Janey (Chaia Sheina) Chaja Szenja Black (nee Frieze) - Info on the town

Mariampol Suwalki Gubernia
Mariampol lies on the banks of the Sesupe (Sheshupe) river, one of the tributaries of the Neman, the main river of Lithuania, about 55 km south-west from Kovno (Kaunas). The first people, who settled in this place in the second half of the 17th century, were peasants. In 1736 the village in the area was called Starapole. Another new village nearby was called Marijampole, the name appearing for the first time in 1756. Later these two villages were joined under the name Marijampole.

In 1792 King Stanilaw-August granted Mariampol "The Privilege of a Town".

Until 1795 Mariampol was included in the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom. According to the third division of Poland in the same year by the three superpowers of those times: Russia, Prussia and Austria Lithuania was divided between Russia and Prussia. The part of the state that spread on the left side of the Neman river (Nemunas) including Mariampol was handed over to Prussia. During the Prussian rule (1795-1807) Mariampol was a regional center. In 1800 there were 1,178 people living in the town.

During the years 1807-1813 Mariampol belonged to the "Great Dukedom of Warsaw" and was considered as a county center in the Bialystok District. In 1813, after the defeat of Napoleon, whose retreating troops passed through the town, all of Lithuania was annexed to Russia, and Mariampol was included in the Augustowa Region (Gubernia). From 1817 it again became a regional center. In 1866 Mariampol was included in the Suwalk Gubernia. The construction of the main road in 1829 from St. Petersburg to Warsaw stretching through Mariampol, spurred the growth of the town.

After the great fire in 1868, many wooden houses burnt down but were replaced by solid houses rebuilt in the town. The municipal town area of the town was enlarged, and a park, later renown for its greatness and beauty, was planted at that time

In 1827 there were 1,759 people living in Mariampol and among them 1,157 Jews (66%). In 1840 there were 2,992 people and 2,264 among them were Jews (76%). Mariampol was under Russian rule for a hundred years (1815-1915). In 1915 during World War 1, Mariampol was occupied by the German Army, remaining in the area until the establishment of the New Independent Lithuanian State in 1918.

During the period of independence of Lithuania (1918-1940) Mariampol was a regional center. The construction of the railway in 1923 connecting Mariampol to Kazlu-Ruda, a terminal on the main line from Kovno to Kibart (Virbalis) contributed to the town's further development. Thus Mariampol was connected to the Lithuanian railroads. During that period many factories were built in town and among them the Sugar Factory, which produced sugar from beets. Many new homes were built then, and the number of inhabitants grew (9,488 people in 1923). Mariampol became one of the most beautiful towns in Lithuania. It was also a cultural center boasting a large number of high schools in the area. During the Russian rule there were three Russian high schools in Mariampol.

In June 1941 the German Army occupied Mariampol and the occupation lasted until 1944. During the retreat the army destroyed the center of the town, the power station and the sugar factory.

From 1955 until 1990, during the Soviet rule, the town was called Kapsukas (named after the Lithuanian underground communist leader). After Lithuania was set free from the Soviet rule Mariampol got back it's old name.

The Jewish Settlement before World War I

It seems that Jews started to settle in Mariampol at the beginning of the 17th century. They settled on the left bank of the Sesupe river, in the village Tarpuch. Later it became the suburb of Mariampol. In 1766 there were 347 Jews in the village. At that time the first Synagogue was built in the village and was burnt down during WWI.

On the right bank of the Sesupe river Jews began to settle only at the end of the eighteenth century. During the Russian rule there were no restrictions imposed on Jews to settle in the area, therefore in the fifties and sixties of the nineteenth century the Jewish population in Mariampol made up 80% of the population. In 1856 there were 2,853 Jews out of a total town population of 3,462 (82%). In 1861 there were 3,015 Jews out of a total town population of 3,718 (81%). In 1897 the number of Jews in the town decreased to 3,268 (48%) while the total population grew to 6,737.

The Jews of Mariampol made their living in commerce and crafts. There were also Jewish farm owners who earned a living from agriculture. Jewish merchants exported flax, grains and poultry to Germany.

During the Polish rebellion in 1831 Jews of Mariampol suffered from the rebels. The rebels hanged a wealthy Jewish family and four community leaders.

In summer 1881 a volunteer fire brigade was established in which most members were Jews.

The Jewish children of Mariampol were educated in a "Cheder" where some Russian was taught. Most of the time was devoted to teaching the Bible, some Talmud and the Hebrew language. For some time, at the end of the nineties of the nineteenth century, a "Revised Cheder" curriculum was created in Mariampol, where Hebrew in the "Ashkenazi pronunciation" was taught by Yechiel Yechieltzik (later Yechieli) who after "Aliya" became the director of the Girls School in Neve-Tsedek in Tel-Aviv.

At the end of the nineteenth century a "Modern Yeshiva" was founded in Mariampol where Talmud, Hebrew, Bible, Russian, German and literature were taught. At that time the teachers were Hayim Joseph Lurie and Hayim Ber Rosenbaum who later taught in the Hebrew High School of the town. There were Jews in Mariampol who were subscribers to the Hebrew periodicals such as "haBoker", "haZman" and the children's paper "heChaver". In the Russian State High School for Boys only a few Jewish boys were enrolled because there was a maximum quota of 10% reserved for Jews. In contrast, at the two private high schools for girls there was no known quota and many Jewish girls were enrolled (one of them was the writer Devora Baron).

Because of the study of the Bible and the knowledge of Hebrew, most of the Mariampol Jews were supporters of the "Chibath Zion" (Affection for Zion) movement. Already in 1881 the local Rabbi, Shlomo-Zalman Gordon, added his "Haskama"(approval) to the book of Nathan Fridland "Joseph Chen". The book supported settlement of Jews in Eretz-Israel and became a popular book in the Diaspora. A year later his (Rabbi Gordon's) detailed opinion on the Zionist Movement was published in response to attacks coming from a group of Rabbis known as the "Black Lodge".

In 1882 a group of Mariampol Jews joined the association "Yesud haMa'alah" which was organized in Suwalk by the Mariampol native (1844) Eliezer-Mordechai Altshuler and whose task was to settle in Eretz-Israel. For different reasons, including the opposition of the Rabbis "to anticipate events", the task was not fulfilled.

In 1884 twenty-seven pictures of Moshe Montifiori were sold in Mariampol as a fundraiser for settlement in Eretz-Israel.

At the first Zionist Congress which took place in Basel in 1897 the delegate from Mariampol was Gedalyah Gitelevitz. At several Zionist Congresses afterwards the delegate from Mariampol was Aba-Yitzchak Rozental. He was also the delegate at the second All-Russian Zionist Conference and the representative on behalf of Suwalk Region at the Zionist Conference in 1908.

At the regional conference of the "Zionist Associations" whose participants gathered in Vilna in 1899, Rabbi Eliyahu Klatzkin from Mariampol was the delegate.

The numbers of "Shkalim" (like a membership card) that were sold in the year of the fifth Zionist Congress shows the number of members from Mariampol. belonging to the 'Zionist Association". Between the 1.7.1901 and the 1.7.1902 one hundred "Shkalim" were sold in Mariampol. The "Zionist Associations" in Mariampol were called "Benoth Zion" (The daughters of Zion), "Techiyah" (Revival) and "Bar Kochva", and they were among those who supported opposition to the "Uganda Plan". In 1905 a youth group, under the guidance of Devora Baron, was organized in Mariampol and was called "Pirchei Zion'' (The Flowers of Zion). Later its name was changed to "Tikvath Zion" (The Hope of Zion).

On the list of donors of 1909 who supported settlement in Eretz-Israel names of hundreds of Jews from Mariampol appear (see Appendix 1). Among the Jews from Mariampol who immigrated to Eretz-Israel at the beginning of the century were: Rachel Solnik (in 1909), later the wife of Yehuda Gorodeisky, one of the founders of Rechovoth, Yisrael Yablokovsky (1912) and Baruch Leibovitz (in 1911), later Dr.Baruch Ben-Yehuda. (see below).

A branch of the "Bund" (the anti-Zionist workers organization) acted in Mariampol and disturbed the Zionist activities. Among its other activities the disruption of the Memorial Assembly which took place in the Synagogue in Mariampol on the "Sheloshim" (Thirty days) after the death of Theodore Herzl is attributed to the " Bund"

Public life concentrated around the three Synagogues in town: the Central Synagogue, the "Hachnasath Orchim" Synagogue and the "Beth haMidrash". The ceiling of the central Synagogue was ornate with colored paintings of a tiger, an eagle, a deer and a lion. The Hoy Ark (Aron HaKodesh) was decorated with beautiful wooden carvings.

Until 1870 the Rabbi of Kalvaria (A town about 18 km south-west from Mariampol) was the Rabbi of Mariampol too. The first Rabbi in Mariampol was Chayim Perlmuter-Shereshover (from 1780 till 1820), after him his son-in-law Yehuda-Leib Charlap was officiated. In subsequent years Shlomo-Zalman Gordon (died in 1879); Yehonathan Eliashberg (from 1879 till 1887); Azriel-Aryeh Rakovsky (died in1894); Eliyahu Klatzkin (from 1892 till 1910) served as Rabbis.