Alternative names: SALANTAI
Salant is near Darbian (13 miles), Polongen (15), Plotel (9), Plungian (15) and
Maisiad97). The train station was 12 miles from
town. The Jewish settlement dates from the seventeenth century.
According to a list dated l766, there were 279 Jews paying head-tax.
In 1846, the Jewish population was 990; in 1897, it was 1106; before World War I , it was
1200 (about 300 families); in l921 , about 800
and before the Holocaust, about 500 (l50 families)
.In 1926, almost half of the town burned down.Jews worked in trade and crafts. Market days
were Tuesdays and Fridays. Out of 19 artisans, there were 7 shoemakers, 2 tailors, 2
tinsmiths, a blacksmith, a tanner, 2 glaziers, a clock maker, a bookbinder and 2 hat
makers. There was a small factory for making "Electra" paraffin candles. The
owner of the company was Lipa Ziv and 2 of its workers were Jewish.
Jews emigrated to South Africa, America, and some to Palestine.
There was an old synagogue, a beit midrash and 2 shtiblach with lessons taught by a
melamed or a rabbi. One of the melameds was
Michel Manishevitz, father of the industrialist Dov Manishevitz.
From l903 to l910, there were 5 cheders and a yeshiva. During independent Lithuania, there
were 2 educational institutions. One was
a Talmud Torah. The other was a Tarbut elementary school with 100 pupils. It was founded
in l9l9 by Benzion Yuselevitz. The principal
was Mrs. Ziv, and the teachers were Lazerovitz and Yuselevitz.
A library was established in 1906 by Hirsh Olshtein and one of the sons of R. Rabinovitz.
It was illegal until 1914. Finally, in 1918 it
was authorized and ws named after I.L.Peretz (Yiddish author, 1852-1915). In 1923, it had
1600 books.
One of the societies for the study of Torah was Tiferet Bachurim.
Charitable institutions included Hachnasat Kallah, Linat Hazedek and Bikur Holim. There
was a Jewish volunteer fire department. Before the
Holocaust, there were chapters of Hamizrahi, Agudat Yisrael and Zionist youth.
For the above information, thanks to:
Ms Tinny Lenthen - Librarian
Email: sydjmus@tmx.mhs.oz.au
THE SYDNEY JEWISH MUSEUM Phone 61 + 2 + 360 7999
148 Darlinghurst Road Fax 61 + 2 + 331 4245
DARLINGHURST, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 2010
International Jewish Cemetery Project
SALANTAI (Salant) {10125} The cemetery is outside the town, sandwiched between farms,with
access made difficult via a rutted dirt driveway that is parked up with farm equipment.
Just inside the entrance, amemorial plaque indicates this is a Jewish cemetery, and a
largewood sculpture by Jacob Bunka (of Plunge) honors the memory of405 Jews murdered here
in the Holocaust. All but deserted oftombstones, this walled cemetery is on a gently
sloping plateau that has steep sides toward its rear and lateral perimeters. Thevastness
of its area attests to the sizable Jewish community thatonce lived in Salant. At the front
left of the cemetery are fourrows of tombstones, evenly spaced, apparently placed here
fromstones recovered elsewhere in this cemetery. Some are legible, others completely
weathered. Elsewhere, toward the rear of thecemetery, we discovered a few more markers,
some with extensiveand legible inscriptions, including vertical acrostics spellingout the
deceased's name along the right margin. Of a total ofabout 20 stones, we recorded 15,
dating from 1881-1923. Source:KirschnerIn Salant (Salantai), in the Western section of
Lithuania, I visited the cemetery as well. Some two dozen stones remain in alocation that
likely contained several hundred. Local peopleclaimed that 1)Russian soldiers removed
stones for constructionduring the '70s and '80s; 2)there were many stones still standingin
the 1960s; 3)stones have sunk under the earth and were notstolen at all. source:
rberc@bu.edu (Rick Bercuvitz)
Current Maps of Salant
Maps courtesy of
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