The History of Zasliai
From: Pinkas Hakehilot - Lita [Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities - Lithuania]
By: Dov Levin, Chief Editor, and Yosef Rosin, Secondary Editor
Published by Yad Vashem, 1996, Jerusalem
Lithuanian Name: Zasliai
Yiddish Name: Zashsla
Russian Name: Zhosli
General
History
Zasliai is a local town in
the Trakai province. It is situated in Eastern
Lithuania, on a site bordering three lakes, halfway
between Kovna and Vilna. First referred to in historical
sources in 1433, the same year saw the construction of
the Catholic Church. In 1792, Zasliai was granted
Magdeburg rights.
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Historical
Population Data |
Year |
Total
Population |
Jews |
% of Jews |
1849 |
N/A |
836 |
N/A |
1865 |
1,042 |
653 |
62 |
1897 |
1,955 |
1,325 |
67 |
1915 |
N/A |
1,500 |
N/A |
1923 |
1,768 |
1,067 |
60 |
1940 |
2,000 |
1,000 |
50 |
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By 1865, Zasliai had a
total of 87 properties, which housed a population of
1,042, of which 653 were Jews, 371 were Catholics, 22
Starovars and 7 Prevoslavs. There were 3 synagogues, a
Catholic Church and a municipality building. The
commercial sector of the town comprised 18 shops, 4
tanning workshops, a flourmill and several bathhouses.
Zasliai usually hosted regional trade fares five times a
year. Often ravaged by fire, during the era of Russian
rule, the town was transferred to the regional
jurisdiction of the Vilna region and served as a
provincial metropolis, on the railway routes from Kovna
to Vilna and Liubavas to Rudamina. Economic activity
slowed following the attainment of Lithuanian
independence, due to the severing of links with the
Vilna district.
Jewish Communal Life Up To 1918
During this period, the
Jews constituted the majority of the population in
Zasliai. They usually lived near the train station,
which they used to market goods such as wood, grain and
poultry. The Jewish community maintained strong economic
and cultural ties with neighboring communities in Trakai
and Vilna. The wealthier members of the community
undertook the maintenance of communal buildings and
facilities and periodically covered the cost of
restoration work when required. In 1885, for example, an
individual named Eliyahu Shapira donated 200 rubles
toward the cost of building a new fence around the
communal cemetery, in place of the old one which had
been totally destroyed.
The outbreak of war in 1914
triggered the mass expulsion by the Russian military of
Jews from their original settlements and in the
following year around 5,000 Jewish refugees arrived in
Zasliai. Some of them were given shelter in homes of
local Jews while others were temporarily housed in two
of the local synagogues and even in stables and
cowsheds. The bulk of the assistance to the refugees was
provided by the Vilna based "Yaakopa" Refugee Aid
committee and the "Committee for Medical Care and
Nutrition," which was established by a group of Jewish
students from St. Petersburg and Vilna. A delegation
from the Duma or parliament in St. Petersburg, headed by
the Russian politician Kerenski (later Prime Minister of
the interim government, prior to the Russian revolution)
visited Zasliai to see firsthand the local Jewish
community's humanitarian efforts.
At one stage, the Jews of
Zasliai themselves faced the possibility of expulsion,
following their refusal to turn over certain individuals
to the authorities, who planned to hold them in
detention until such time as allegations of espionage by
Jews could be verified. Such detainees faced execution
if these allegations were later confirmed. At a stormy
meeting of the local Jewish community, the authorities'
demand was rejected and the Jews of Zasliai stood firm,
despite the threat of expulsion.
Many of the Rabbis who
headed the community in Zasliai, prior to World War One,
were descendants of Rabbi Itzhak Zalman and his son,
Rabbi David Zalman who served as communal Rabbi for four
decades until his death in 1831. He was succeeded by his
son, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Zalman who served until 1874.
Rabbi Avraham Chaim Shas was then appointed in his place
in 1888. Rabbi Shas was assisted at different times
during his term of office by several other rabbinical
leaders, most notably Rabbi Itzhak Meir Rabinovich and
Rabbi Eliezer Lipman Sharshavski (1883-1888).
Many Zasliai Jews were keen
supporters of the "Chibat Zion" settlement movement.
During the years 1898 through 1900 the "Hameilitz"
magazine published lists of donors who contributed funds
to settlement activity in Eretz Israel, and these
featured a large number of names from Zasliai. The
community's representatives to the movement were Moshe
Aharon Katz and Nechemia Levine.
Post World War One Independent Lithuania
With the end of World War
One and the declaration of Lithuanian independence,
Zasliai Jews joined their compatriots in other towns and
cities in playing an active role in the democratic life
of the new independent Lithuanian state. 350 people
voted for the Zionist list that stood for election in
the Seimas elections of 1922. The religious "Achdut"
list won 58 votes while the Democrats received 7. By the
mid 1920s a local representative committee had been
elected.
During this period Jews
made their living mainly from trades, light commerce and
street vending. Many Jews earned their livelihoods as
distribution agents, buying fruit and other items in
bulk from local farmers and then reselling it to
wholesalers in Kovna or directly to traders in Germany.
Several other Jews worked as wood and grain traders with
extensive business activities in other countries. By
1925, the Jewish community had its own dentist (Leah
Greenberg).
In 1931, the Lithuanian
government commissioned a poll, which revealed that all
20 of Zasliai's shops were Jewish owned. The poll also
revealed that local Jews owned 11 workshops. These
comprised a photography darkroom, a paint shop, a
forging works, 2 shoe repair shops, 2 wool combing
shops, a bakery, a saddler shop and 2 flourmills.
By 1937 Zasliai had 39
Jewish tradesmen. These comprised 11 cobblers, 6
butchers, 5 bakers, 4 carpenters, 3 glaziers, 3
dressmakers, 2 tailors, a hatter, tinsmith, blacksmith
and barber.
Zasliai Jews received
financial assistance from the local branch of Jewish
People's bank, which by 1927 had 233 customers. Also
active in Zasliai was an office of the United Credit
Cooperative for Jewish Farmers. Many of the town's Jews
also ran small agricultural enterprises in their back
yards and usually kept small goatherds. It is claimed
that those who kept goats applied to the authorities to
have the railway line moved further out so that they
would have space to raise their livestock, and their
request was approved. This may be the reason that local
residents were often referred to in Yiddish as "Zashslar
Zigele" (Zasliai goats).
But for all their
industriousness and dedication, Zasliai Jews managed to
earn only a meager livelihood, and the community's youth
soon set their sights elsewhere. Many immigrated to
other countries while others settled in Eretz Israel,
with many joining Kibbutzim throughout the country (Givat
Brenner, Yagur, Dafna, Ein Harod and Tel Yosef).
Communal life in Zasliai continued to flourish despite
the ongoing exodus. In addition to the local "Tarbut"
Hebrew school, Zasliai also had a local Maccabi sports
association with 68 members and a volunteer fire
fighting team, whose equipment was purchased with
donations from expatriates resident in the United
States. Also active in Zasliai were local branches of
Beitar and other Zionist youth movements. Interest in,
and support for Zionist causes continued to increase and
by 1935, the Zasliai delegation to the Zionist Congress
held that year numbered 300, compared with a mere 18 who
represented the community at the congress of 1927.
Rabbi Avraham Chaim Shas
continued to serve as communal rabbi of Zasliai until
1938, when he was replaced by Rabbi Moshe Levine, who
subsequently died in the Holocaust.
Among the famous expatriate
Zasliai Jews were the linguist and orientalist Professor
Ben Ziyon Halper (1884-1924); Rabbi Shmuel Menachem
Katz, also known as the "Maggid (preacher) of Courland"
(1887 – 1954) and Aharon Klaus (1914 – 1961), a reporter
and member of the editorial board at the Israeli
newspaper, Ma'ariv.
World War
Two and the Holocaust
Life for Zasliai Jews first
took a turn for the worse in June 1940, with the Soviet
invasion and the nationalization of all businesses,
which effectively deprived the community's traders of
their livelihood. The Zionist parties and youth
movements were all disbanded. On June 22, 1941, several
groups of Zasliai Jews set out for Russia in an attempt
to escape the advancing German troops. But most of them
found that their escape routes were already blocked by
German forces and had to turn to back.
Immediately following the
Soviet retreat, Lithuanian nationalists seized control
of the town and arrested all those suspected of
collusion with the Soviet regime. Most of the younger
Jewish prisoners were transported to the neighboring
town of Kaisiadorys, where they met the same fate as
local Jews. Those Jews who remained in Zasliai were put
to work cleaning the streets as well as performing other
forms of forced labor. They were also prohibited from
leaving their homes and were forced to risk their lives
by secretly venturing out and begging their non Jewish
neighbors to sell them food and other essentials in
return for cash or goods. Armed Lithuanians often raided
Jewish homes, looting property and abusing its owners at
random.
On the night of August 17,
1941, armed Lithuanians took all the remaining Jewish
men and some Jewish women and moved them to a detention
center in neighboring Kaisiadorys where they were
imprisoned for 10 days. On August 27 (4 Elul, 5701),
they were marched by local Lithuanians to a place known
as the Vasiliev Canal in the Stroshon Forest, 3
kilometers north of Ziezmariai and murdered along with
the local Jewish community. The surviving women and
children from Zasliai were moved, on September 22, 1941
to the town of Semeliskes, where they were also murdered
together with local Jews on October 6 (15 Tishri, 5701)
in a grove 200 meters north east of the town. Only three
women and two children survived the massacre and were
given sanctuary by local farmers. All five endured
considerable suffering and privation before being
finally liberated towards the close of the war.
In the autumn of 1991,
local authorities initiated the construction of a new
steel fence around the two mass graves of Zasliai Jews
and the completion of restoration work on the marble
tablets on top of the graves. The tablet on the larger
grave bears an inscription in Yiddish and Lithuanian,
which reads as follows, "Here at this place, on August
28, 1941 Nazi murderers and their local accomplices
cruelly murdered 2,200 Jews from Ziezmariai, Zasliai and
Kaisiadorys." The other tablet bears a similar
inscription with one minor alteration. It reads instead:
"1,800 Jewish women and children."
Also erected at the site
were three wooden monuments, which bear the single word
"pain." They were designed by the Lithuanian sculptor
Kapacionas. |