WORTH VISITING:
When You visit Valkininkai, it is impossible to miss a huge market square in the middle of the town (Vilnius str. 41). The history of this market square is tightly connected to the history of Valkininkai Jewish community and its importance in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1694 Lithuanian Vaad – Jewish self-government institution in the GDL – gathered in one of the old buildings surrounding this market square.
BRIEF HISTORY:
Since its establishment, Valkininkai town was next to the so-called “kings` road”, which led from Vilnius to Krakow. Jewish community settled in Valkininkai at the beginning of the 17th century. Most of the community members were traders and craftsmen, but some of them started working with wood preparation or were the main providers of accommodation to common travellers on “kings` road”. At the end of the 19th century, Jews constituted about half of all townspeople and built an extraordinary wooden synagogue in Baroque style. Oak carvings and wooden decorations in this synagogue amazed both locals and passers-by. During the interwar period, a separate Jewish school was opened in town, there were two Jewish orchestras, and great markets in the town`s square were organized each Tuesday. Jewish history in Valkininkai ended tragically with Nazi occupation in the summer of 1941 – all Jewish inhabitants of Valkininaki and nearby Degsnės village were forced to the ghetto in Eišiškės and murdered.
CURRENT SITUATION:
Today the wooden buildings surrounding the market square remind us of the history of a prosperous local Jewish community in Valkininkai. These are the buildings that belonged to Jewish traders and craftsmen before the Second World War. There is an abandoned Jewish cemetery in Valkininkai, but many of its original tombstones were stolen, so it does not reflect the full story of the local community.
LOOKING AROUND:
Degsnės – Jewish farmers` village
Wooden synagogue in Varėna
Historical Jewish quarter in Varėna
Historical Jewish quarter in Merkinė
