Vilna Archives

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I am researching the family of my grandmother, Bertha Markowitz
(b 6 Nov 1893, d 19 Jun 1953).

I am trying to prove a connection between my husband's GODOFSKY
family, primarily from Merkine, and the famous
composer/pianist/conductor Leopold GODOWSKY.

I just ran across a fantastic article in the Palestine Post about
GODOWSKY's quest for a birth certificate that was foiled by changed
borders in the 1920's. In Vilna, he sought to get a taxi to the
"suburb" of Shoshli and was told that it was over the border in
Lithuania. (Vilna at that time was Polish) The most likely place to
fit this description was Zasliai, but I would hardly consider it a
"suburb" of Vilna!

Another hint was that Zasliai's records in the All Lithuania Database
include some RADOVSKYs, who are likely to be relatives. (RADOVSKY and
GODOFSKY may have once been the same family.)

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Marion H. Bernstein

http://www.godowsky.com/Biography/bio.html
Godowsky was born on 13 February 1870, the only child of Anna and
Matthew Godowsky, in Sozly, a little town not far from Wilno, the
ancient capital of Lithuania. His father, a respected physician, died
in a cholera epidemic only eighteen months after his son's birth. With
barely enough money for food and lodgings, Anna and her infant son
moved to nearby Schirwinty ( 3 kilometers from the border with Poland)
and thence, at the invitation of her friends Louis and Minna
Passinock, to Wilno. Louis's consuming passion was music - a fine
amateur violinist who ran a piano shop - and, having no children of
his own, set about teaching young Leopold the violin in the hope that
he might turn him into a second Paganini. Though his pupil was soon
proficient enough to have mastered the solo part of Mendelssohn's
Violin Concerto in E minor it was to the piano that he was
instinctively drawn, despite being actively discouraged at first.

On the Lithuanian Revision List I found the following;

"ODYNTS Abram Movsha Head Of Household. (It appears that Movsha was the
father of Abram) 1874239
891 Trakai District Alphabetical List Of Males
LVIA/381/11/1594

ODYNTS Iosel Abram Son
ODYNTS Osher Abram Son"

My maternal grandfather came to Ellis Island in 1906 as Josif Odins.
He noted that he had a cousin in Cincinnati, Ohio Hyman ODENHS. My
grandfather's father's name was Abram. According to Hyman's death
certificate, his father was Osher. Hyman's informants said that he
came from Russia. My grandparents said they were from Vilna. Josif
had either a half or step sister named Jennie BRAVERMAN MELLMAN, the
daughter of Jacob BRAVERMAN and Rosie GOLDSTEIN.

A very highly regarded researcher from Lithuania whose reputation I have
absolutely no reason to doubt couldn't find any further information
regarding this. I feel that there is an excellent chance that this is
my family. If anyone has any further recommendations as to how I might
be able to find more information regarding this information from the
aforementioned alphabetical List of Trakai males, I would be most
appreciative.

Thanks in advance to anyone who might attempt to shed some light on this.

Marcia Hoffman

ODYNTS,ODENHS,ODINS,ORDINTZ, ODENTZ,GOODMAN - Vilna Gubernia
GRINBERG, MALEWICZ,ROSENSWEIG - Lomza Gubernia

First of all, thanks to everyone who offered translation help on the 1917 Vilna death record for Ephraim LANDSMAN.
It turns out there were 4 languages involved, a Russian form filled out in virtually indecipherable Polish and a Hebrew/Yiddish form
filled out in German.

There is a good chance he is related to my GGF Avraham LANDSMAN who died in Vilna around the same time, likely
a brother.

The death record indicates that Ephraim was 58 years old (hence born around 1860) while my
GGF was born around 1860 as well (estimate based on Avraham's oldest son Hirsh/Harry being born in 1881).
The witness on the death certificate was Ephraim's son Hirsh. Ephraim's parents are listed
as Jacob and Ester LANDSMAN, and Avraham's 2nd son was named Jacob Leib.
Ephraim lived on Sophien Street (not sure where that was). I do know that Avraham lived near the great
Shul in Vilna.

I'm still searching for the birth records of Avraham's 7 children born between 1881-1897 in Vilna
as well as his marriage record which should be around 1860 or so.

Marty Meyers

(Mathias (Mattityahu) Strashun, picture from the Jewish Encyclopedia
Message: My grandmother was from a family that was permitted to live in St.
Petersburg during the czarist time or so I have been told. One of her ancestors
was involved in some capacity with building or financing the Trans-Siberian
Railroad. She was also a Strashun of the Strashun Library in Vilna. Do you know
any resources for me to look at that might help me figure out my family's
connection to the building of the Railroad?

Thanks,
Marilyn Tebor Shaw
Marilyn Tebor Shaw (matshaw1@mac.com) on Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 18:07:32
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Strashun family;

Samuel ben Joseph Strashun (1794–March 21, 1872) (Hebrew: ????? ??????? ??????), known also as Rashash (??"?) was a Russian Talmudist born in Zaskevich, government of Wilna. He was educated by his father, and became known as a proficient Talmudist. He married at an early age, and settled with his wife's parents in the village of Streszyn, commonly called Strashun (near Wilna), and assumed the latter name. The distillery owned by his father-in-law was wrecked by the invading French army in 1812, and the family removed to Wilna, where Samuel established another distillery and became one of the most prominent members of the community. His wife conducted the business, as was usual in Wilna, and he devoted the greater part of his time to studying the Talmud and to teaching, gratuitously, the disciples who gathered about him. The Talmud lectures which for many years he delivered daily at the synagogue on Poplaves street were well attended, and from the discussions held there resulted his annotations, which are now incorporated in every recent edition of the Babylonian Talmud (Hagahot v'Chiddushei HaRashash). His fame as a rabbinical scholar spread throughout Russia, and he conducted a correspondence with several well-known rabbis.
Strashun was offered the rabbinate of Suwalki, but he refused it, preferring to retain his independence. His piety did not prevent him from sympathizing with the progressive element in Russian Jewry, and he was one of the few Orthodox leaders who accepted in good faith the decree of the government that only graduates of the rabbinical schools of Wilna and Jitomir should be elected as rabbis. He wrote good modern Hebrew, spoke the Polish language fluently, was conspicuously kind and benevolent, and was highly esteemed even among the Christian inhabitants of Wilna. Besides the above-mentioned annotations, he wrote others to the Midrash Rabbot, which first appeared in the Wilna editions of 1843-45 and 1855. Some of his novellæ, emendations, etc., were incorporated in the works of other authorities. He died in Wilna on March 21, 1872.
Mattityahu, son of Rabbi Samuel Strashun was born in 1817 and passed away in 1886. He had a brother: Eliyahu.
Mattityahu' books and house were bequeathed to the Vilna Kehilah to become a public library.
Shmuel Strashun (( 1840- 1895) son of Eliezer, brother of Mattityahu, took over the running of the library- after he passed away his son Isaac took over and headed the library for 35 years. ( from Yahadut Lita)
Mattityahu (Mathias) Strashun (1817-1885):
Scholar, Leader and Book Collector
http://www.yivoinstitute.org/exhibits/strashun/strashunlibrary.htm
Introduction
Mattityahu Strashun's Biography
A Brief History of the Strashun Library
The Story of Hebrew Printing
Samuel and Mattityahu Strashun: Between Tradition and Innovation
By Dr. Mordechai Zalkin
Mattityahu Strashun's Biography
Excerpted and translated from Ir Vilna by Hillel Noah Maggid
Steinschneider (Vilna 1900)
Mattityahu, son of Rabbi Samuel Strashun was born on Hoshana Rabbah
Day of the year 578 (1817). Since childhood he showed evidence of
exceptional memory and great talent in the study of Talmud. His father
employed an excellent tutor, Rabbi Yeshaya David of Lebedev,for him
and his older brother Eliyahu. One day the great Gaon, Rabbi Menashe
of Ilya, a relative, visited the Strashun family. All the dignitaries
of Vilna came to meet Rabbi Menashe and hear his Torah learning. Rabbi
Menashe examined young Mattityahu about his studies in the presence of
this large crowd, and he replied correctly and accurately to every
question.
At age sixteen, he started to study science and mathematics on his
own. Soon he began to correspond with several maskilim, such as the
writer Isaac Ber Lebensohn and Samuel Joseph Fuenn, who quoted him in
their articles. Strashun, often writing under a pseudonym, also became
a regular contributor to several scholarly Hebrew periodicals that
began publication in the 1850s.
When he was 14 years old, Mattityahu married Sarah Hanah, daughter of
the wealthy Yosef Eliyahu Eliasberg (1798-1881). The couple had two
daughters, Gita and Itta, who both died at a very young age. With the
help of his father-in-law, Strashun started a business, which was
mostly managed by his wife and her brother. The Russian Census report
of 1851 lists Strashun's capital as at least 8000 rubles.
Strashun's economic success enabled him to purchase thousands of
books, which he read avidly and memorized. His house became a
destination for scholars, who flocked to hear his erudition and to
consult his books. In 1848, he was appointed head of the Burial
Society, whose records were in disarray. Strashun hired someone to
take care of the account books and record the names of the deceased. A
few years later, he became the head of the Charity Committee of the
Vilna Community, Tsedakah Gedolah, which was in charge of all
community affairs. In 1868, he was appointed member of the Vilna
branch of the State Bank, and was honored ten years later for his
exemplary service with a gold medal (17 February 1878). In addition,
he served in the Vilna City Council (Duma). Mattityahu died childless
in December 1885, and his wife died a few months after him.
In his will, Strashun left 5000 rubles to the Tsedakah Gedolah, 1500
to the Old Age Home, 1000 to the Yeshiva in the Butchers' Kloyz, and
500 rubles each to four Talmudic schools. His books and house were
bequeathed to the Vilna Kehilah to become a public library. He also
left an endowment to pay the salaries of a librarian and an assistant.
Following are a few excerpts from the introduction by his nephew and
executor, David Strashun to Likute Shoshanim, Being the catalogue of
books collected by Mathias Strashun of Vilna, published in Berlin,
1889:
[The Title] Likute Shoshanim [Selections of Roses] was chosen by my
late uncle while he was still alive...the numerical value for Likute
Shoshanim is 861; the numerical value of Mattityahu is also 861, as is
the value of Strashun. This is the reason why I called this catalogue
Likute Shoshanim, and this will be the title of all his collected
writings, which, with the help of God we will begin to publish...
[My uncle] strived throughout his life to bring honor to God and to
his people and share with them his learning and his fortune... Such
people are great not only during their lifetime, but also in their
death, when they leave their lifelong legacy and the fruit their
learning to the entire community. These are the heroes whose memory is
a blessing for ever and ever. My uncle, the genius Rabbi Mathias
Strashun was one of these great sages.
A unique man, who had the two-fold privilege of being both a great
Torah scholar and a great communal leader. He chose to leave his great
book collection, comprising of thousands of volumes, full to the brim
with delicious food for mind. In addition, blessed be he who had the
privilege to see the commentaries and annotations to 63 books that he
wrote during his lifetime. His wisdom shines like stars and his memory
and good name will be of glory and blessing forever and ever.
I promised my dear uncle that after his death I would take good care
of his books and see that they serve the entire House of Israel. When
I made my promise, I thought that this would be an easy assignment.
But soon I learned that, in addition to there being difficulties
involved in obtaining a license to open a library, my uncle had left
his library unorganized and uncataloged. It took us many months to
prepare this catalogue. Since cataloging is a skill rather than a
wisdom, the people who did this work asked me not to mention their
names... I pray that my genius uncle's memory will enable us to open
the library as soon as possible...
-------------------------
In the shulhoyf [courtyard] of the Great Synagogue of Vilna stood a
two-story building. The sign on its door read: "The Library of Rabbi
Mattityahu son of Rabbi Samuel Strashun." For forty years before the
Holocaust (1901-1941), this building served as one of the most
important cultural institutions of Jewish Vilna. The library was
established through the generosity of Rabbi Mattityahu Strashun
(1817-1885), a renowned Vilna philanthropist, communal leader,
scholar, and bibliophile. It included many rare Hebrew books and
manuscripts, which Strashun had painstakingly collected over a period
of 50 years, beginning with his bar mitzvah. By the time he died in
1885, the magnificent library had amassed 5739 books and manuscripts.
In his will, Strashun, who was childless, bequeathed his books and his
home to the Vilna Kehilah [Community] and appointed his nephew David
Strashun as the executor. David Strashun hired scholars to catalog
this collection. The catalogue was published in 1889 under the title
Likute Shoshanim [A Gathering of Roses]. In 1892, the Strashun library
was opened to the public in Mattityahu's former home. However, it soon
became clear that the building was too small for its purpose, and, in
1899, the trustees of the library decided to erect a new building
inside the synagogue courtyard. The document authorizing construction
of the new building is displayed in this exhibition.
In 1901, the library moved to its new building in the shulhoyf. The
original Strashun collection of rare books was housed in a special
room, while the main reading room served the general public. The Vilna
Community assumed responsibility for the property in perpetuity. The
Strashun Library immediately became a popular place for study and
leisure reading. The average daily number of readers was more than
200, mostly high school and seminary students, and there was always a
line of readers outside the door. In the evenings the Library served
as a Jewish cultural center.

The Library directors were Samuel Strashun and, later, Isaac Strashun.
The chief librarian was Khaykl Lunski, who served in this post until
the demise of the Library under the Nazis in 1941.
The collection continued to grow, primarily through gifts and bequests, since there
was little or no budget for new acquisitions. Beginning in 1928, the
Library received from the Vilna University Library all Hebrew and
Yiddish books published in Poland. In the 1930s, the number of books
was reported to be 35,000.
The Nazis occupied Vilna on June 23, 1941 and, soon thereafter,
ordered the Jews to move into a ghetto. Both the YIVO Library and the
Strashun Library were taken over by the Einsatzstab Rosenberg, a Nazi
task force assigned to systematic looting of Jewish cultural
treasures. The Nazis forced the librarian and a few others to select
and crate hundreds of thousands of Jewish books and archives. The
wooden crates were shipped to Frankfurt-am-Main, where they were
stored in a huge warehouse, waiting to be incorporated into the future
"Library of the Extinct Race." In 1945, the American army discovered
three million Jewish books in the Offenbach warehouse, among them
25,000 books from the Strashun Library collection and 15,000 books
from the YIVO Library collection. These volumes were rescued from the
ruins of Europe and brought back to YIVO in New York in 1947.
In the 1970s, the YIVO Library hired the well-known bibliographer,
Rabbi Chaim Lieberman, to catalog the rabbinical portion of the
Strashun collection, while the secular portion remained to be done. In
early 1999 YIVO moved to its new home at the Center for Jewish
history. Later that year it received a generous grant form the
descendants of Mattityahu Strashun in the United States, that enabled
the YIVO Library staff to computerize Lieberman's catalog cards, as
well as catalog the books which were never cataloged before. We are
very pleased to offer greater access to this important historical
collection and to display some of its treasures for the first time.

Strashun Street

I am looking for genealogical information about the family
(descendants) of R' Moshe ben Itzhak Yehuda LIMA, who was Vilnius's
Chief Rabbi from 1655 to 1670.

The 1912 through 1914 issues of the Vilna city directory "Vsia Vilna" are
available to Vilna researchers. Vilna researchers interested in accessing
these city directories can receive the links to the files by joining the
JewishVilna GoogleGroup. An e-mail addressed to me indicating your interest
in joining JewishVilna will get you an invitation to join as well as the
links necessary to access the city directories. These directories are
pre-1917 and are therefore in Cyrillic.

Joel Ratner

*
69.
July 16th,
2008
11:15 pm

The following are the final paragraphs written after visiting Lithuania in November 2006. We had a much different reaction.

Lithuania is really full of diverse natural beauties and claims to a proud history–there are some things that happened there that they want forgotten. Maybe it was just their misfortune to be such a small country in the midst of such big players. It may also be the misfortune of my husband, Bob the historian, that he is drawn to this dark side. But perhaps of all the concentration camps –killing fields–whatever they may be called—that we have visited, the most personally powerful one was in the area of Vilnius the capitol of Lithuania.

We met a young Lithuanian law student in a restaurant in Vilnius who later joined us for a beer–a chance for him to practice his English and for us to hear some of the local stories. Among lots of local history and folklore he told us a story that his grandmother had told him about how she along with many other helpless Lithuanians had watched as the total Jewish population of a large area, to include parts of the Soviet Union, was herded (thousands on a daily basis) from the Vilnius Ghetto (which acted as a staging area for this 'Final Solution') down the street outside the restaurant that we were in—how they had been force marched 15 km into the forest southwest of town and executed—-with absolutely no resistance.

This was to be our third and as it turns out our last death camp visit in the Baltic States. This one was more haunting than any we had visited before. The killing site was situated the village of Paneriai, a short train ride out of the city. It was a MEMORIAL to something that no Lithuanian wanted to remember.

The day was gray and cold–almost rainy. We were left at a deserted train station with guide book directions telling us to walk 1km south west along Agrastu Gatue (street)–which was easy to find along the train tracks. There must have been people in this tiny village–peeking out of dark houses, watching us walk towards our grim destination, but we didn't see any. It should be noted that we have been to all the big names in concentration camps–on the same cold, gray days with the same feelings of horror and remorse—with bitter sadness. But this place was different.

The site now was only a series of memorials–but it had been a place to bring more than 150,000 ordinary people—stand them up along trenches—shoot them—cover them with dirt and start all over again.

There were no buildings, no pretense of work camps with showers and ovens…plain and simple, it was a site for execution.

For some reason I was suddenly overwhelmed with anger, "Why are we always visiting these places?" Bob seemed to be aimlessly wandering through this deserted forest, pointing out mounds, explaining numbers and history of how these executed Jews had been exhumed and their bodies burned to destroy any proof of their existence. He was sickened with trying to understand how "people could do such a thing." My attention, as I tried to ignore (survive) all this, was drawn to the tops of the tall trees that canopied the dirt mounds covering the ashes of the murdered. There was no wind, but the tops of the trees were moving silently back and forth. Then with no explanation needed or given Bob was finished—"ENOUGH, let's get the hell out of here!" We were leaving–quickly and silently relieved.

It wasn't until later that things were explained–about my anger and how Bob had suddenly felt such overwhelming anxiety that we had both fled back to the train station. Why were we so affected by this lonely spot in this deserted forest? If the sun had been shining would we have reacted differently? Was there a "spirit" in this site that needed us to understand?

Lithuanians have many superstitions. One being that the wind allows the spirits of the dead to move freely among the living. Had the wind freed the spirits in this remote forgotten place–spirits of the thousands of nameless souls–who had been denied any indication whatsoever of their actual existence–were they trying to tell us who they were?

— Posted by Franca Brower