First Jews started to settle in Telšiai (Pol. Telsze) relatively late. In the census of 1665, no Jewish name was mentioned; at that time, there were yet no Jews in the town. The register of residents of 1667 comprises a total of 54 surnames, including one Jewish.

The turn of the 18^th century was a period of wars followed by famine and plague. The tragic events took a massive toll on the population of Samogitia. Telšiai was also greatly affected, losing a large percentage of its population. Municipal administrators and estate owners sought to repopulate empty towns and villages and promptly revive the local economy. These efforts most often consisted in encouraging Jews to settle in the urban centres of Samogitia.

A document dating back to 1690 refers to the burghers and Jews living in Telšiai. It also describes fairs taking place in the town and mentions a tribute imposed on the residents, who were obliged to give half a stone of tallow to the monastery three times a year (on the days of St Porziuncola, St Anne, and St Francis). It is likely that the fairs were held on these three days.

Trade was undoubtedly the main factor attracting Jewish settlers. In 1721, the town was granted the market privilege, which drew in even more Jewish residents. In the 18^th century, Jews became the dominant ethnic group in Telšiai. The census of 1738 features 36 names of families living in the town, 21 of which were Jewish. On this basis, it can be estimated that Jews constituted over half of the population (58%). In the register of 1738, only six Jewish names are annotated with professions: rabbi, religion teacher, tinsmith, musician, bookbinder, and cymbalist. The remaining Jews were most likely merchants.

Another important document allowing us to assess the number of Jews living in Telšiai in the 18^th century is the head tax register of 1765. At the time, there were 43 Jewish houses in the town, inhabited by 184 people (91 men, 93 women). The document makes nearly no mention of the professions of the Jews, apart from the references to several teachers and brewers. It can be assumed that most Jews of Telšiai were involved in trade and crafts. This is evidenced by a purchase deed issued on 28 July 1768 – a local glazier, Benesz Hirszowicz, bought a property located next to the estate owned by a Jew, tinsmith Szmujło, from the owners of the castle. This is the only known document dating back to the 18^th century which mentions Jewish craftsmen in Telšiai.

In 1775, the land court and the municipal court were moved from Telšiai to Šiauliai. This largely undermined the town's significance in the region and had an adverse effect on its economic development. The surviving documents from this period contain numerous complaints from the local Jews, who claimed that the decision to relocate the courts had dealt a severe blow to the local trade, with sales volumes decreasing substantially. However, the loss of the local courts was nothing compared to the misfortune that befell the town of Telšiai five years later. On 14 June 1780, around 10 p.m., the home of the innkeeper Hirsz Jankielowicz caught on fire for unknown reasons. The flames soon spread to the neighbouring households. A total of 31 Jewish-owned homes was lost to the blaze. After a few days, on 18 June, the wind scattered smouldering ashes from the burned-out buildings; this caused another fire, this time starting from the house of a Jew named Jankiel Gietalewicz, located on a church-owned estate. The fire destroyed all six houses on the property. Only 11 burghers’ homesteads and six Jewish houses survived the blaze. In 1775, before the fire, the community consisted of 219 people in total; afterwards, only six Jewish houses were left, inhabited by ca. 60 people. The rest left for other towns.

The inspection of 1780, carried out to assess the situation in the town after the fire, allows us to reconstruct the Jewish life of Telšiai. Most of the local Jews earned their living through trade or crafts, while others worked as innkeepers. The wealthiest of the local Jews lived at Lipawska Street. They were Wolf Mauszelowicz and Beniasz Mejerowicz. During the great fire, Mauszelowicz lost an inn with six guest rooms, a granary, a trade stand, stables, and a brick-and-stone cellar, as well as PLN 6,900 worth of stored liquors – vodka, mead, beer, and others. The losses incurred by Mejerowicz included two farmsteads, a four-bedroom house with a store and two granaries by the market square, as well as goods intended for sale (cloth, camlet, paperboard, flax linen, wheat, rye, various liquors and silverware) – PLN 16,200 overall. In total, 43 Jewish families suffered losses amounting to PLN 180,150. Following the inspection, the local Jews petitioned to the authorities in Telšiai to be exempt from paying rent for a period of 10 years. In September 1781, the Treasury Commission of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania exempted all the town’s residents from paying the head tax and the liquor tax for a period of three years.

The census carried out by the Jewish kehilla in Telšiai three years later shows that the local community started to get back on their feet. The document lists 30 Jewish farmsteads in the town, inhabited by a total of 131 people. Some of the victims of the fire had managed to build new houses, while others lived in the newly constructed buildings as tenants.

Towards the end of the 18^th century, the status of Telšiai changed substantially. In 1791, the Duchy of Samogitia was divided into three districts: Raseiniai, Šiauliai, and Telšiai. On 6 December 1791, King Stanisław August Poniatowski granted municipal rights to Telšiai. Under the charter, houses and lands forming part of the town became subject to the authority of the monarch, and the municipal council and court were to be elected. The newly acquired city status largely boosted the local economy. It also prompted the nobility to purchase 24 houses and plots from townsmen and Jews in the years 1791–1972.

The 19^th century marked the golden age of the Jewish community in Telšiai. The number of Jews living in the town was constantly growing, the community was building its economic strength, the educational system was expanding, and new public buildings were being erected (most of them serving religious purposes). However, the prosperity of the Jewish kehilla could hardly be anticipated at the beginning of the century. At the time, a conflict regarding the right to produce and sell alcohol arose between the Jews and the local nobility. In years 1825–1826, the nobles filed complaints to the authorities, claiming that Jews “spread disease and infect the townsfolk around them, are a nuisance to the magnates, and when they see no other option left, they resort to making threats, saying they shall turn to a life of theft and robbery.” For those reasons, the nobles saw it fit to ask the tsar to order for the local Jews to be banished.

The town started to develop in the 1830s. Jews mainly lived along its main street – present day’s Respublikos g. – and around the market square and nearby streets. It was also when the Jewish quarter was formed; it existed until the Holocaust. In 1841, 25 Jewish craftsmen lived in Telšiai: 14 seamstresses, 10 shoemakers, and one watchmaker. In the mid-19^th century, the first synagogue was built. With time, four synagogues were established: the Great Synagogue, the Tailors’ Synagogue, the Butchers’ Synagogue, and the Soldiers’ Synagogue. Three synagogues were located in the centre, and one a little further, at today’s Aukštoji g. The latter was called the “soldiers’ prayer house” as it was the place where Jewish soldiers would pledge their allegiance to the tsar.

It is not clear when the first Jewish school was established in Telšiai. Several cheders operated in the town in the 19^th century. The first secular Jewish school for boys was founded in 1849 or 1859. In 1866, a school for girls was opened. In 1865, poet Yehuda Leib Gordon founded a school with Russian as one of the languages of instruction. He faced a wave of criticism from Orthodox Jews and subsequently left the town. In 1879, a boarding crafts school for girls from poor families was opened. At that time, there were also two Talmud Torah schools in the town, run by Simon Winer and Moshe Friman. The second half of the 19^th century saw the establishment of the famous Telšiai yeshiva.

The town’s social life also experienced rapid development. In the years 1869–1872, when the local farmers struggled with the consequences of crop failure, the local Jews formed a committee intended to provide aid to the poor. In 1893, when the town was hit by a cholera epidemic, Gordon, the local rabbi, founded a committee which provided support to those residents who were unable to afford medical treatment. Despite opposition from the rabbis from the local yeshiva, Telšiai was also swayed by Zionist ideology. In 1889, the local branch of Hovevei Zion was founded; ten years later, it had 41 members. The first wave of migration to Palestine took place in the second half of the 19^th century.

In 1870, Telšiai had 6,481 residents, including 4,399 Jews (68%). In 1897, the number of residents dropped to 6,000, including 3,088 Jews. The loss of Jewish population was primarily a result of migration, intensified by anti-Semitism in Russia, especially by the news about pogroms in Ukraine. Many Jews left for North and South America and South Africa.

The heyday of the Jewish community in Telšiai ended with the outbreak of a great fire on 8–10 July 1908. The Lithuanian Courier wrote that “...a fire broke out in the most densely populated part of town (...), inhabited exclusively by Jews. (...) The blaze engulfed the entire left side of the market square and the building of the district treasury, almost reaching the nearby Catholic cemetery. Before the sunset, around 100 houses had burned down; they belonged to 43 different owners, some of whom were Catholics. In addition, three synagogues, (...) the rabbinical school and a few Jewish stores were burned to the ground.” A few days later, the flames rose up again, this time destroying nearly the entire town centre. The disaster forced many Jews to leave the town.

After the beginning of World War I, the number of Jews decreased even more. Most of them migrated to inner Russia. The town soon came under German occupation, followed by a short-lived rule of the Bolsheviks. By the end of the war, the town’s population had dwindled significantly; the same applied to the number of the town’s Jewish residents. In 1923, Telšiai had 4,691 residents, including 1,545 Jews (33%).

In 1920, after the proclamation of Lithuania's independence, Jews were granted cultural autonomy. Based on the 1920 decision of Menachem Soloveitchik, the Minister for Jewish Affairs, all Jewish communities were obliged to elect a community board. Despite opposition of the town rabbi, a board of 11 members was formed. It existed until the abolition of autonomy in 1925. There were also Jewish representatives in the municipal council. In 1920 and 1931, the Jewish councillors were Rafael Holtsberg, Moshe Bloch, Israel Kraim, and Shalom Talpiyot. The winners of the 1934 election were Moshe Bloch, an attorney named Broyde, and Mordechai Lewin.

Most Jews of Telšiai were religious. There was an active branch of the Agudath in the town, as well as many Orthodox Jewish organisations. The community generally opposed Zionism, but several Zionist and socialist organisations were established nonetheless. Out of those, the most active were Tzeirei Zion and Hashomer Hatzair, as well as the Maccabi sports organisation. The leaders of the local Zionists were Hanan Sason, Michael Noik, Leib Tabashnikov, Ester Bloch, and Meir Joselewitz. Among the most active members of Poale Zion were Arie Grinker, Sheyndl Rabinovich, and Ruven Katsin. Moshe Bloch was the founder and leader of the Zionist Revisionist party. A cell of the Bund operated in the town until 1920, with such activists as Rifka Jafe and Motl Maler.

Trade and crafts remained the main source of livelihood among Jews in the interwar period. There were also many Jewish physicians and dentists. Services and small industry were developing. An important source of income was renting rooms to yeshiva students arriving from other regions of Lithuania or from abroad. In 1922, the Association of Jewish Craftsmen was established. Assistance meant to attenuate the difficult financial situation in the town was provided by charity organisations, including Gemilut Chesed, founded by Jewish émigrés in America. The Craftsmen’s Association concluded an agreement with Jewish physicians and pharmacists, ensuring lower prices for treatment and medicines for local craftsmen.

In 1931, 81% of businesses operating in the town belonged to Jews.

Commerce in Telšiai during the interwar period

In the same year, there were 48 manufacturing plants operating in Telšiai, 24 of which were Jewish-owned.

Industry and services in Telšiai in the interwar period

Most local Jewish stores were rather small. Usually, the owner’s entire family would be involved in running the business. However, there were also a few larger shops, such as S. Naftalin’s “Materials,” L. Hertzovich’s “Shoe Shop,” Wolpert’s “Luxury Gifts,” the Broyde brothers’ “Tobacco Wholesale.” The market square was a site of vibrant business activity, with many bakeries, brothels, restaurants and inns operating there, all of them Jewish-owned. Jews also worked as needlewomen, cobblers, saddlers, carpenters, blacksmiths, barbers, hairdressers, clockmakers, movers, porters; there were also several Jewish beggars. Two banks operated in the town: the Jewish People's Bank and a branch of the Jewish Community Credit Association for the Support of Agriculture.

In 1926, after the election of Antanas Smetona as President of Lithuania, the Jewish trade suffered from nationwide boycott. The “Verslas” organisation of Lithuanian traders, backed by government institutions, was the most vocal in its calls for boycotting Jewish-owned shops and companies. Lithuanian entrepreneurs slowly started to push their Jewish competitors out of the main branches of industry. Many Jewish companies were taken over by Lithuanian shareholders. In 1927, a railway line was opened in the town. The local movers lost their source of income, which forced them to either leave the town or change their profession.

During the interwar period, there were four synagogues in Telšiai. The Great Synagogue hosted religious services and rallies attended by rabbis, important representatives of the community, party activists, and guests. Twice a year, the town’s rabbi, Zev Leib Bloch, would deliver his sermon there. During the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays, all Jews would gather at the synagogues, even those who were not religious.

After World War I, Telšiai became one of the most prominent centres for religious studies in the entire Jewish world. This resulted primarily from the growing importance of the local yeshiva, founded in 1875 or 1880 (various dates appear in the archival sources) by Yitzchak Openheim, Meir Atlasand, and Zalman Abel, with the financial support from Ovadya Lachman. The yeshiva was expanded after 1884, when Rabbi Eliezer Gordon became its head. Gordon was born near Vilnius in 1841. He studied in Kaunas under Israel Salanter and later became the rabbi of Kelmė and Vilijampolė (Słobódka). Gordon modernised the curriculum at the yeshiva. Tuition fees were introduced, and classes were divided depending on the level of knowledge. Together with Simon Shkop, Eliezer Gordon developed an educational system which was subsequently adopted in most of the Litvak yeshivot in the United States. He headed the school until his death in 1910. In 1919, the yeshiva had 162 students, while in 1936 this figure rose to 440. The school owed the second stage of rapid development to the rabbis who headed it, Josef Leib Bloch and Chaim Rabinovich. In 1927 and 1933, refurbishment works were carried out at the yeshiva. Several new buildings were constructed, including administrative facilities and student dormitories. In the last year of its operation, in 1940, the school had 500 students. It was closed down by the Soviet authorities and its premises were taken over by the state. The students of the yeshiva were scattered across other countries. Some left for the United States, with the Rabbinical College of Telshe established in Cleveland in 1941. There were also other religious educational centres in Telšiai. As many as 62 cheders operated in the entire district in 1905. The year 1920 saw the establishment of a four-year preparatory school for future students of the yeshiva. During the interwar period, the town also had a network of Talmud Torah schools.

In 1920, a secondary school for girls with Hebrew as the language of instruction was opened. It formed part of the Yavneh network. In 1921, the school had 136 students. There were six forms in the school: four secondary level forms and two preparatory forms. The school’s teaching staff consisted of six teachers. In 1922, the name of the school was changed, and the facility became Orthodox. In 1929, the secondary school had 116 students, while in 1934 – 52. In 1923, it was visited by an inspector of the Ministry of Education, who reported that there was much noise and squalor around the school. The official described Glocberg, the school principal, as a professional educator and a decent man who was, however, unable to teach the students how to maintain cleanliness and order.

In 1920, a kindergarten and two elementary schools for boys and girls were opened in Telšiai, all of them also forming part of the Yavneh network. In addition, the Yavneh organisation also ran a seminary for teachers, headed by Abram Mordechai Wesler. Courses for Jewish educators were offered in Telšiai since the autumn of 1928. In 1929, the seminary had 204 students. By 1936, six batches of teachers graduated from the seminary, with a total of 101 students receiving teaching certificates.

A Tarbut school supported by the local Zionist circles remained open throughout the interwar period, although its significance could not be compared with that of the Orthodox religious schools. In 1936, a total of 950 pupils and students attended various educational institutions. All schools were forced to close down in 1941, when Lithuania was invaded by the Germans. Another notable Jewish educational and cultural centre was the Jewish library, which had a collection of books in both Yiddish and Hebrew.

In 1919, the OZE organisation established a Jewish hospital at Lipawska Street. Dr. P. Szymkiewicz was appointed head of the institution. There was no other medical personnel – save for a feldsher – due to lack of funding. The hospital had an insufficient number of beds and the medical personnel was unable to stay on site for the night, leaving the patients unattended. Medication was provided by Goldner's pharmacy. The Jewish health care system was not modernised until at the beginning of 1930s. The construction of a new hospital at 4 Gedimino g. commenced ca. 1930 under the supervision of the Bikur Holim association, with financial support provided by émigrés from America. On 5 January 1934, the articles of association of the newly built hospital were approved. The facility had 16 beds, a therapeutic ward, a gynaecology and maternity ward, and a surgery ward, as well as its own operating theatre and a laboratory. Headed by Doctor Menuchinas, the hospital was open to both Jewish and non-Jewish patients.

During the interwar period, the relations between Jews and Lithuanians were generally amicable. Nonetheless, there were instances of anti-Semitic attacks and even allegations of ritual murders. In 1935, the local Jews were accused of kidnapping several Christian children. Anti-Semites initiated riots, windows in a number of Jewish shops were broken, and several people were injured. The situation was deescalated following a police intervention. In October 1935, the military commandant in Telšiai imposed penalties on 18 people for inciting the riots.

On 25 June 1941, Telšiai was seized by the German troops. Major Alfonsas Svilas, an air force officer, became the commandant of both the town and the surrounding district. The persecution of Jews and communists soon followed. There are three known sites of mass executions of Jews located around Telšiai: Rainiai (3 km from Telšiai), Girùliai (8 km from Telšiai) and the vicinity of the “Žemaitijos pienas” dairy. On 27 June 1941, the Lithuanians forced the local Jews out of their homes, arranged them in columns, and then took them to the Rainiai estate. A temporary concentration camp was established there. Jews were confined in small buildings around the mansion, and their belongings were confiscated and plundered. They were ordered to hand in all of their money and valuables. Mass extermination began on 30 July 1941 (according to other sources – on 20–21 of July). The executions were supervised by the Gestapo, but the Germans were assisted by Lithuanian policemen and civilians. All men over 14 years of age were separated from women and children. Arranged in groups of several dozen, they were led to pits dug out in the nearby forest (ca. 200–300 metres away from the camp itself) and executed by a firing squad. In total, 840–1,500 people lost their lives at the site. Apart from the Jewish population of Telšiai, the population of the Rainiai camp comprised Jews from the neighbouring towns, such as Varna (Wornie), Luokė (Łuknik), Alsėdžiai (Olsiady), and Rietava. After a week, women and children were moved to the camp in Girùliai (Gierule) due to the stench of rotting corpses and the threat of an epidemic. In Girùliai, the surviving women and children were forced to live in barns, where they had to sleep on makeshift beds made of wooden planks. The camp also included a German command post and a small medical facility. The barracks were squalid and infested with lice. The women imprisoned there tried to seek help from the local Lithuanian authorities and clergy. In several of his sermons at the local cathedral, Bishop of Telšiai S. Stugaitis condemned those responsible for murdering the local Jews. Many Jewish children died of infectious diseases, such as typhoid fever or diphtheria.

On 28 August 1941, two cars with armed men entered the camp. The next morning, women and children were rounded up on the camp square. Girls and women aged 30 or less were ordered to stand on the right, while older women and boys were directed to the left. The former group, comprising ca. 400–500 girls and young women, was sent to the Telšiai Ghetto. The remaining women and boys were executed, having been divided into groups, taken to groves, and undressed. They were murdered on the edges of previously dig out pits. The executions lasted for two days. The murderers were Lithuanians – soldiers of the internal security forces and police officers. On 29–30 August 1941, from 1,580 up to 3,000–4,000 women and children were murdered. Many children were killed with a shot to the head or thrown alive into pits filled with dead bodies. The clothes of the victims were brought back to Telšiai and sold to the local residents. Some of the clothes, valuables and money were seized by the executioners.

On 1 September 1941, the Nazis established a ghetto in Telšiai. Its residents were women sent back from the concentration camps, crowded in several small houses. There was no furniture or bedding. The prisoners slept on the floor and received almost no food whatsoever. They were sent to the neighbouring villages to work in the fields. Under the decree issued by the district commissioner for Šiauliai, the ghetto was to be liquidated by the end of the year. Ca. 400 Jewish women were shot on 23–24 December 1941.

Only ca. 30 people survived, having been taken into hiding by Catholic priests. After the liquidation of the ghetto, Vincentas Borisevičius, the bishop of Telšiai from 1944, gave shelter to Jewish women who had escaped. He also provided support to the Jews who remained in hiding in nearby villages, as well as to those who had been helped by some of the priests in the Telšiai district. In July 1944, he helped to get a four-year-old girl named Blat out of prison, thus saving her from certain death. In 1946, he was shot by the Soviets for alleged connections with the anti-communist underground. Priests Pranciškus Ramanauskas, Justinas Staugaitis, and K. Prialgauskas also rescued Jews. The following residents of the town of Telšiai were awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations: Jonas and Ona Žilevičiai, Albinas Žilevičius, and Stasė Brazauskienė.

After the war, a small Jewish community was present in the town. The religious community was officially registered in 1993. The initiator of its revival was Rafaelis Genys, born in 1923 in Rietavas; during World War II, he served in the 16^th Division of the Lithuanian [Red Army] and participated in the battles of Stalingrad and Kiev. In 2006, the community had nine members living in Telšiai and Varniai. Its main objective was to protect the Jewish material and cultural heritage in Telšiai and maintain contacts with Jews around the world. At the end of the 20^th century, the cemetery was renovated and cleaned up at the initiative of the community; its efforts also resulted in marking the borders of the former ghetto with special poles, cleaning up the sites of mass murders, and unveiling several memorial plaques.