VILKAVISKIS
          A small town in Southern Lithuania
Where the Jewish Community is no more



Shtetl Life - Occupations
With the help of material from the magnificent article by Josef Rosin I am attemting in the following pages to give some small picture of Jewish communal life in Vilkaviskis before it was all tragically destroyed in the summer of 1941.
Over the years the Jews concentrated on trade in grains, timber and agricultural products designated for export to Germany. There were Jews in Vilkovishk who owned considerable fields (according to the Napoleon Codex Jews could acquire land in this region), also growing vegetables and fruits.
There were many Jewish shopkeepers, various artisans and car and carriage owners who transported goods and passengers to the railway station and to neighboring towns. In particular the industry of processing pig bristles for the production of brushes was developed in Vilkovishk. There were four big factories of this kind - belonging to Sobolevitz, Rozin, Vilkovisky and Vindsberg - who employed more than 400 Jewish workers in addition to several smaller workshops. These workers were the first ones who organized and arranged strikes in order to improve their working conditions


Over the years the Jews concentrated on trade in grains, timber and agricultural products designated for export to Germany. There were Jews in Vilkovishk who owned considerable fields (according to the Napoleon Codex Jews could acquire land in this region), also growing vegetables and fruits.

There were many Jewish shopkeepers, various artisans and car and carriage owners who transported goods and passengers to the railway station and to neighboring towns. In particular the industry of processing pig bristles for the production of brushes was developed in Vilkovishk. There were four big factories of this kind - belonging to Sobolevitz, Rozin, Vilkovisky and Vindsberg - who employed more than 400 Jewish workers in addition to several smaller workshops. These workers were the first ones who organized and arranged strikes in order to improve their working conditions

Despite this the Jews established new enterprises, such as for the extraction of oil, for soap, cigarettes, a flour mill, a printing press etc., and with all the difficulties the number of Jews in Vilkovishk did not decrease. Only a part of the youth immigrated to Eretz Yisrael or moved to other towns in Lithuania.
According to the 1931 government survey of shops in the state, Vilkovishk had 154 shops, including 130 owned by Jews (84%).
By 1937 Vilkovishk counted among its working population 87 Jewish artisans, as follows: 16 tailors, 11 bakers, 10 butchers, 10 barbers, 7 shoemakers, 4 hatters, 3 watchmakers, 2 seamstresses, 2 painters, 2 tinsmiths, 2 leatherworkers, 2 stitchers, 1 rope maker, 1 carpenter, 1 photographer, 1 oven builder, 1 glazier, 1 electrician and 10 others. Most of them were organized in "The Association of Jewish Artisans" which had a club and a loan fund.
In addition to the merchants, industrialists and artisans there were 35 families engaged in agriculture. There were also 7 buses, 3 of them owned by Jews, and out of the 4 taxis 1 belonged to a Jew (in 1935).
Details from the 1931 Trade Census of Vilkaviskis
Click on there map to see a list of Jewish enterprises in Vilkaviskis and where they where situated