Memel Territory (Memelland), till 1919 part of East Prussia (Ostpreussen, Germany)
1920-1923 under Council of Anmassadors, French troops
1923-1939 Republic of Lithuania
1939-1945 under German Rule
1945-1990 Part of Sowjet Union
since 1990 Republic of Lithuania
The Klaipėda Jewish community invites to the event “Voices of the Departed,” during which the names of the 1,225 people buried in these cemeteries will be read aloud. The event will also feature the unveiling of symbolic matzevot.
In 1954, a radio jamming station was erected on the cemetery grounds. Most of the matzevot (tombstones) were destroyed during the installation of the antennas.
Video 20 min about how the life of Jewish businesspeople and entrepreneurs in Memel after World War I, A lecture by Ruth Leiserowitz in 2023 at the History Institute of Klaipeda University.
Jewish families who had come from Memel and fled to Kaunas were also deported.
The last rabbi of Memel / Klaipeda before the war was Dr Simon Schlesinger (1893–1959), He arrived in the town from Cologne in 1932.
What happened to the Jews in Memel, and what were the consequences for the city following the annexation in 1939?
60% of the population in the neighbouring town of Klaipeda/Memel was Jewish. Together with the Regional Museum of Gargzdai/Gorzd, we want to research and present this interesting history of the historic border town in Lithuania.
Ruth Leiserowitz's article about Smalininkai (Schmalleningken) a small but fascinating border town at the southernmost tip of the Memel region has now been published online in English by the University…
Lecture in Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Modernizers in an East Prussian village. Jewish shopkeepers from 1860 onwards by Ruth Leiserowitz (University of Klaipėda) and Jews in East Prussia November 24,…