I The Kallner's of Vancouver. Kallnerfamily.com
The Search Begins………..
May 24,2006
The start…...
We have arrived in Frankfurt Germany, It is overcast and rainy. We went for a short walk and found every thing was closing down as the next day was a public holiday Ascension Day, a very religious Holiday; and as we remember from South Africa. Everything shuts down, even the restaurants. We had dinner in the Hotel at a very good Thai style restaurant, even Selma enjoyed it, so we are now into Thai food.
The next morning we went to pickup our rental car. There is an office a block from the Hotel but it was closed due the holiday, so we had to go to the Central Train Station to get our car, and made our way to the Jewish Cemetery. There are two Jewish Cemeteries, known as the old and the new, the new being opened about 1932.
We found the New cemetery and went straight to the gravesite of Selma's Grandmother, It was a very chilling feeling knowing that this was a regular stop for Katzi (as he was known by all) on many of his trips out of South Africa and here we were standing where he would have stood, beside the grave with the headstone remembering his late mother Selma Katzmann
It was interesting that on all his visits to Germany, he would take a cab from the airport and visit his mothers grave. The cab would wait for him and take him directly back to the airport to depart from Germany.
We then muddled our way out of Frankfurt and headed onto the Autobahn to Flieden. Driving was quite an experience. The average speed was between 140 and 160 KM per hour. We missed our turn of twice since the off ramps come up so fast that there is no time to get into the lane to exit.
We found Flieden and with a little driving around we found the store that Katzi's father, Joseph owned as well as the house they lived in. It was quite strange seeing the places that he had spoken about. The sky was overcast and there was a light rain, this was not the kind of weather you want to be driving about and trying to locate markers and signs. Being a holiday the village was deserted and there was no one to ask for directions (If you could find a person who spoke English)
We then took off to find the cemetery, we first drove out of town and just before getting onto the autobahn there was a little side road which we took. We then looked for a clump of trees on our left that was used as a marker to find the cemetery.
The cemetery is about 250 meters off the side road and then we drove along a little cart path to the cemetery. There is a fence around the cemetery and a locked gate, the fence is very low and the gate was unlocked. We found about 30 grave stone markers, some of them Katzmann, as well as some spelt Katzman. It was strange that we did not find any of the women grave sites.
We found Selma's great grandfather's grave stone, once again a very strange feeling of our past and so much of what we are today.
Following Biblical birth order Ephraim son of Joseph, son of Jacob. Ephraim being Selma's Father and Joseph was her Grandfather and Jacob her Greatgrandfather.
The only thing we missed was the "Flieden Navy Site". This goes back many years when the Katzmann Family tried to improve the image of the village both globally and locally. It turns out that the "Navy" was a gaggle of geese and the oceon a stream running throught the village, we missed both.
The ride back to Frankfurt was uneventful until we reached the outskirts of the city and then got horribly lost. After driving around for about 10 minutes we found our way and were very happy to give the car back. We were not very comfortable being in Germany.
We flew out early the next morning on our way to Israel.
June 26th, 2006
We spent 9 days in Israel, catching up with my cousins, all children of my fathers brothers and sisters and decedents of Noah Hirsh, ben Todros Kallner. Most of my cousins have been to or lived in Lithuania at some point of their lives as well as some of my mother's cousins. We were looking for any snippets of information of our family history. The preparation for this trip had been going on for months and months and the contacts we had set up still lacked large areas of where our family came from and what had become of them.
Lovo and Sonia met us at the airport and we began a whirlwind 9 days of visiting, schmoozing and catching up.
Zorich, Irit (chick-chuck) and their girls, Lovo, Sonia and their families are the Tel Aviv clan, Dorit, Shlomo and their families, Tollic, and their boys are the Haifa clan. Esther and Grusha make up the Jerusalem clan.
We spent time in Haifa with Dorit and Ranit, Dorit has the most amazing collections of old photographs of the older generation, the most incredible being of our great grandfather Todrus with a child who could be my father.
Our arrival in Lithuania was quite eventful. During the preparation for our trip I had been in contact with Leah Behr of Chicago, a Kallner cousin who is very knowledgeable in all facets of our family history, in fact her late husband Rubin created the first Kallner Family Tree which probably was the seed that started this whole journey. We spoke of visiting Lithuania, and when I told her we were going, she said that she was going as well and we tried to co-ordinate at least making an effort to meet there at least once.
While we stood in line waiting to go through immigration, there was a lady ahead of us, the sticker on her passport told us she had been to Israel. As went through Selma said she is sure that the woman that had been ahead of was Leah. Selma went up to her at the luggage carousel and asked if she was, Leah Behr. Surprise...it was Leah, and we were staying at the same hotel in Kaunas. We took a cab to Kaunas about a 120km drive and found our hotel.
We dropped our bags and went to the Kaunas Archive offices to meet with Vitalija Circyte. It seems that everything we did there was a task. Their office is through a lane between 2 buildings in a unpaved courtyard. I have been corresponding and talking to her for the past 3 months. She Had told me that there was very little available as the Germans and the Lithuanians had destroyed most of the records. One of the problems we encountered was that we were searching for Greenblatt. (By a stroke of luck, a few months ago, I found my Mothers Lithuanian passport. Huge surprise, Roma Greenblatt left Lithuania as Rachile Grinblat.) With this information and the fact that her father owned the Mill, she found Leib GrinblatÔ's name in the 1939 Kovno District phonebook. The second entry was Ruvin Grinblat as the owner of a sawmill both with the same address. We were able to photograph the page in the phonebook.
Went back to the Takiojo Neris Hotel, basic but clean. We took the scenic route, a very beautiful boulevard with the most modern shops, all the brand names, but not for the locals, there were small street cafe's and restaurants again mainly tourist and business people.
June 7th, 2006
We had an early start, met our guide Chaim Borgman and his driver and were on our way at 8am.
We headed for Nainstadt, the town that my father Herman came from. It was a very long drive and we passed through small villages almost every 20 to 25 kilometres.
Once we arrived in Nainstadt we drove straight to the city hall a small building opposite the town square. I had very little information as to where my Father and had family lived, so we went to the Shull which I had pictures off, courtesy of Dr. Ben Lesin. His grandfather was the last Rabbi to serve the congregation. The building was a mess, basically all that was left was the shell. During the Russian occupation it had been restored and used as an adult centre and a hall for shows and dances.
It seems that the roof started leaking and instead of repairing it, the building was vacated and allowed to deteriorate.
The windows have all been broken, the memorial plaque that was on the outside wall has been taken off, the stage which once housed the Ark was in ruins and the floor destroyed. It was very upsetting, judging from the size of the building there must have been a very large Jewish Community.
On the third of May 1939, during the local market held in Neishtot, violence broke out against the Jews, the windows of Jewish houses and of the Beth-Midrash as well as the schools were smashed. During those several hours when the crowds rampaged, the local police did not intervene, and only forces summoned from outside stopped the raging crowd. On the 22nd of June 1941, at 5 o'clock in the morning, the German Army entered Neishtot as a result of shooting in the dwellings of the Soviet officers, 14 German soldiers were killed, and in response the Germans arrested many Jewish men and imprisoned them in the local Lutheran Church. Only after the Lithuanian priest assured the Germans that the Jews were innocent, were they allowed to return to their homes. In the first weeks of the occupation the Jews were employed in various types of work, such as sweeping streets, repairing roads, and many Jews worked in a big German field bakery. They had to wear a yellow patch on their clothes and were forbidden to walk on the sidewalks.
A Partial List of the Jews of Neishtot-Tavrig Who Were Injured in the Pogrom of May 3, 1939
Berelovitz Chaya-Riva
Berelovitz Faivel
Birk Moshe
Blumberg Hene
Blumberg Motel
Blumberg Shlomo
Braude Berl (Beth Hamidrash)
Davidzon Motel
Disler G. Dr. (My fathers sister Sarah's Father-in-law)
Dubinsky Efraim
Elert Avraham
Falt Eliyahu
Girshovitz Faivel
Glat Eliyahu
Grosman Grisha
Katz Shlomo
Kallner Avraham (My Grandfather)
Kruger Bliuma
Lapin Leib
Levenberg David
Leizerovitz Shmuel
Levi Salomon
Levin Hirsh
Levinzon Aba
Lipshitz Chaim
Joselevitz Leib
Joselevitz Stere
Nosel Sholem
Rabin Salomon
Rabinzon Meir
Shulman David
Shvartz David
Shur Israel
Zaks Avraham
A List of Jews from Neishtot-Tavrig Who Fought with the Red Army during WW II
1. Gold Izik (Died in battle in 1943)
2. Lasky Leib (Died in battle in 1943)
3. Kruger Izik (Died in battle)
4. Shnaid Avraham (Lives in Israel)
5. Dubinsky Jeshayahu (Lives in Israel)
6. Leibovitz Jeshyahu (Lives in Israel)
7. Berelowitz Shlomo (Lives in Israel)
8. Troib Zalman
9. Berelowitz Mordechai (killed in Neishtot 1946)
10. Katz (killed in Neishtot 1945)
11. Joselevitz Asher (killed in Neishtot 1946)
12. Robinzon Benjamin (Lives in Israel)
13. Kaganovitz Israel (Lives in Kovno)
14. Kallner Dov (Berel) (Lives in Israel, my Fathers brother)
The survivors and a few other natives of Neishtot who returned from Russia managed, after great efforts, to set up a tombstone on the mass graves on which they wrote:" Here rest citizens of Lithuania who were murdered by the Germans.
Among the native sons of Neishtot there were Sami Marx, in due course a millionaire in South Africa, a senator and friend of the former President of South-Africa Paul Kruger.
We drove around the town and ended up at the town square, very large and cobbled stoned, There was what looked like a travelling clothing sale on, there were racks of used clothing business was quit brisk. There seemed to be a lot of poverty and on the way out Chaim explained how you could see which were the (once Jewish) homes. All the Jewish homes had the front door on the street to wellcome visitors, and the gentile homes on the side.
On the way out Chaim stopped at the city hall saying that the deputy Mayor wanted to see me, she came out and presented a souvenir of Neishtot.
Our next stop was the Jewish cemetery, We had to drive through a field to get to it, it was set amongst trees and very long grass, we tried to identify the tombstones but they were well worn and we were unsuccessful in finding any of the family.
From there we went to a memorial site where a stone had been provided and erected by Lord Granville Jurer. A little further on there was low fence surrounding 6 massive (36ft x 18ft) graves. These were the first mass graves that we had seen. The area had been well kept and it seems that plants had been placed around the grave area. It is remarkable to see how distinct the graves are as the ground has subsided, leaving a very strong reminder of the magnitude of the atrocities committed against us.
We then started our return to Kaunas, we passed through Upyna, our friend Naomi Prices family came from there. I was told that the Jews here were murdered in the cemetery which has not been desecrated. We passed Pilsudas and Chaim asked the driver to pull into a driveway way away from everything, which led up to a little farm. This was the home of Brone Jurgeliene , a recipient of The Righteous Gentile Award Brone is 88 years old and lives on her own. During the war she hid Nachum Levine - now living in Israel from the Nazi's. She was so proud of her medal and certificate, so we took a photo with her. There are chickens running around, dogs and cats and a cow tied up in the field. Her granddaughter was there that day to help her, she had just milked the cow, and had pulled the milk pail up from the field with a little wagon made of four different pram wheels attached to a small frame. She was drawing water from the well and taking it into the house to heat on the stove for her grandmothers bath. The have electricity, an outdoor toilet and no running water.
We took the old Samaongedion road to Ariogulo just outside Verederava. Arigulo was the site of two massacre places. We had a great deal of difficulty finding it, driving through fields and alongside ditches. Eventually we found the site.
As you approach a fenced area there are two stones erected to commemorate the Jews murdered there. There was a gate missing and we found one mass grave where hundreds of Jews were shot and killed by the Nazi's and their Lithuanian helpers.
This is where my great-grandparents, grand-parents my mother's two sisters and all the Jews from Josvin were massacred. This was the most distressing part of our trip, the thought kept going through my mind of these pious gentle people standing at the edge of this pit knowing what was to be, maybe trying to comfort each other, saying the Shema all to what avail.
The fields were covered with small white wild strawberry flowers. How ironical, one of the last things that my mother talked of before her Alzheimer's stole her memory, was of the wild strawberries they picked, and she would show me with the tip of her baby finger how small they were and how sweet they were.
The Grinblats (Greenblatt) of Janvininai
June 7th, 2006
We started off this morning with a couple from Toronto, Abbie Beker and his wife Simmie. They had contacted us in Vancouver and asked to join us in Josvin ( Jasvainiai, or Josvainiai or Jasvan ) , As he was born there, we hoped he would remember something of the village and who lived had there. Also they had been there last year with the same guide that we were using.
Chaim Borgman, our guide had called ahead and made arrangements to meet with someone from the town, who knew of and old woman, who remembered some of the older families. We were met by three women at a youth centre and they had tea and coffee and cookies for us. The walls of the centre were decorated with pictures painted by some of the older children of the village. Some of the pictures were of the Jewish Cemetery. Chaim asked me if I recognised the building in the next pictures and I was at a loss, I had never seen those pictures before. The pictures were of the mill owned by my grandfather. They were all very friendly and it was a shame that we could not understand each other. One of the woman was a school teacher and the local historian. She had a photo album with pictures of Josvin many years ago, many of them pre-war. We were lucky to have a hand drawn map made by Betty Diamond of the village as she remembered it, some 60 years ago. The building that was used as the youth centre must have been the Hoffenbergs house. The map made it possible to identify where our family had lived, as well as other family members homes.
We walked past the town square. My mother had told me of this square. One of the memories she had was of my Great Grandfather, Isamende (Yitzhak Mendel) taking his horse and cart and going to his farm every Thursday, to bring vegetables for Shabbat. His first stop was my Grandfathers house which was next to the mill. After my grandmother had taken what she needed for Shabbat, he would then go home and my Great Grandmother Mumma Breina would take what she needed. He would then take the wagon to the town square, unharness the horse and leave the cart with what was left and anyone was welcome to help themselves to whatever vegetables that they needed. He made a point of not watching who took the produce from the wagon.
The house that Isamende and Mumma Breina lived in was right on the town square. The village had 4 streets, each named for the destinations that you would arrive at if you took that street, the streets formed a square in the centre. his house address being 11, Arigulo. There were people in the garden of my great-grandfathers house, we asked how long they had lived there, and came up with a story that they had built the house and when they laid out the garden found the foundations of an old cellar. Whatever! this was a very old house.
We went a little further down the street and found Abie Bekerís home. We could not find the school.
The Shull was no longer there, a new road had been built and the Shull as well as the home of Rabbi Rapaiko were demolished to make room for the new highway.. The village is very pretty and seems well cared for, the teacher and Chaim remarked that the Grinblats must have been wealthy people because their home was next to the square.
The teacher was with us all this time and came to the cemetery as well. She was very helpful.
The cemetery was between Josvin and the mill. We had to drive through a field to get to the entrance. It was very overgrown and the grave stones were scattered all over, many turned over and broken. We were unable to read the grave markers and were unable to identify any as belonging to our family. We were told that some of the grave stones were taken to repair roads and were also used to repair the Catholic Church.
From the cemetery it was a short drive to the ìMillî. It was not what I had imagined, but seemed to be in excellent shape. We walked around and found it fascinating, so many years ago, 64 in fact, that a Grinblat (Greenblatt) family member had stood here. With the information from the 1939 Phone book, there should have been a saw mill as well. According the records Ruvin a brother to Leib had a sawmill. We discovered a large pile of logs on the side of the building, and it is obvious that since they could not mill grain all year round, they must have shared the building and power source to saw logs into planks in the off season. It seems that this process still happens.
There is a now a suspension Bridge over the river Susve leading from the mill to the village of Josvin. The old brickwork was part of the original bridge, blown up by the Russians to try and stop the German from crossing into the village.
Roma talked of spending time at the mill, playing alongside the river and swimming in the river. When we talked of this Abie started remembering about the area and remembered playing with Reuvin at the spot we were at, as well as crossing the bridge to get there.
Next to the mill was a very neat little house, with beautiful trees and a garden, this was the home of Leib and Base. This was Romaís home.
To the left of the mill is a farm my Mother talked of the farm at the edge of the forest near the millî there is a forest and I can only assume this was Isamendís farm.
So the story continues, my first memories of the Greenblatt brothers (Issy and Joe) after their arrival in South Africa, I am not sure of the time frames, Issy worked on the docks, and the next part of the story resumes with Issy owning a mill (Surprise) and a farm in the village of Val, about a two hour drive out of Johannesburg. Joe had a small farm in Bergvlei, about twenty minutes out of Johannesburg. Joe was a cattle speculator, driving across the country buying livestock that was sent to Johannesburg for slaughter and processing.
The Greenblatt boys married the Josselowitz sisters, Issy to Rebecca and Joe to Janie.
Whilst in Lithuania I received an e-mail with the name of the Josselowitz girls home town.
The search was on for Tchetche Katcheringa (Kacercine) The home of the Josselowitz family. We found the village and our guide knew of a Jewish woman who lived there at that time, but when we found her house, we were told that she had passed away.
As luck would have it one of the people we asked for directions remembered the family, a Jewish family with many daughters, but very little else. They had us follow them and took us to the last house that thought that they had lived in.
We started our Journey back and stopped over in Vilnius for a day, we visited the Lithuanian State Historical Archives, and met with Galina Baranova. I had been speaking with her for the past couple of months and when she had started to research our family. The Kallner family search had come up with very little and we will try a different search, The Grinblat search was more successfull, we found my Greatgrandfathers birth certificate, as well as that of my Grandfather, she had just started looking for information and will send copies on to me. I will post these as well.
Roma left Lithuania in 1929, when she accompanied Hinda, with her two children Mirriam and Toby to joined their husband and father Chona in Durban. Roma was 15 years old and the other two were very much younger. I am not sure of the reason Roma left, whether it was political or to help Hinda with the chidren. When she arrived in Durban she was enrolled in the Ladysmith Convent to learn English.
Herman went to Cape Town and spent time in Grabauw with the Harris Family.
That is where they met, Roma visiting the Alon's, both ex-Josvin,and that was the new begining.
An after thought.
When we were back home, the first Shabbat I made Kiddish using my Grandfathers becher (Silver Wine Cup)This is all I really have that my mother brought from Lithuania, What a shock to see that the decorative engraving on the cup is a picture of the mill!
I have included some of the photoes, there are so many to process, especially the old ones, but will update this site from time to time.
Please feel free to forward any information or stories that you may have and feel that should be included.
I have a family tree and will attach it to a link.