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Jewish Families from Miroslavas (Miroslaw), Alytus region (former Suwalki Gubernia, Sejny district), Lithuania
This is a shell for Jewish Families of Miroslaw in Suwalki Gubernia. Please feel free to join and develop this project.
Miroslasvas - a remote town located about 12 km southwest of Alytus.
Once, there may have been a road from Alytus to Poland, but during the tsarist era, the strategic highway Alytus - Seiria - Berznykas was built 2 km from the town. Now, from Miroslavas, there is a highway towards road No. 132 Alytus - Seiria - Lazdijai, towards Balkūnai, where there is highway No. 131 Alytus - Simnas - Kalvarija and a highway west of the town towards Meteliai and the great lakes of Suvalkija.
During the tsarist era, the town was the center of the Sejniai county of the Suvalki province. By the way, in those days, Alytus was not a county center - the western part belonged to Klavarija county, and the part beyond the Nemunas - was to Trakai county of the Vilnius province.
During the Lithuanian period, Miroslavas was the center of a rural municipality until 1950. During the district period, there was no significant disruption - Miroslavas was always the center of the Alytus district, and since 1995 - the center of the Mirolsava eldership.
During the 1897 census, 485 residents were registered in Miroslava - 203 Catholics and 244 Jews.
After World War I, the population decreased. In the 1923 census, the town had only 393 inhabitants.
Miroslava parish was large at that time - 6681 people lived there - more than in Alytus (6322). In 1923, 93.7% of the population (6261) were Lithuanians, only 124 Jews remained, and there were 323 Poles.
In 1959, 401 people lived there, with minor fluctuations, this number of inhabitants remained until 2011 (423), and then it began to decrease, although not as sharply as in other regions of Lithuania. During the 2021 "census", 361 inhabitants were counted.
The town has a beautiful two-tower church, the construction of which began before World War I and was completed in 1921-1929
There are not many attractions here, except for the nearby Lake Obelia.
Nowadays, Miroslava is quite famous for the Miroslav Ring Road on the 132 road Alytus - Seiriai, where accidents often occur for some reason.
Wikipedia: Miroslavas is a village in Alytus district municipality, in the Sūduva Upland, 2 km west of road 132 Alytus–Seiriya–Lazdijai. The center of the eldership and eldership. The old triangular town square, where markets and trade fairs used to take place, has survived. There is the Miroslavas Holy Trinity Church (built in 1847), there is a Miroslavas gymnasium, a preschool education department, a post office (LT-64025), a kindergarten, a nursing home for the elderly, a culture house, and a library (established in 1941). On Olakalnis, a 20th-century chapel has survived, not destroyed by wars and occupations (it is depicted on the village coat of arms). A monastery of the Miroslavas St. Vincent Pauli Sisters-Servants of Charity Congregation was established in 2008.
The village is located in the Sūduva Upland. In the vicinity, there is a hill called Olakalnis.
Etymology
The place has been mentioned under the name Slabada since the end of the 17th century. This could mean freedom from taxes, which was enjoyed by the settlers who settled here in ancient times (Russian: свобода – “freedom”). In 1744, the settlement was named Miroslav after the surname of the owners Miroslavsky (a manorial place name). This is a place name formed without the declension of the Polish personal name Mirosław, Mirosława, Mirosławski.
Folk etymology suggests that a cruel manorial owner named Sloboda lived in the neighboring Bendriai manor and had a son named Miroslav; he named the town after him. This version cannot be ruled out, since the surname of the landowners could have come from the name of the settlement, and not vice versa.
History
The place has been mentioned since the end of the 17th century. It belonged to the Bendriai estate of the Alytus king's table economy. In 1710, it received the privilege of markets and several trading posts. In 1719, the wooden Miroslavas church was built and a parish was established. The town did not have self-government, but the residents were free from pledges. In 1744, a new church was built, in 1763 it was rebuilt, in 1847 a brick church was built and a Marian monastery was established. The monks settled here in 1781 and stayed there until 1864.
During the 1863 uprising, the Marian monks preached patriotic sermons, so in 1864 the Russian government closed the monastery. In the 19th century, Miroslavas was a village, the center of the Miroslavas rural municipality of Sejny county. In 1906, a branch of the "Žiburis" society was established, in 1907 The first Lithuanian evening was held.
In 1923, there were 93 houses, 15 shops, 13 of them Jewish. In the 1930s and 1940s, the cooperative "Artojas", a dairy, and a grain cleaning station operated. During the USSR-Germany war, in June 1941, the advancing German army killed 42 residents of the village. On August 8, 1941, the Jews of Miroslavas were killed in Alytus by order of the Nazi occupation authorities. In the post-war years, the Dainava district, Dzūkai partisan detachment, Lithuanian partisans, operated in the vicinity. In 1944, the town was destroyed during battles between the USSR and German armies. On February 12, 1945, A group of Lithuanian partisans from Kušlis occupied Miroslava and shot 17 local rioters and activists in the square in front of the church, and a memorial stone was later erected in their memory.
In 1940–1941 and 1944–1953, the Soviet authorities deported 29 residents of Miroslava. In 1950–1971, it was the central settlement of the Miroslava collective farm, and in 1971–1992, it was the central settlement of the "Obelija" collective farm. In the 1960s and 1970s, the park "Dainava Legenda" was established with sculptures by L. Užkurnys.
In 2004, the coat of arms of Miroslava was approved.
Alytus County Jews at the Beginning of the War
Excerpt from the source: https://evaldukas.livejournal.com/99523.html
In the Lithuanian Central State Archives (LCVA) fund R1436 1 description file 29, there is a group of documents containing lists of people who moved to the towns of Alytus County after the beginning of the war on 22 June 1941. Circumstances of the emergence of the lists: K. Kalendra, the head of internal affairs of the Vilnius City and Region Citizens' Committee, sent a request on 6 August 1941 (LCVA F. R1436, a.1,b.29, l. 110) and the chiefs of the town police stations compiled the lists and gave an answer. Interestingly, Jewish surnames can be found in the lists. At the time of compiling the lists, the concentration and murder of Jews in Alytus County had already begun, which is probably why they are no longer on the lists for some areas. The circumstances of the Jews' relocation are predictable - some of them fled when the war began, only running very close to their place of residence, about a hundred kilometers; some moved to live closer to their relatives and also a very short distance, because this was possible only in the first days of the war. The Jewish surnames in those lists are important because they are the last records of many, and perhaps all, of their lives. I will arrange the list of towns in alphabetical order, noting when the list was compiled and what happened to the Jews in the town.
Miroslavas: list sent on 14.08.1941 cover letter LCVA F. R1436, a.1,b.29, l. 116 list LCVA F. R1436, a.1,b.29, l. 117 list 20 Jewish personal names:
- Olkenickis Abromas, Rachmilio born in 1904 in Varėna city, butcher settled in Miroslavas
- Olkenickienė Sorė, Jankelio, born in 1902 in Merkinė city, landlady settled in Miroslavas
- Olkenickaitė Šeina Abromos, born in 1927 in Alytus city, student settled in Miroslavas
- OlkenickaitėPas-Šeiva, Abromos, born in 1930 in Alytus city, student settled in Miroslavas
- Olkenickaitė Lilija, Abromos, born in 1938 in In Alytus city “lives with parents” in Miroslavas
- Gelleris Joselis, Nachimo born in 1917 in Merkinė, a farmer, settled in Miroslavas
- Lyubelis Abrom, Jankelio, born in 1919 in Poland in Lomza, accountant, Miroslavas
- Nedzwiecka Mira, Jankelio, born in 1922 in Poland in Rozdilań, seamstress, settled in Miroslavas
- Gelleris Abrom, Joselio, born in 1914 in Merkinė, painter, settled in Miroslavas
- Sokolskis Mejeris Izomano, born in 1881 in Poland in Kanonko, farmer, settled in Miroslavas
- Sokolskienė Šeina, Fiselio, born in 1884 in Alytus, farmer, settled in Miroslavas
- Kalmanavičius Jokubas, Iršaus, born in 1920 in In Alytus, he settled in the village of Gudziniškės, Miroslavas rural municipality
- Išepinskis Mojsiejus, Chilelio, born in 1920 in Alytus city, farmer, settled in the village of Gudziniškės, Miroslavas rural municipality
- Grodzenskas Šimelis, Motelio, born in 1873 in Miroslavas, farmer, settled in Miroslavas
- Grodzenskienė Šeina Leibaus, born in 1876 in Miroslavas, housewife, settled in Miroslavas
- Grodzenskas Balkė, Šimelio, born in 1925 in Miroslavas, lives with his father in Miroslavas
- Aranauskas Šimelis, Joselio, born in 1905 in Liškiava, farmer, settled in Miroslavas
- Aranauskienė Riva, Jankelio, born in 1904 in In Merkinė, landlady, settled in Miroslavas
- Švailokienė Eta, Šimelio, born in 1920 in Miroslavas, landlady, settled in Miroslavas
- Švailokas Dovydas, Salomono, born in 1940 in Alytus, lives with his mother in Miroslavas
The Jews of Miroslavas were murdered in Alytus.