Biržai

Biržai is one of the oldest towns in Lithuania. Jews began settling there at the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century. The first Jewish settlers were Karaites. Traditional, rabbinic Jews appeared only in the mid-17th century. During the First World War all of the town's Jews were expelled to Russia by the Russian army. When the war ended, some of the Jews returned to Biržai. Between the two world wars about 3,000 Jews lived there, amounting to approximately one-third of the total population. Jews owned most of the businesses in town and a large proportion of the factories. In accordance with the law establishing Jewish autonomy, a Jewish community council, that was active for several years, was elected. Children studied in the Tarbut and Yavne schools, as well as in hadorim [traditional Jewish primary schools) and a yeshiva. During the interwar period the economic situation of the Jews in Biržai deteriorated, due both to antisemitic pressures and to competition with Lithuanians. In 1940, with the imposition of Soviet rule, Jewish businesses were nationalized and Hebrew and Zionist organizations and institutions were closed down. German troops occupied Biržai on June 26, 1941. Lithuanians immediately began attacking Jews, assaulting and murdering them. On July 26, 1941 the local Jewish population was forced into a ghetto encompassing a number of narrow streets surrounding the beit midrash (house of study) and synagogue. On August 8, 1941 all the inhabitants of the ghetto were murdered in the Astrava Forest. In the summer of 1944 the Red Army liberated Biržai.