Tag #146030 - Interview #100586 (Riva Smerkoviciene )

My paternal grandfather, Yakob – Lithuanians called him Yokubas – Gershenovich, was born in Kaunas in the 1860s. He lived with his wife, my grandmother Leya, in a small house on Grushevaya Street in Zelyonaya Gora [there is still a district in Kaunas with that name]. The streets in Zelyonaya Gora had the names of the trees, which were planted there: Grushevaya – pear tree, Slivovaya – plum tree, Vishnevaya – cherry tree. Such neutral names never changed, no matter who was in power and those street names still remain unchanged. Mostly poor people lived in this district, some of them were destitute. The population was mixed, like in other places all over Lithuania – Jews, Lithuanians and Russians. There were several synagogues there, which my grandfather Yakob attended with zeal.