport set up a new confectionery plant in the town.

Šiauliai also had a thriving food industry, established with the participation of Jewish newcomers to the area, banned from settling in the villages of the Kaunas Governorate in 1882. Among the most important enterprises in the industry were the mills owned by L. Goco (est. 1878, 8–12 workers), U. Kwejt (est. 1899, 10–11 workers), Mowszon, Bejtlerz (7–20 employees), K. Rejtler, and F. Rubinsztein.

There were several Jewish-owned printing houses in Šiauliai. Fajwel Lejwand’s printing house was opened in 1875. In 1882, it was replaced by Borys Szapiro’s lithography and printing shop which had four employees. The same year, Jankiel Wolberg opened a small printing house, but his range of products was limited to visiting cards and custom-made stationery.

When in 1882 the tsarist authorities issued the already-mentioned ban on Jewish settlement in the villages of the Kaunas Governorate, a number of Jews moved to towns and focused on crafts. In the early 20^th century, 80% of all craftsmen in Šiauliai were Jewish.

Cheders were the first Jewish educational facilities in the town. In 1853, a three-form Jewish district school was established. This first-category school was funded from the so-called “candle tax.” Its goal was to prepare students for attending rabbinical school. Another school (elementary?) was established in 1879. In 1900, it had 138 students. In 1899, a Talmud Torah school for poor Jewish children and orphans was opened in the town; it was equivalent to a two-form Jewish school. The four-form School No. 9 was opened in 1908. Ca. 30 cheders with some 450 male students existed in Šiauliai before World War I. Ca. 150 female students attended a school for girls established in 1894.

In 1898, a two-storey brick hospital was erected in Šiauliai. It had 34 beds, a surgical ward, an outpatient clinic, and a pharmacy. It was considered the best hospital in the entire Kaunas Governorate. The Bikur Cholim charitable association operated at the hospital, helping the poor to purchase necessary medication.

In 1921, ca. 7,000 Jews lived in the town, making up 35% of all its inhabitants. There were eight synagogues in Šiauliai, as well as a funeral home, a bathhouse, and a Jewish cemetery. The Jewish community boasted 47 Jewish doctors (64.4% of all physicians in the town), 10 pharmacists (71.7%), and seven lawyers (38.8%).

The textile industry developed in Šiauliai in the inter-war period. It was an outcome of the government’s plans to make the town the leading linen processing centre in Lithuania. Semlin, a linen processing plant built by Lejba Bernsztejn in 1920, became one of the biggest facilities of its kind. The factory’s annual output reached between 250 and 300 train cars of linen. The company had 150 regular employees; with seasonal workers included, the number would amount to as many as 2,000. In 1932, brothers Josel and Mendel Abramson opened three new linen processing plants: Litlin, Litverp and Virvolit. In 1937–1940, Šiauliai’s linen factories expanded their production and started to export their products. The “Materiały” joint-stock company owned by Neum Zilbert, Josel Beznik and Szymon Waks – a wool, linen and cotton trading business – also played an important role in the economic life of the town.

The local industry and trade were supported with loans granted by the local Jewish banks, including those owned by Sz. Nurok (est. 1921) and I. Choronżycki, and the Komercyjny Bank. In 1929, Nurok’s bank went bankrupt and in consequence drove its 300 depositors to ruin – as it soon transpired, they had been misled by inaccurate balance sheets. Jews owned a significant number of shops in the town. Most of them were located in the centre, close to the Kapitolis cinema. Their owners often lived in the same building.

In the inter-war period, Jews owned two elementary schools and several other educational facilities in the town. Great popularity was enjoyed by School No. 9, which had existed since 1908. Located in Stoties Street, it had been funded by industrialist Frenkel and used Hebrew as the language of instruction. A house of prayer for students and teachers was situated on the second floor of the school. Another four-form Jewish school was established in 1919. It was located in Kaštonų Avenue, with Yiddish as the language of instruction. There was also a cheder at 135 Vilniaus Street. Its students would attend it for three years; regardless of their level, they were all taught in a single room.

Jews also ran their own middle school and a preparatory school, both with a curriculum approved by the Lithuanian Education Ministry. The private middle school in Zamkowa Street was opened in 1920. It had two preparatory forms. It used Hebrew as the language of instruction, but it also offered Lithuanian classes (with Chackel Lemchen as the Lithuanian teacher in 1924–1940). In 1923, the Jewish preparatory school with four forms and Yiddish as the language of instruction was opened at 19 Aušros Street. There was also a crafts school operated by the ORT at 23 Višinskio Street. It offered vocational courses for various professions, including tailors, shoe makers, locksmiths and others.

The Jewish population supported numerous political parties, all of which had close ties to the local educational institutions. The Zionists enjoyed the greatest following and controlled the Jewish middle school. Chaim Zaks headed their organisation since 1920. The Jewish elementary school No. 8 and the preparatory school were influenced by the Folkspartei, while the cheder and the other elementary school were controlled by the Orthodox Agudath. Šiauliai also had three kindergartens. One of them was financed by the Folkspartei, the second one by secular Zionists, and the third one by religious Zionists.

There were numerous Jewish newspapers published in the town. The Lietuvos skelbimų lapas [Lithuanian Advertisement List] was first published in 1923 and contained information on local shops and services in Lithuanian and Hebrew. The first issue of the Zeit periodical, edited by W. Rudman and M. Bloszkin, was published on 24 March 1924. With 100 issues released, the weekly was published only until August of the same year.

Libraries played an important role in the local cultural life. One of the first such facilities was founded in the years 1916–1917. Its collection comprised 1,878 items, all of them in Yiddish, with 75% being literary works and 25% educational books. Tarbut owned a big library located in Šeduvos Street, with books in Hebrew and Yiddish. Another library was located in the Jewish middle school, with the bulk of the collection consisting of publications written in Hebrew, German, and Russian. Jews could also use the state library, with one-third of its books written in Yiddish. Jews had their own bookshops as well. Mojsze Mendel Ordman ran a bookshop in Rinkos Street; there was another one in Kuršėnų Street. In 1926, M. Lichtmacher, W. A. Geller and I. Volpė founded the Logos bookshop.

Jews actively participated in the town’s music scene. In the years 1922–1927, the Hazomir Jewish musical and dramatical society operated in the town. In 1925, doctors Maksim Jochelson and Wilhelm Fridberg, economist Eugenijus Hercberg, and Lina Nurokienė founded a musical and literary association that sought to educate its members on world music, literature, and arts.

Sport was yet another area of Jewish activity. Sports clubs and athletic organisations started to appear as early as 1919. The Maccabi club, founded on 23 June 1921 at the initiative of Grisza Szapiro (chairman), N. Sznic and S. Petuchauski, was the biggest sports organisation in the town. The JAK (Jidišer Atletn Klub) athletics club was established in 1926. The Olimpia club was set up the same year. It had a gymnastics section and an athletics section; it also ran a library.

Another social institution operating in Šiauliai was an old age home with about 200 residents. Since 1934, it was funded by a local wealthy Jew, Rafael Szapiro. Social services were also provided by the Ezra charitable organisation, which was active in elementary schools, the preparatory school, and the middle school. There was also the OZE healthcare society; it organised annual New Year’s Eve events, with profits allocated to the organisations of summer camps for poor children.

Jews were also present in the Šiauliai local government. In 1918, during the election to the municipal council, they formed a separate faction, regardless of the voting list which they ran from. In April 1920, Jewish politicians gained nine seats out of a total of 55, including five Tzeirei Zion members and four independent candidates. In the 1924 election, eight of all 48 candidates to the municipal local government were Jewish, including: M. Mowsza (Movšonas), S. Rabinowicz, S. Gavaldiskis, B. Kartūnas, C. Volpė, and J. Lewin (Levinas). Among the members of the last term of the Šiauliai Municipal Council in independent Lithuania were J. Frenkel, pharmacist C. Volpė, and lawyer Szwarc.

The house located at 24 Višinskio Street, formerly owned by dermatologist Siemion Wolpert, constitutes an interesting monument to the inter-war period. Since 1988, it has housed the seat of the local Jewish community, which regards it as a symbol of its history and culture. The house was erected in 1930–1934 based on a Constructivist design by architect Erich Mendelsohn. In the Soviet era, it was referred to as the “hotel for the masters,” because it was highly favoured by high-ranking communist activists.

When Lithuania regained its independence, Jews enjoyed broad cultural autonomy. However, the government promoted the vision of Lithuania as a national state designed mainly for Lithuanians. Jews encountered problems in conducting commercial activities and were virtually unable to find employment in state or municipal institutions. Initially, the everyday relations between Lithuanians and Jews were generally amicable. However, the situation changed during the inter-war period. The first anti-Semitic incidents were recorded as early as 1923, and a significant number of anti-Jewish assaults occurred in the years 1937–1939. On 16–22 August 1934, anti-Semitic press articles and appeals for an economic boycott led to the outbreak of anti-Jewish riots. More and more Jews were migrating from the town.

There were 6,600 Jews living in Šiauliai in 1940, making up 25% of the total population. Their economic status was undercut by the nationalisation of factories and shops carried out by the Soviets.

The Germans entered the town on 26 June 1941. In the first two weeks after the invasion, Lithuanian nationalists killed over 1,000 Jews. The Germans placed the remaining ones in two ghettos formed by 15 August 1941. A Jewish representation called the “delegation” was established. One of its members was Eliezer Yerushalmi, whose diary written in the ghetto was later used as evidence in the Nuremberg Trials. Due to the small size of the ghetto, the Germans transported ca. 1,000 Jews to extermination sites in Žagarė and Bubiai, where they were killed. By the end of September 1941, ca. 300 people died in subsequent “operations.” Jews were used as forced labour in the Frenkel factory. The profits it generated were high enough to maintain a ghetto hospital. On 15 August 1942, the Germans banned Jewish women from giving birth under death penalty. Doctors at the hospital killed all new-born babies.

In January 1943, 4,836 Jews were imprisoned in the town’s closed districts. In September 1943, the Šiauliai ghettos were taken over by the SS and converted first into concentration camps, and later into labour camps. On 5 November 1943, the Germans carried out the “children’s operation” – children and the elderly were killed while their families were at work. In July 1944, in view of the approaching front line, the Germans changed the regime and converted the camps back into ghettos. On 17–19 July 1944, the Jews from the Šiauliai ghettos were transported to the Nazi German death camp in Stutthof, and from there to other camps, mainly to Dachau. Ca. 500 of them survived the Holocaust.

Juratė Žulpaitė

The original version of the text was published on the Žydai Lietuvoje portal. Used with permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.