Walking in Their Footsteps - Part 1

For a long, long time, I have wanted to visit the places my family come from. All my direct ancestors left their respective homelands on their own free will, but only when they realised things weren't in their favour, and life would be better elsewhere. A few more years and they would have ben more desperate to leave, or, I shudder to think, would have been caught up in the mess of WWII like so many others were.

My maternal grandfather's family hails from a small town in North-Eastern Lithuania called Rokiskis - it also happens to be the capital of the region by the same name. This is where my grandfather was born and lived until he left for South Arica with his mother and three sisters at the ripe old age of 9, in 1929. His two brothers had already emigrated years earlier, as children.

Standing at the Eastern end of Independence Square, facing West

Standing in the centre of Independence Square, facing West (towards the Manor)

Standing in the centre of Independence Square, facing West (St Mathew's Church)

Rokiskis isn't much of a town. In fact, apart from the Count's Manor and the imposing St Mathew's Church in the old town square, there isn't much of a reason any tourists would visit it. And it shows. The old town is centred around Nepriklausomybes, or Independence Square. To be perfectly honest, the church does stand out and really is the feature of the town's skyline. It's unique gothic like structure is quite imposing and provides a very unique view of the town. Another traveller has taken some fantastic photos (more here) of the town, so I have limited the number I have put up.

Dilapidated buildings along the short walk to the manor

The Rokiskis Museum is housed in a manor which was built for Count Ignotas Tyzenhauzas in 1801, and renovated a couple of times since. The last Tyzenhauzas (who was actually a woman and therefore bore a different name) eventually left Rokiskis when the Bolsheviks moved in. Somehow, the museum got a hold of the manor to use as a museum (the fact that this is not very well explained, leads me to believe that the building wasn't exactly 'bequeathed' to the museum...)

Apart from seeing a really cool old fashioned manor house, the museum has a collection of wooden sculptures by the local artist, Lionginas Sepka. Although I'm not an art fanatic, some of these sculptures were really cool. Perhaps it was also the sheer number that this guy created over the years, and the intricate nature of some of the installations. If you happen to be in Nortth-Eastern Lithuania - it's worth a visit!

I stayed in the old section of town (the new centre of town is around 2km to the South) only 2 blocks from Independence Square. This wasn't so much by choice, but more down to the fact that there isn't much of a choice of hotels in town, and there is even less of a choice when it comes to hotels that will pick up the phone when you try and call them to make a reservation!

Right in the centre of the square, across from what used to be the town well, is an old black timber house. To the outsider, the house looks much like many of the other early 20th century houses in the town which in any other modern city, would have been torn down a long time ago. However, this house, on the South-West corner was built in 1920 by 2 cousins of my grand-father's mother - Pesach & Rachmiel Ruch.

On the ground floor, the familes had their retail shops, and on the first floor, four families lived. Famously, when the Lubavitche Rebbe visited Rokiskis in 1931, this is the house he stayed at. The house was nationalised by the government when the Soviet Union took control of Lithuania. It was during this time (1950-1952) that a reconstruction took place and the house was subdivided into many more, smaller units.

 

A photo of that same house, taken in the 1920's

My grandfather's family lived on Khamyer Gas, now called Republikos Gatve (the main street), but I do not know the address, nor do I know whether their house is indeed still standing. It didn't matter though, walking around this town which to some extents, was still part of the 19th century, made me feel that much closer to my ancestors. It was as if I had some better taste of their lives. I could picture them as kids playing in the backstreets, the parents going about their business in the streets. It was great just to be able to look at 'real' things which were just as they were when my family lived there - the imposing St Mathews Church on the Western end of the square, and the magnificent Count's residence a short way off to the East.

Rokiskis when my grandfather was a child

Rokiskis today (same as 85 years ago - but with TV antennas!)

The following photos are some of the typical early 19th century buildings that make up most of 'old town' Rokiskis in the 21st century...

There is not a single mention, anywhere in town - memorials or otherwise - about it's Jewish past. Prior to the war there were only a few thousand residents and approximately half of them were Jewish. Now there are around 16,000 residents, and not a single Jew amongst them. They were all either driven out, or killed. I do wonder though, how many of houses that people live in now, are actually legally owned by them, and how many were simply taken over. How much of the town would be as it was were it not for the significant proportion of its population that no longer exists? Interestingly, and ironically, there is a bust in one of the main parks of the town's most favourite child, Yakov Smushkevich who was commander of the Soviet Air Force in the early 1940's. He even became a Hero of the Soviet Union for his contribution to the Spanish Civil War. He was a Jew.