The war is over, but I still had to serve in occupied troops. I was sent to the North of Germany in a small town on the border with Sweden, on Baltic Sea. I do not remember the name of that town. I finished war in the rank of senior sergeant and was assigned the commandant of that small town irrespective of my low rank. The work was not cumbersome. My duty was to keep the order in the city, though there was an apple-pie order there anyway. After war Germans were frightened as they felt guilty. Thus, there were hardly any incidents. There was a peaceful, but very poor living.
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Displaying 44161 - 44190 of 50826 results
Yakov Bunke
In April 1947 I was demobilized from army and went to motherland, Plunge. Mother and sisters came back from evacuation. I moved in their room. Mother was so happy that I was alive, and the only survivor in the family came back full of awards.
We had a long talk, I was told how Plunge Jews died. Before fascists came in town, Lithuanian nationalists brought all Jews in the synagogue – even all children and kids. They kept them there for two weeks without water and food. People ran amuck, died, and there was nobody to bury them. Rabi Veksler was told to dig a pit in the yard, where they threw torah scrolls, pushed rabbi and burnt him with the books. Photographer Berkovich was told to take care of the fire and then pushed him there as well. I do not know how our kin died, but they had to go through ordeal. In our districts Jews were executed in 10 places - 2221 people are lying there.
I was send to work as an instructor of rifle department of Dosaaf [Volunteer society of assistance of Army and the Front]. I did not work there for a long time, less than a year. Then I found job in some company as a joiner. I made complex furniture, then I became a foreman and ran production. I had a chance to be creative in my work- I made carving and inlay. Since 1962 I started taking part in the competitions and was conferred with the title- people’s artist. In 1983 I retired. I devoted myself to the art since then.
I often went to ispolkom [23] on various matters and I met secretary the secretary there- a young Lithuanian lady –Dalya Baitkute. Dalya was born in Plunge in 1925 in the family of a launder lady. In her childhood she often delivered washed clothes to Jewish houses and she made friends with Jewish girls. She even spoke Yiddish. During the occupation, Dalya was in Plunge and saw what wrongdoings fascists did. Dalya was divorced and raised a son born in 1947. In 1949 we met and fell in love with each other. Our parents – my mother and Dalya’s parents were at first against mixed marriage, but soon they agreed and –in 1950 I married Dalya. My sisters were married off before me, and Dalya with me lived in mother’s place. Having high military awards, I was given a small apartment. When we had kids, we got a good three-room one. We are still living in it.
We had a modest living. We had neither dacha nor car. My sons went to school, when they had to choose which nationality should be put in their passport, even my mother said that they should put Lithuanian to be able to enter the institute without any hindrance. Though, at the age of 16 they got passports with Lithuanian nationality, they identify themselves as Jew as they love me and respect Jewish history.
When repatriation of Jews to Israel commenced, mother and her granddaughter Golda were one of the first to leave in 1972. Dina with her husband and younger daughter wanted to go together, but they were not given the visa. The family was separated for 8 years as Dina and her husband were refused in permit. Then everybody left- Dina’s Channa’s and Genyas’ family. Channa and Genya are still alive. Dina died. All their children are living in Israel.
I had only one intention- dedicate my life to perpetuation of the Plunge Jews, who perished during the war. I made sketches a long time ago and started my work. I wanted to show the tragedy of Lithuanian Jews in Lithuanian art. I went to different organizations, ispolkom and my Dalya helped me in everything. First, I managed to get Jewish cemetery restored. It was dilapidated, and so people even took the stones from it to use in constructions. I was given a car and I drove around the whole district looking for the stolen stones. I managed to find 85 tombstones and revived the old cemetery. Now it looks well-groomed. Jews from Israel, America come there and order kaddish and pray.
In 1956 there were 130 Jews in Plunge. Now, I am the only one. I understand that I am the last Jew in this small town with an old Jewish history. The reason why I have not left for Israel is to tell the local inhabitants about the history of their town and perpetuate the memory of my tribesmen here. I am thankful to people for tolerance and understanding. People treat me very well. I am also dealing with Lithuanian history. I do some works in Lithuanian theme as per request of the authorities. I am a judge at children’s art exhibition. I help in decoration of all events. This year their nominated me for title -the honorable citizen of Plunge.
I got the permit to create memorials of Holocaust victims, the biggest one is in Plunge. I made all sculptures myself. There are several wooden sculptures, one of them is dedicated to perished children, the other one is dedicated to my grandparents. I told the Lithuanian school about Jewish tragedy, and now Lithuanian kids regularly take care of the memorial, and keep it clean. I also installed memorable insignia in other execution places. I worked mostly on Jewish theme, made characteristic images of Jewish craftsmen, workers, characters of Shalom Aleichem [24].
Another matter of my life is creation of the museum of Jewish history in Plunge. I obtained the right to found the museum, got the premises. We did it with the help of my wife Dalya, my sons and friends. All kinds of people sent me exhibits of Jewish utensils. I looked for historic pictures. Now the museum is acting. Though, in postwar times we did not stick to Jewish traditions, my children grew up Jewish, even Lithuanian Vergilius.
Another matter of my life is creation of the museum of Jewish history in Plunge. I obtained the right to found the museum, got the premises. We did it with the help of my wife Dalya, my sons and friends. All kinds of people sent me exhibits of Jewish utensils. I looked for historic pictures. Now the museum is acting. Though, in postwar times we did not stick to Jewish traditions, my children grew up Jewish, even Lithuanian Vergilius.
In 1996 Dalya was invited in Israel. There was my personal exhibition there. We had stayed there for 3 months. Unfortunately, mother and Dina were no longer alive. Mom died in 1989 and Dina one year before we came. We were on the cemetery, attended the graves. Sisters Channa and Genya gave us a warm welcome and I felt the warmth of our large family, which lasted a long time.
My works are in Plunge museum and in other organizations. Now we are the members of Klaipeda Jewish community. Dalya and I go there on Jewish holidays. Recently we marked pesach. Soon there will be Victory day. In spite of the fact that it is not customary to mark this holiday in independent Lithuania, I take this holiday as one of the most important in my life. On that day, we the veterans (and there are a few of us left) put our awards on and go to cemetery. There – we Russians, Lithuanians, Jews understanding those who fought with us and died. We remember the years of war.
Grandmother said that her parents, whose name I cannot recall, were rather well-off. They had their own bakery. Besides, great grandfather was also a rather good tailor. Their daughter- my grandmother Golda Kagan- also worked all her life. My grandfather Mende Ril was a trader and grandmother helped him. Both of them were born in Plunge in middle 1870s. Mother said that one of the things she remembered from childhood was when the parents processed flax, and it was their main business. She helped them standing on the stool lo be able to rich the processing machine. The clients who came over to her parents, treated her with sweets. Grandfather was also a tailor and a baker. Grandparents owned a small bakery. When I was a child I remember that grandmother sold grain and grandpa was a gabe in a local synagogue. He was almost blind. Grandparents had their own house.
Genach was the eldest son. He was born in 1890. Genach did not get married before being drafted in tsarist army during World War One. He was killed in action and grandfather could not abide by this loss.
Another mother’s brother Nehamia Ril, whom we called Chema was several years younger than mother. He was a respectable man in Plunge. He was a goldsmith, he had his own workshop and a store. He was rather rich. His family- wife Channa and son Nisan had all they wanted. Chema was an activist, he was the chairman of the Jewish health council. Chema and his family did not manage to get evacuated. When the Great Patriotic War began [1], all of them were murdered by fascists with the remaining Jews in Plunge.
It happened so that in June 1941 grandparents Menda and Golda with my younger sister Mena went for a visit to her. The war began and they could not escape. All of them together with Saukville Jews were taken in Telsiai and shot with the local Jews and other Jews from adjacent towns. Thus, my grandparents, aunt Ginda and sister Mena perished.
My mother Taube Ril was born in Plunge in 1895. Mother finished elementary Jewish school and was rather literate- she knew written and spoken Yiddish, spoke Russian and Lithuanian. When she was single, she helped parents in their business, often replacing grandma in many house chores as grandmother was busy with sale. Nobody told me how my parents met. I think it was prearranged by shedchans, who organized almost all Jewish marriages. Their wedding took place 1920, in a chuppah in Plunge synagogue.
When grandparents died in the 1900s, their three kids left- the eldest, my father Leibl, younger brother Dovid and sister Nehama. Some distant relatives from Vilnius took the youngest Dovid. He was lucky as he turned out to be in a wealthy where Dovid was treated like own son. He was given a good education. He graduated from Kaunas university. He worked as a teacher, wrote articles and became a good journalist. He was friends with rabbi’s daughter Shilale. He fell in love with her and in early 1930s they got married. Dovid got an invitation to the USA, so he and his wife left for the USA, he taught there. Two of his kids were born there. We were bonded. Uncle helped us a lot during the postwar time.
I barely knew father’s sister Neham. She lived in Jurbarkas with her husband and two children. I saw her once or twice. I even do not remember her husband’s and children’s names. I know that her husband was a butcher and owned a butchery store. On the first day they were occupied as Jurbarkas bordered on Germany. They perished.
My father Leibl Bunke was born in Shilale in 1895. He was just couple of months older than mother. Father finished elementary school in Shilale, but he could not continue his education as he was an orphan. He was very gifted and he was self-taught. He was literate. Apart from Yiddish, father also knew Russian, Lithuanian.
During the World War One, he was not drafted in the tsarist army as he was the eldest in the family. In 1919 during the civil war in Russia [2], Lithuania founded volunteers’ army to fight for the independence from Russia. Father joined the army. I struggled against Red army regiments, Poles and Germans and finally Lithuania got independence [3]. Father took part in the battles and was even wounded on the cheek. He had the medals and orders. When Lithuania got independence, all volunteers got land plots. Father was given 8 hectares in Plunge.
For a while he worked at the customs on the frontier with Russia, checking the cargoes and the people who were going to cross the border. Then he was a gendarme in Plunge. When he was in police, he met mother and in 1920 they got married. I kept their marriage certificate, issued by rabbi, but I gave it to the Jewish museum along with father’s awards obtained in struggle for independence.
We lived very moderately. Father was not a gendarme. He received timber at the saw mill. He was a literate man, he calculated the volumes and made the settlements with the suppliers. Illiterate Jews and Lithuanians often asked him to write a letter or a claim. My father, who had not got any education, and learnt everything himself due to his talents, was also a very kind person and did not refuse anybody. Father’s voice was still good and he was invited to Jewish weddings. He was a mirthful man. He managed to compose the verses about the people who surrounded them and sang them. Besides, he took part in amateur Jewish theater in Plunge. Mother took care of children and modest household.
Our apartment consisted of two rooms and a kitchen. Parents took bedroom, where younger children also slept. The elder ones stayed in a drawing room, where four or five of us slept on a large bed. The kitchen was poky. Russian stove [4], used for cooking and heating, took most of its part. The water was taken from the well in the yard. We had a small kitchen garden, where mother grew flowers and some herbs.
Grandmother was always busy. She sold grain which she took on the mill, located not far. Then she sold it at a higher price (couple of cents up from miller’s price) and made some money this way.
Grandparents were religious, but their adherence to Judaism was not bigotry. Grandmother and mother always wore a wig, only when they took it off, they put a scarf on. Grandpa always wore a kippah. He had a beard. He daily prayed at home and went to the synagogue.
At that time the population of town was 2 thousand people, more than a half were Jews. Estate of prince Oginstiy was the real adornment of the town. It is still there, though look deplorable. The prince did a lot for the town, in particular he stimulated trade and craft. He built 36 stores in the downtown and rented them to the Jews under long,-term lease agreement and in 24 years after the value of the store had been paid off, the title of ownership was transferred to the Jews. Almost all owners of the stores in Plunge were owned by Jews. There were merchants among them- Bisop, who was responsible for processing and sale of flax, Rolnik, Polyanksiy, Kurlianskiy, the owners of manufacture stores. There was also Jewish intelligentsia in Plunge : one lawyer, doctors. The mayor was also a Jew. Dovid Goldwasser held that post from 1919 till 1932. His deputy Girsh Mets was also a Jew. He had his own business- painting workshop. My uncle Nehemia Ril, the goldsmith was also prominent in town. There were a lot of craftsmen in the town- glazers, tailors, cobblers, watch menders, bakes etc.
Many of them were arrested by the Soviet regime [5] in 1941 and deported in [6] Siberia, having saved their lives that way. Those who stayed in town during the first days of occupation, were executed by fascist beasts.
All Plunge Jews were religious Jews, irrespective of the extent, they all observed traditions. Only one Jew Yankle Garb, who came of a very rich family, became a Catholic. All his relatives refused from him, and Garb married a Lithuanian. It was an outrageous case, discussed by perturbed inhabitants of Plunge for a long time.
There were several synagogues in town. There was a large and beautiful one, where all Jews came on holidays, and two more large synagogues, and 4 small ones. There was also undertakers’ bureau belonging to Chevr Kadish. Jews also were charitable, and grandpa Mende was the heart of the charity fund. Rich Jews paid money in that committee and then allocated them to poor families for the poor Jews to be able to mark Sabbath, holidays or just have something to eat. Poor brides were also helped to get married. Poor Jews were also buried on charity money. There were ‘official’ paupers in Plunge who asked for alms. For them not to be a disgrace for the Jews, they were distributed among the rich who took care of them. The owner of the rich house let some back with the necessary things in the house and the ‘attached’ poor man came over to get that bag and money to certain house. Nobody stole anything, and besides poor people were exempt from constant humiliation that way. That committee also took care of the collection money for Palestine. Young men and women were getting ready for immigration to Palestine and saved money for that. There was kibutz at school where I studied. They had a real communistic mode of life. They studied, learnt the craft, worked, put all money together and allocated expenditures. When the group was ready to immigrate, the left for Palestine and other wishers came in their place. We also had Beitar [7], and its leader Itsik Tsivia was exiled in Siberia. Nobody knows what happened to him. He most likely died there.