Category Archives: History

Aharon Pick’s Memoir

We all have hopes and expectations for the new year. Mine are topped by the coming publication of a project I’ve been working on for three years: The translation of Aharon Pick’s Holocaust memoir, written from 1942-44 in the ghetto of Šiauliai. Continue reading

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The Life and Times of Solly Chesler

By Jennifer Chesler Rubin, Ramat Efal, Israel (Adapted from an essay by Muriel Chesler on the occasion of Solly Chesler’s 75th birthday.) This is the story of my father, the late Solly (Sholem) Chesler, a self-made man, who arrived in … Continue reading

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Documenting the Holocaust

To our Keidaner friends, We were recently contacted by Israeli filmmaker Boris Maftsir, best known for his documentaries about the Holocaust. Maftsir’s film project called  “Searching for the Unknown Holocaust” includes documentaries on the experience in Latvia, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, … Continue reading

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Jewish economic life in Kėdainiai and vicinity before WWII

By Aryeh Leonard Shcherbakov and Moshe Girshovich The purpose of this study In 2011, the director of the Kėdainiai Regional Museum, Rimantas Žirgulis, compiled a list of Jewish enterprises active in Kėdainiai in the interwar period (Source #1). Here we … Continue reading

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Searching for Tsemach Pick

Last month I received the following email: From: Ilya Shneyveys Subject: Dr Aharon-Leyb Pick Dear Andrew, Congratulations on this fascinating project! I just came across this blog today and am finding a lot of interesting information here.

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Recalling those who survived the Keidan massacre

By Aryeh Leonard Shcherbakov Preface When talking of the Jews of Keidan, the first who naturally come to mind are those who were murdered: our grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins lying in the mass grave on the outskirts of town. … Continue reading

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Recalling those who survived: Lists

The first list below contains the names of Keidaners known to have survived the Holocaust, along with short biographic summaries where those could be obtained. The second list contains the names of young men who escaped the mass slaughter in … Continue reading

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Preface

Preface to the 1930 “zaml bukh” of the Keidaner Assn. of New York From the issuers  When one generation passes, a multitude of memories from several preceding generations are lost as well, if they are not written down for those … Continue reading

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The History of Keidan

By B. Cassel Originally published in 1930 by the Keidaner Association of New York. Original footnotes appear in roman type; translators’ and editors’ notes in italic. –––––––––––––– Foreword Framed within this brief account of Lithuania’s general history the reader will … Continue reading

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‘Good Morning, Lithuania’

Each summer, one of Lithuania’s most popular TV shows, called “Labas Rytas Lietuva” [“Good Morning Lithuania”] highlights different towns across that country. This year its focus was on Kėdainiai, and on July 4, the show aired a walking tour through … Continue reading

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