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These photos
were taken by my great uncle, Maurice I. Block (he changed
his spelling to a "k" so that's not a mistake). He made a
trip to Lithuania in August 1920 to find his father (my gr-grandfather),
Leib Bloch. Leib had emigrated to the U.S. in 1905 with his
wife and adult children. He was very unhappy in the States
and he wanted the family to go back with him but they didn't
want to go. So, in about 1911 he went back by himself and
left the family here.
The family lost touch with him during WWI, and by 1920 it
was decided that Uncle Maurice would go back and look for
him to encourage him to come back.
Uncle Maurice had been born in Kovno and after a 15-year
absence, wanted to take pictures as a memory and to show the
family back in the States.
Some of the photos show my gr-grandfather, Leib, as he was found,
living in rags, including burlap wrapped around his feet for
warmth.
I cannot identify anything in Kovno, except the Neman River
riverfront scenes.
File #4 has the photos of my gr-grandfather Leib Bloch.
File #5 has a picture of Uncle Maurice, looking rather
dapper.
File #8 shows what is apparently bomb damage from WWI.
File #10 shows some various relatives. The three older
woman are my great-great aunts, sisters of my gr-grandmother. Their maiden names were Rochelsohn.
File #13 shows one of the sisters noted above, Chana
Rochelsohn Rosen, and her children. The tall one just died
in Atlanta, GA last year at about 90. Another photo shows
Uncle Maurice in the cart he was supposedly smuggled
into Lithuania in since he couldn't enter legally so the
story goes. There's also a picture of soldiers guarding a
railway station, but I don't know if it's Kovno.
By the way, on the edge of the photo of the man with his
horse and carriage, my uncle wrote "drosky", which I believe
refers to a cab for hire.
Regarding the soldiers, I vaguely remember reading somewhere
that Russia tried to regain independent Lithuania
immediately after WWI. I'm wondering if these were
Lithuanian soldiers taking up defensive positions.
It is important to give my Uncle Maurice credit for these
photos. He died about 20 years ago so I think it would be a
great tribute to his memory to share these with others.
Editor's note: There is no row 9. Edges
on photos are not cropped on purpose. |
Kamenshchik Homepage
Kovno
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