Litvaks

A Brief History of Jews in Lithuania

Jews have lived in Lithuania since the early 1300s, when they were invited by the Grand Duke Gediminas as artisans and merchants. In 1388, they were granted a charter by Vytautas the Great. As free subjects with the ability to run their own affairs in their own communities, they were active in crafts, trade, commerce, and banking, though restricted from land ownership and farming.

In 1495, Jews were expelled from Lithuania by Alexander Jagiellon, but were allowed to return in 1503. The Khmelnytsky Uprising in the mid-1600s greatly damaged existing Lithuanian Jewish institutions, though the population continued to grow. At the end of the 18^th century, Lithuania became subject to the Russian Empire, and the rights of Jewish Lithuanians were further limited. During this time, there were periods of antisemitism and anti-Jewish policies, culminating in three years of pogroms after the Russian government blamed the Jews for the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881.

For a short period after Lithuania regained its independence in 1918, until the eve of World War II and the Holocaust, Lithuanian Jewish culture thrived. Although the Jewish population was relatively small (160,000 in 1939, or 7% of the total population), it was largely concentrated in towns and cities, which had, on average, Jewish populations of 30 to 40%. Jews contributed greatly to Lithuanian trade, commerce, publishing, and the arts. Until the 1930s, when a depressed economy, fueled by Nazi propaganda, gave rise to bitter competition, Lithuanian Jews and non-Jews got together reasonably well – living as close neighbours, doing business together, and often attending the same schools and universities.