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Recent blog posts
- Aharon Pick’s Memoir
- Documenting the Holocaust
- Tracing the Pick Family
- Aharon Pick, Holocaust Witness
- Searching for Tsemach Pick
- Recalling those who survived the Keidan massacre
- ‘Good Morning, Lithuania’
- The Printed Version
- Another Day to Remember
- A Comment on Hirsh Bloshtein
- Yudel Ronder
- Coming Together for Passover
- A Century in Photographs
- The Problematic Hirsh Bloshtein
- Locating Lost Tribes
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The Keidaner Network
Keidaner descendents reside all over the world. Keep in touch, share memories and materials about the community and its diaspora, via the Facebook group “Roots in Keidan.” Click the link to join.
Tag Archives: Israel
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
Posted in History, Israel, Memoir, South Africa
Tagged History, Israel, South Africa
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Tracing the Pick Family
The following was submitted by Aryeh Leonard Shcherbakov. What do we know about Aharon Pick’s family from Keidan (Kėdainiai) There are many reasons why the name of Aharon Pick has long attracted our attention: He was born in Keidan, he … Continue reading
Posted in Holocaust, Personalities, Soviet Union
Tagged AharonPick, Israel, USSR, World War II
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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
Posted in History, Holocaust, Soviet Union, Yizkor Book
Tagged Israel, memorial books, Survivors
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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
Posted in History, Holocaust, Images, Soviet Union
Tagged Israel, Soviet Union, Survivors
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Exodus, Interrupted
The story of Keidan’s Sroelov and Smilg families By Tamar Dothan (Jerusalem) My grandparents, Chaya Smilg and Chaim Ber Sroelov, were married before World War I. Chaim Ber was operating the family’s wholesale beer business, as his father had passed … Continue reading
Posted in History, Holocaust, Israel, Memoir, Soviet Union, Zionism
Tagged Economy, Family history, Holocaust, Interwar, Israel, Zionism
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A Family Dispersed
By Sonja Shacknofsky-Setting My father, Joseph Setting, was born in Keidan in 1910. He arrived in Cape Town on Christmas morning, 1927, then went on to Johannesburg, where he found work with relatives. My grandparents likely sent him to South … Continue reading
Posted in Emigrants, Interwar, South Africa, Zionism
Tagged Diaspora, Families, Hashomer Hatzair, Israel, Kibbutz
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A Flag Comes Home After 16 Years
Originally published in “Israel Horizons” magazine, Dec. 1956. Miracles can happen even to a flag. Recently, the flag of Gdud Maapilim, of Ken Keidani of Hashomer Hatzair, was brought to Israel, the only flag of the Lithuanian youth movement to … Continue reading
Posted in Holocaust, Personalities, Soviet Union, Yizkor Book, Zionism
Tagged Beit Zera, Hashomer Hatzair, Israel, Kibbutz, Personalities, Youth movements
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The Russian Exile
By Bella Adler (Basel, Switz.) I was born and raised in Keidan. Our Jewish life was very well developed. We had Tarbut and progymnasium Hebrew schools. Most young people were Zionists. We had Hashomer Hatzair, Beitar and other organizations. We … Continue reading
Zvi Lipschitz, Zionist Martyr
By Ben-Moshe (Johannesburg) Originally published in the Keidaner Sick Benefit & Benevolent Society jubilee book, 1950. Young Zvi Lipschitz hy’d [1], from Kfar Etzion, was a Keidaner landsman. He was born in 1919 in the town of Yasven (Josvainiai), near … Continue reading
Posted in Interwar, Israel, Personalities, South Africa, Zionism
Tagged Israel, Palestine, Personalities, Zionism
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Rabbi Avraham Halevy Sochen
By Dr. Mordechai Sochen (Minneapolis) My father, Rabbi Avraham Halevy Sochen (may he rest in peace) came to Keidan at the end of the last [19th] century, and married my mother (may she rest in peace), Feyge, daughter of Reb … Continue reading
Posted in Emigrants, Interwar, Israel, Personalities, Religious, USA, World War I
Tagged emigrants, Israel, Personalities, rabbis, Religious, South Africa, USA
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