Tag #144679 - Interview #100262 (Yakov Furmanas )

Siauliai was a rather big city with developed industry. Tannery and footwear production were the most developed here. Most factory owners were Jews. The largest tannery belonged to the richest Jew of Siauliai- Frenkel. He was a very modest man. His clothes were not posh, but expensive. He chose London for permanent abode. He came in Siauliai almost every month for his managers to report to him. Plant manages were also Jews. Frenkel was the most respectable man in town. He was actively involved in charity. He mostly helped Jewish community, but he also gave monetary assistance to Russians and Lithuanians, provided money for town’s needs. He made part of his house, which looked more like a palace, into the premises of Hebrew lyceum. He founded and sponsored nursery home, where old paupers, Jews lived, and a canteen for poor Jews. Frenkel owned some trading companies. He built a rather large synagogue for plant workers. There were other rich Jews in town apart from Frenkel– factory owner Mureck Khrazinksiy, owner of soap making plant Zifa, bankers, merchants. Almost all stores in downtown pertained to Jews. Simpler Jews were concentrated in the market area. Those were craftsmen- cobblers, tailors, glazers, watch menders etc. there were several synagogues in the town and almost all Siauliai Jews were religious. Some of them were pious, others paid a tribute to the traditions like my grandpa Mikhail. On Saturdays, grandmother attended synagogue and took his honorary place.