Lithuanian Listings, 2018–2020: New Microhistories

A 1781 fire in Kupiškis destroyed 40 homesteads, eight breweries and four taverns (out of 19) owned by local Jews. A gravestone in Alytus dating to September 1915 reads, “Under this heap of earth is buried the warm and righteous heart of the man who all his life was content to work with his hands . . . who in his youth fell victim to the storms of the world war.” In 1934, at the founding of the Raseiniai branch of the Jewish Soldiers’ Union, ceremonies were held in both the synagogue and the movie theater. These are just a few of the many intriguing details to be gleaned from a spate of Jewish microhistories published recently in Lithuanian. In many cases produced by regional museums and municipalities, and roughly timed with a revival of Jewish historical research in advance of Lithuania’s celebration of 2020 as the Year of the Vilna Gaon, these books are an invaluable resource on Jewish daily life in the small towns of the interwar Republic of Lithuania. Most of these volumes focus on particular Lithuanian towns and their environs, while others have a broader regional scope. The towns include Alytus, Kudirkos Naumiestis, Kupiškis, Molėtai, Palanga, Plungė, Raseiniai, Šilalė, Švėkšna, Telšiai, and the regions are Samogitia and the area around Kaunas. Yet they take a variety of approaches. Some present histories of the “Jewish community” while others highlight Jewish “cultural heritage.” The Alytus volume concentrates on the Jewish cemetery and the Kupiškis one looks at the histories of the houses, mills, and other buildings owned by Jews in and around the town. The book on Kudirkos Naumiestis uniquely focuses on how Jews figure in the memory of non-Jewish residents. Much of the material presented in these books is original. But they also anthologize, usually quite helpfully, relevant photographs and maps found in other sources, such as yizker bikher (memorial books) and genealogy websites, along with interviews, archival documents, and newspaper clippings. Sections on World War II and the Holocaust include otherwise unavailable memoirs and granular detail. While some books have English sections, or selective English translations, the quality of the writing varies. Nonetheless, these books are a welcome resource for those doing research on Lithuanian Jewry.