Pinkas Hakehillot Lita: Pociuneliai

“Pociuneliai” - Encyclopedia of Jewish
Communities in Lithuania
(Pociūnėliai, Lithuania)
55° 34' / 23° 52'

Translation of the “Pociuneliai” chapter from
Pinkas Hakehillot Lita

Written by Dov Levin

Published in Jerusalem, 1996

Acknowledgments
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This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot Lita: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Lithuania,
Editor: Prof. Dov Levin, Assistant Editor: Josef Rosin, published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.

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(Page 500)

Pociuneliai or Percineliai

In Yiddish, Patsinel
Written by Dov Levin
Translated by Shaul Yannai

A big village on the banks of the Garduve River in the Gudziunai County, in the district of Kedainiai in central Lithuania, 12 km southeast of Baisogala. In 1859, the village had 10 houses with 70 residents. Around that time, ome Jews accepted an invitation from Baron Yagman to come and settle in his lands in Pociuneliai. They built a synagogue in the village and where they had a “Shokhet” (slaughterer) and “Melamed” (teacher). Some of the older children continued their studies in Kedainiai. One of this small community's Rabbis was Rabbi Eliezer-Moshe-Tsvi Lava, who took office in the rabbinate of the village in 1891. During the high holidays and general holidays, the Jews of Pociuneliai hosted the local residents from the surrounding areas. Most of the Jews of Pociuneliai left their town during WWI.

During the period of Independent Lithuania, only 10 Jewish families (out of the 230 residents who were counted in the village in 1923) remained in the village. The Jews made their living from agriculture and shop keeping. A modern Jewish community in Pociuneliai was established around the same time and its people elected democratically a 5 member community council. Of the 30 Jewish residents of Pociuneliai who participated in the 19th Zionist Congress elections, 23 voted for the Grossmanists, 6 for the Mizrakhi, and 1 for Eretz-Yisrael HaOveded. In 1939, Pociuneliai had 10 private telephones, of which 2 belonged to Jews (the merchant Hirsh Glick and Berl Gordon, who had a haberdashery and a fabric store). One of the town's natives was Josef-Zelig Glick (1852-1922), an author and journalist who wrote in Yiddish and Hebrew, and who lived most of his life in Pittsburgh, USA.

After Germany conquered Lithuania, the fate of the Jews of Pociuneliai was the same as the fate of the Jews in the Kedainiai district: they were all murdered by armed Lithuanians during the autumn of 1941.

Bibliography:

Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, files 55/1788, 55/1701, 13/15/131, Z-4/2548.
YIVO - Lithuanian Communities' Collection: file 1562.
Gotlieb, Ohalei Shem, p. 147.

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Pociuneliai or Percineliai

In Yiddish, Patsinel Written by Dov Levin Translated by Shaul Yannai

Bibliography:

In Yiddish, Patsinel
Written by Dov Levin
Translated by Shaul Yannai