Many important historical dates, interesting facts, documents and quotes about Jews, who lived in Ukmergė, were placed in the book of almost 500 pages written in Lithuanian and English. According to the author, this new book is the second, revised and more solid edition of the book with the same title published in 2008.
“I am not a creator, but I am a collector of historical facts. I had been collecting accurately and storing various historical facts of Ukmergė city and its region. One computer folder containing information about Jewish community of Ukmergė became rapidly bigger and bigger. And it is absolutely natural, because Jews had been the biggest, it can be said, the dominant, ethnic community for several centuries in Ukmergė”, said the author of this book Julius Zareckas. The history of Ukmergė Jewish community is also written in English. Numerous illustrations show us the real Ukmergė as was seen by the Jewish community. Zareckas prepared the book “A History of the Ukmergė Jewish Community: Dates, Documents and Facts” in three months presenting historical information, which was gathered from various archival documents, a little bit from the Internet, books, the press and coursework “Jewish Community of Ukmergė during the Interwar Period (1918 – 1940)” written by the student Arkadijus Bliuminas of Vilnius University, Faculty of History in 2000. J. Zareckas set the chronological order of historical facts from the settlement of first Jewish Samuel in Ukmergė in 1674 to the August and September of 1941, when almost 6 thousands of Jewish men, women and children living in the city and the region were fusilladed in Pivonija forest.
“Jews of Ukmergė were very active members of city community and were especially distinctive for the cleverness starting with the trade and crafts and ending with various thefts and smuggling. I had read lots of strange documents related to Jewish activity. It seems that Jews of Ukmergė especially liked to complain. 70 percent of all complaints for various government institutions are signed by Jews. It is interesting that surnames of community members are indicated in documents abundantly. I think that it is related to the fact that the documents are signed by the elite of Jewish community of that time – persons, who were leaders and represented the community for various reasons, so naming each person was necessary” – told J. Zareckas.
Some interesting facts from the book “A History of the Ukmergė Jewish Community: Dates, Documents and Facts”:
– After France occupied Ukmergė in 1812, census of city houses and population census of men under 18-50 years old was performed in order to distribute taxes properly. According to the census data, 164 of 239 city houses belonged to the Jews. Also, professions of owners were written, so now we know that the majority of Jews in Ukmergė was traders – 24, tailors – 10, shoemakers – 5, and drivers – 5.
– According to the census data, 5096 inhabitants were in Ukmergė in 1842, 3495 of them were the Jews. 507 (490 of them were the Jews) traders, 145 peasants, 21 priests and 135 noblemen were living the city.
– The biggest number of Jews living in Ukmergė was stated in 1891. Almost 11 000 of more than 16 000 city inhabitants were the Jews.
– In 1935 in Ukmergė the Jews possessed 6 hide-leather tanneries, 3 sawmills, 2 mills, 2 brickyards, fabrics of nails, beddings, bedspreads, and household items by twos, fabrics of leather, porcelain, furnace tiles, carton box, and drinks.
– 193 various objects were nationalized in 1940–1941. 95 of them belonged to the Jews.
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