VILKAVISKIS
a small town in Southern Lithuania
Where the Jewish Community is no more
2008 and the
Return to Vilkaviskis
2009
Vilkaviskis, Pilviskiai
 in 2009
 
 
 


2009 in Southern Lithuania
Traveling in this area !
Time is always at a premium but really a couple of days at least should be spent in here.
Where to stay ?
Marijampole can be the center for the stay in the area.
The very best place to stay is the small family hotel SUDAVIJA HOTEL Situated in the center of the town.
Its a small very comfortable hotel - the breakfasts are very tasty and the owner will do everything possible to make you comfortable. He even took me to Kalvarija !
I have only praise and can highly recommend this hotel.
In Marijampole you should see the Synagogue, which today is a Teacher Training Ceneter and walk through the old Jewish center of the town.
The old Jewish quater of Marijampole
The old Jewish quater of Marijampole
The Synagogue - its was Lithuanian Holocaust Day - on every public building
was the national flag with a black ribbon.
In Vilkaviskis - there is the Jewish Cemetery, the Old Age Home, today a hospital, the Jewish Gymnasium, today the building of the Vilkaviskis Municipality. In the future the exhibition of Jewish Life will be moved from the  Culture Center to the Museum.
 Yossi Ankorion standing by a family gravestone in the very well kept Jewish Cemetery in Vilkaviskis
The building that was once the Vilkaviskis Jewish Gymnasium, today it is the Town Hall.
Today the exhibition is housed in the Culture Center
Its eventual home will be the Vilkaviskis Regional Museum
The site of the Synagogue
See also Visiting Vilkaviskis and Visting Vilkaviskis 2

In Kalvarija there is the Synagogue, Rabbi's House, The Beit Midrash and Jewish Cemetery.
The Synagogue
Beit Midrash
Jewish Cemetery
See also Kalvarija pictures at my temporary Kalvarija site
Some 20 Kilometers from Kaunas is the "Open Air Museum of Lithuania "

If you want to get a feel of the life of our Lithuanian ancestors you must not miss this excellent outdoor museum.

They even re-created the market place of a typical shtetl - there is even a Jewish merchant's house with an opening roof for celebrating Succoth.
The market square of the shtetl
2009 in Kalvarija