Kibart (Kybartai), Lithuania

The Book of Remembrance of the
Jewish Community of Kibart, Lithuania
(Kybartai, Lithuania)

54°39' / 22°45'

Translation of
Sefer HaZikron LeKehillat Kibart Lita

Editors: Yosef Rosin, Haifa, Executive Committee of the Society of Former Residents of Kibart

Published in Haifa 1988

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Joel Alpert

Written in Hebrew and Translated into English by Joseph Rosin

English Edited by Sarah and Mordechai Kopfstein

Our sincere appreciation to Josef Rosin, of the Association of Former Kibart Citizens,
for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site

This is a translation from: Sefer HaZikron Lekehillot Kibart Lita; (The Book of Remembrance of the Jewish Community of Kibart, Lithuania)
Editors: Josef Rosin, Haifa, Executive Committee of the Society of Former Residents of Kibart

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fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
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Preface

The town Kybartai in Lithuania (see map in Section A. below) is situated about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south-west from Kovno (Kaunas) beside the St. Petersburg-Berlin railway where it crosses the pre-World War II border with East Prussia that was a part of Germany. (Kibart is the Yiddish name and will be used throughout the book, whereas the Lithuanian name is Kybartai and is the name found on maps and most literature. Kibart is used because this is the name used by the Jewish people, about whom this book is written.)

The history of the Jewish community in Kibart is linked and tightly related to the history of the town itself. The first Jews settled in town with the establishment of the railway station and the customs station on the middle of the 1860s. From then all the changes the town went through were reflected in the life of the Jewish Community.

We can divide the history of the Jewish community in Kibart into the following periods which serves as the

Table of Contents

A. 1865-1915 - From the setting up of the railway station until World War I

B. 1915-1919 - German occupation

C. 1919-1923 - Establishment of the independent Lithuanian State and the increased prosperity of the town

D. 1923-1933 - Ten stable years until the accession of the Nazis in the neighboring Germany

E. 1933-1940 - Years of the town's decline

F. 1940-1941 - One year of Soviet rule

G. 1941 - Destruction of the Jewish community

In addition this book contains the following sections:

H. Postscript

I. A List of Kibart Families According to their Professions

J. A Partial List of Former Kibart Jews Who Lived in Israel and in the Diaspora

K. Bibliography

Joseph Rosin -The Author About Himself

Link to photos of the Kibart Cemetery taken by Sam Rachlin in the summer of 2001

Yizkor Book Project JewishGen Home Page Kibart at Kehilalinks

Yizkor Book Director, Lance Ackerfeld
Emerita Yizkor Book Project Manager, Joyce Field z”l
Contact person for this translation Joel Alpert
This web page created by Joel Alpert