Kretingos štetlas. Gatvės ir namai, menantys žydų bendruomenę

LTStraipsnyje apžvelgiama Kretingos žydų bendruomenės istorija nuo jos pirmojo paminėjimo 1765 m. iki 1941 m. Holokausto, išskiriami žydų kūrimosi Kretingoje ypatumai, aprašomos kompaktiškai žydų tautybės miestiečių apgyvendintos gatvės, jų bendruomeniniai ir privatūs statiniai, pateikiami duomenys apie žydų verslininkų įtaką miesto ūkiniam gyvenimui. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Kretinga, žydai, bendruomenė, gatvė, pastatas. [Iš leidinio]

ENThe first mention of Jews in Kretinga dates back to 1662. Their settlement was limited by the 1609 Magdeburg law privilege forbidding Jews’ permanent residence in towns. From 1765 onwards, the Jewish community that lived in the Jewish New Town, in the suburbs along the Akmena River and at the road to Klaipėda, had been mentioned. It was the birthplace of Berek Joselevich (1764-1809), military leader of the Republic of Both Nations and the initiator of the Jewish Cavalry Regiment. The first Jews are believed to have come from Lithuania and Poland, while in the late 18th through the 19th centuries, quite a few of them came from German cities and towns. In the late 18th century, after Kretinga had lost its Magdeburg rights, Jews began to move into its centre and in the 19th century became the largest and the most influential community in the town. They played an important role both in domestic and foreign trade and in the sphere of services; in the early 20th century, they founded the first manufacturing companies in Kretinga. During the interwar period, Jewish entrepreneurs owned between 83% and 85% of the shops and industrial enterprises. The largest company belonged to Judel Taitz and Henech Ser: it produced candles and saccharine as well as pre-packed tea and vegetable oil. Since the 1860s, representatives of the Jewish community worked in the municipal institutions of the city and were elected members of the City Council and Board, elders, or assistants to the Burgomaster. The spiritual center of the Jewish community was Mėguvos Street, which through the 19th century and until 1915 was unofficially known as Shule (Le. Synagogue) Street. Since the late 18th century, it boasted a synagogue, the rabbis house, and a cheder (a traditional religious elementary school).In the 19th century, a kloiz (from Latin clausum, a small prayer house), a beth midrash (a house for Torah studies), and a mikvah (a bath for ritual immersion) emerged there. A confessional cemetery operated there since the late 18th century. Jews lived compactly around the Market Square, in Akmenės, Birutės, Vytauto, the former Vienuolyno, Kęstučio, Janušio, and the former Aušros Streets. In the interwar period, the main mikvah as well as an orphanage and an elderly care home were in Akmenės Street by the river, and a state primary school operated there as well. Between the late 19th century and the 1930s, quite a few Kretinga Jews emigrated to the United States, Palestine, and South Africa. A large community settled in Sunderland, England. Palestine attracted young people fascinated by Zionist ideas, including Joel Drubin (1857-1923), who drafted the Bilu movement regulations. Before the Second World War, Jews accounted for A of the towns population (about 1,000 people). During the years of Soviet occupation, from 1940 through 1941, they lost their capitals and companies. On 14 June 1941, 33 people (8 families) were deported to the depths of Russia, one third of whom died in camps and in exile. The remaining community members who had stayed in Kretinga were killed by the Nazis and their aides in June through September 1941. On 26 June 1941, the fire destroyed most of the public and private homes of the Jewish community. The community, which had lived in Kretinga for several centuries, is today brought to mind by the old Jewish cemetery and massacre sites, individual buildings preserved in Birutės, Akmenės, Vytauto, Janušio, and Kęstučio Streets and Rotušės Square, as well as a monument to Berek Joselevich, the most eminent member of the community, a hero and a military leader of the Republic of Both Nations, erected in 2015 (architect Vytenis Mazurkevičius, sculptor Gintautas Jonkus). [From the publication]