Additional information
by Sh Barkeli (Editor), Jonathan Wind (Prepared by), Nina Schwartz (Cover Design by)
The Jewish community of Eisiskes (Yiddish: Eishishok), Lithuania, which dated
back to the 11th century, came to a sudden end in the Fall of 1941. On September
22, Jewish men aged 18-40 were taken from the market and synagogue, brought to
the old cemetery, forced to lie in pits, and shot. The following day, women, children, and
old people were shot, as well as Jews brought from other towns.
Jews here had once numbered 75% of the population. They traded in wood, cattle, and
grain, ran restaurants, bakeries, inns, and stores. They opened mills, factories, and leather
and fur workshops. The community boasted three prayer houses, several chedarim and
yeshivot, a girls' private school, and, in the 1920s, a Hebrew school. Cultural, sports, and
Zionist clubs flourished, along with a library, recreation areas, children's camps,
live theatre, and even a cinema.
What was life here like, before and during the Holocaust? For the first time in English
translation, the words of survivors and emigres bring Jewish Eishishok back to life.
