WORTH VISITING:
Let`s explore Palanga resort outside its main street for tourists – You will be surprised, how many unexpected historical discoveries are waiting for You in this beloved sea resort. One of such surprises is a historical Jewish quarter in Palanga – from the eastern part of Vytautas street to the Žvejai street.
BRIEF HISTORY:
In comparison to other Lithuanian cities, the Jewish community settled in Palanga relatively early – already at the end of the 15th century. At that time Jewish burial society has been already mentioned in Palanga – and this society was formed only when a separate Jewish community has been established in the town. In the second half of the 16th century, Jews in Palanga were granted the right by the Grand Duke to build their first synagogue in the city and establish separate Jewish cemetery. The 17th century can be called as the most successful period in Jewish history in Palanga – they were granted the rights of citizens, so they could engage in trade and buy land, build houses on this land et cetera. As a consequence, in the 17th-18th centuries, Palanga started to divide – Jews mostly bought the land and built houses on the north bank of Rąžė river, so this part of the city received the name of “Jewish town”. At the end of the 18th century in this so-called “Jewish town” there were about 70 buildings.
Jews in Palanga mostly engaged in trade and craftsmanship, but eventually, due to the location near the Baltic sea, they began to specialize in amber processing and trade. At the end of the 19th century, they had 7 amber shops or workshops in town, and during the interwar period, there were already 10 of them. Another specific enterprise of Palanga Jews related to Palanga as a resort was rent and boarding houses enterprises for vacationers.
During the interwar period, Jews in Palanga had a full infrastructure for religious life, but Jewish secular school in Hebrew was also available for local Jews. There were Jewish Credit Bank and various charity organizations for community members as well. Vytautas street was the central artery of Jewish community life in Palanga, so when a huge fire of 1938 destroyed this wooden quarter, the Jewish community was devastated. After several years, in 1941, when Nazis occupied Lithuania, Jewish mass massacres began in Palanga as in other Lithuanian cities. The majority of Jews in Palanga were murdered, and those who survived were transferred to nearby ghettos or concentration camps, where the same fate awaited them as well.
CURRENT SITUATION:
There are new initiatives in Palanga, which encourage us to remember the history of Palanga shtetl. One of the first of such initiatives has been quite unexpectedly presented already in 1976, when the street on which once stood a synagogue, was named Synagogue street. There are two extant houses in Palanga, where Jewish amber workshops worked until the Second World War – on Kretinga str. 2 and on Vytautas str. 57. Both of these buildings have not been memorialized yet, but it is an idea worth to fulfill. During the interwar period, the amber workshop owned by brothers Motel and Gershon Kan on Vytautas str. 57 made Lithuanian name famous around the world – their amber ware had been exported to Europe, USA, and Soviet Russia. In 1937 Paris crafts and art exhibition their amber ware had been evaluated by the Silver medal.
Unfortunately, many wooden buildings from the interwar period did not survive until this day due to both the fire of 1938 and later negligent Soviet politics. One of these losses – the building of the first lemonade workshop in Palanga owned by S. Levijas on Basanavičius str. 5A. Today, while walking on the famous promenade of Basanavičius street and taking a sip of refreshing lemonade, do not forget to glimpse at the place that once was the only place to get lemonade in Palanga.
LOOKING AROUND:
A monument to remember Palanga Jews in Birutė Park in Palanga
Jewish historical quarter in Kretinga
The factory building of “Taicas and Šeras” in Kretinga (Birutė str. 16, 16A) 55.888602, 21.237413
A monument to Berekas Joselevičius in Kretinga (J. Pabrėža str. 8) 55.891183, 21.2452
1 Comments
Ken Klompus
2023-12-02 at 6:24 am -Thank you for this information. My extended family lived in Palanga. I visited this past September and could not find any traces of my family name “Klompus”. You mention numbers of amber shops. Any way to find names of craftsman from these shops?