Kupiskis Holocaust victims

Memorial plaques to Kupiskis found on Mt.
Zion's Chamber of the Holocaust

(photo courtesy of Ada Greenblatt)

Kupiskis at the Yad Vashem Valley of the Communities

(This 2.5 acre monument was dug out from natural bedrock. Engraved on the stone walls of the memorial are the names of over five thousand Jewish communities that were destroyed in the Holocaust.)

(photo courtesy of Linda Cantor)

A group comprised of thirteen descendants from the Meyerowitz, Goldin, Shapiro, Choritz, Gafanovich, and Sarfanovich families met in Kupishok (Kupiskis), Lithuania, on Wednesday, August 27, 1997. This group was led by Norman and Alec Meyer and was accompanied by Lithuanian guide Regina Kopelevich. They were met on that Wednesday morning by the Mayor and City government of Kupishok (Kupiskis). At the commencement of the meeting, the Mayor handed Norman Meyer a list of 808 Jews who were killed during the summer of 1941. This list was compiled in 1946 by the midwife from the Jewish Maternity Hospital in Ponevezh (Panevezys) and several other sources. Further research is being undertaken to determine the exact origins of this list.

The Jews of Kupishok (Kupiskis) were killed on several different occasions in various locations during the summer of 1941. See the Pages of Testimony for further details. This list represents all those residents of Kupishok (Kupiskis) who were killed during that time. As there are only 808 people listed out of approximately 1,200 known residents, a number of other people may have either escaped, been killed in other locations or just been forgotten in the process of the listing of the names which occurred several years after the fact.

The list seemed to be created in family groupings or how the data entry people remembered the information. Due to this, the list has not been reconstructed in alphabetical order as it would have destroyed this organization. The headings of the columns are "Vardas" (Last Name), Pavarde (First Name), Amzius (Age).

The numbering system has been retained as well even though some of the entries were not numbered in sequential order.

There may appear to be some repetitions of family names in the list, but this may be due to similar names and ages of persons in various branches of a family.

The list is made up of three columns comprised of the last name, the first name or relationship of person and the approximate age.

When reading the last name, be aware that it contains the Lithuanian endings based on the spelling of the name and reflects male, female, single and married status. The "ius" or "as" is the married male (Rabinovicius, Kaplanas), the "iene" or "iute" is the married female (Rabinoviciene, Kaciute), and the "aite" is the single female (Rabinovicaite).

In some cases, the person who entered the names spelled all the entries for a particular family with the same married masculine ending as in "Joffe". In that case, you will only be able to determine the gender of the individual by their first name if it is given.

When the first name is given or when it is not, it may contain an additional word which is in parenthesis which will provide you with the relationship of the person such as "dukte" (daughter), "motina" (mother), "senelis" (grandfather), "sunus" (son), "tetule" (aunt), "vyras" (husband), "vykis" (children), "zmona" (wife).

Due to the age of the documents and the size of the pages (15"x17"), some of the names at the bottom of the pages and some of the ages have been obliterated in the xerox copy which was brought back by Norman Meyer. You will therefore note that there are some blank rows with no information. Eventually, replacement pages will be obtained with all the missing information. Beware that the ages are only approximate ones and there may be some discrepancies, but generally they are correct.

Where the information was not really known by the data entry person, a group notation was provided such as "three children".

There were several double entries or entries which were added as an afterthought. These are kept in the same manner as they were recorded on the list.

For any further inquiries, please contact either Ann Rabinowitz.

   

Yarzheit Date
June 28, 1941