shtetlinks

ShtetLinks: Ponevezh, Lithuania

Jewish Population before the Holocaust: 6,845

 

Also known as:

  • Panevezys (in Lithuanian)
  • Panevezhis
  • Panevezio
  • Velzis
  • Panevzio
  • Panevezhis
  • Panevezhi
  • Poniewiez
  • Poniewiesh
  • Poniewesch
  • Ponevierz
  • Ponivez
  • Ponowwitcz

YAHRZHEIT (MEMORIAL) DATES OF LITHUANIAN JEWISH COMMUNITIES

Location: Latitude 55 deg 44', Longitude 22 deg 21'

  • 82 miles NNW of Vilna (Vilnius)
  • 60 miles NNE of Kovno (Kaunas)

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  • 130 km (82 miles) North-North-West of Vilna (Vilnius)
  • 100 km (62 miles) north-east from Kovno (Kaunas)

Background Information

Click for Article on Ponevezh by Joseph Rosin

English edited by Fania Hilelson-Jivotovsky

 

Please enter your family names and your name on the JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF) for Ponevezh.

Searchable Databases

  • JewishGen Family Finder (for PONEVEZH)

    Would you like to connect with others researching PONEVEZH? Click the button to search the JewishGen Family Finder database.

  • United States Holocaust Research Institute Reading Room Information for Ponevezh

     
    2. Click TOWN-EXACT SPELLING
     
    • Other valuable web sites:
     
    This is a wonderful site with many photos of people and places. A MUST...

    Wiesenthal Center

    Panevezys County (not one mention of Jews)

    Jewish Family History

    Famous Rabbis

    Panevezys Municipalityl

    Answers.com about the Ponevezh Yeshiva

    From: stuart sholl

    Hi Joseph,

    I'm Stu Sholl of Harrisburg, PA, USA. My father's family emigrated here from Panevezys, Lithuania in the 19th century. My mother's family emigrated from Obeliai.

    I live in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania USA. Harrisburg was the destination of many Jews from Kovna Guberniya from 1881 to c. 1906. There are many Jewish families in our community whose origins are in Panavazys, Obeliai, Rokiskis and elsewhere. As I get through local archives I will send whatever data I find to the appropriate SIG.

    My paternal grandfather's name was Jacob Shalit (Yaakov Lev ben Yosef Bentzion). Two of his brothers also emigrated to Harrisburg, Harry (Zvi) and Phillip (Fishel).

    My paternal grandmother was Sarah Ethel Frank who emigrated from Panavezys in the 1880's with her parents, Max (Mordechai ben Avraham Abba) Frank, and Mary (Mara bas Shmeril) maiden name unknown.

    I'm interested in your Panevezys research group and look forward to participating in it's research.

    Stu Sholl
    From: ivy simoff
    To: RosinJoseph
    Sent: Sunday, November 21, 1999

    Dear Joseph,

    Your description of Paneveyz is wonderful and deeply appreciated.  I am searching for information regarding the Jochel (Yochel) family of Paneveyz.  Chaim Jochel had the post office and delivered mail in the 1880s.  He emigrated to the US in 1906 after searching in Johannesburg, SA. His wife Raiza was a Roseman from Keidani. They had ten children whose decendants are living in and around Alabama. I believe he had family in Lithuania.  Any suggestions for finding information about their parents or grandparents?

    Ivy Simoff

     
    ________________________
     
     
    From: Michael Krauss

    To: RosinJoseph

    Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 1999

    Joseph,

    Thank you so much for your very enlightening information on "Poinyevez" (as my family members always called it). I've been researching my family's ties to Ponavezh and you have provided me with information that I have sought for many years.

    My grandfather, Meir Krauss, was born in Ponavezh in 1891, as best as I can determine. He had a number of siblings, all of whom came to the US in about 1904 or '05. The family name, however is Kravitz--Not Krauss. He, with an uncle changed his name from Kravitz upon arrival at Ellis Island, I have been told. His siblings names were Molly, Sarah, Etka, Sholem, Nushen, and Dora. None but Meir changed the name. Meir was a tailor by trade and his brothers were haberdashers. There is only one cousin left from my grandfather's siblings' children and she will be thrilled to see the wonderful information and photos that you have gathered.

    Thank you again,

    Michael Krauss

     
    ____________________________________
     
    From: Silverstein Bishow, Marlene
    To: 'RosinJoseph'
    Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2000
    Subject: Panevezys
     

    Dear Mr. Rosin

    Thank you so much for the enjoyable and detailed article about Panevezys, Lithuania. I am an amateur genealogist and I have been researching and recording my heritage since 1969. My sons' paternal grandmother, Pearl Suntop was born in Panevezys in 1914. Her parents were Isaac Suntop and Minnie Kagan Suntop. She had 7 brothers and sisters (Tzera Brina, Label, Chia, Michel, Gittel, Lazar, and Benjamin). Only three of the children survived the Holocaust. Lazar and Benny went to South Africa in about 1931 and Pearl came to the US in 1947, after surviving the camps. Her first husband was Beryl Lerman. Beryl and their daughter, Leah, both died at the hands of the Nazis in 1941. Pearl was spared death, as she was a talented tailor and seamstress.

     
    At the conclusion of the war, Pearl was reunited with her husband's teenage brother, Michael and the two travel in search of family, but like so many others, they wound up in a DP camp in Germany. Pearl married a fellow survivor, Moses Silverstein from Poland and in 1947, the couple with their infant son, Jacob immigrated to the United States under the sponsorship of Pearl's maternal aunt. They settled in Utica, NY, where they lived until about 1985. Pearl now lives in Monroeville, PA.
     
    I have a picture (circa 1931) of the Suntop family, but nothing else to show my sons about where/how their grandmother grew up. I am so thrilled that your article has filled in many of the missing pieces. May I have permission to use excerpts from your article in the family book that I am preparing?

    Please include me on your mailing list, if you have one.

    Your fan,

    Marlene Bishow

     

    Marlene Silverstein Bishow

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    Compiled by Joseph Rosin
    Updated by JA January 29, 2006
    Copyright © 1999 - 2006 Joseph Rosin
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