VISHKI
New slideshow of Vishki.May 2008
UNTIL THE END OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
The settlement was formed in the 17th century.The czarist queen,Catherine the First,was born in Vishki.By the end of the first world war,the municipality changed hands a number of times(i.e,its national identity changed hands)and a portion of it was destroyed.
The jewish community was established at the end of the eighteenth century or the begining of the nineteenth.At all periods,the jews were the majority in the midst of the general population.They labored,typically,in small goods trade and crafts,and their income was for the most part seriously limited.Neverthelee,by dint of their own efforts,they established a series of important communal institutions,among them the Bikkur Holim*(i.e visiting the Sick Association).Under the community's juridiction was a public bathhouse and more.Beginning with the second half of the nineteenth century until the end of the community existence,rabbis from Pulchinski family occupied the seat of rabbinic authority for ome 90 years.The first from this family,Rabbi Moshe(Mishel)Pulchinski,who was known as "the prodigy of Sovalk"officiated here for over 40 years.After his death in 1907,his work was fullfilled through his son,Rabbi Yehuda Leib Shlomo Pulchinski,who occupied the seat of authority for approximately 25 years,until the mid 30's.After him,his son,Rabbi Yaakov Meir Pulchinski served the rabbinate(his"Hiddushei HaTorh"or"Torah insights"were published in the monthly"K'neset Yisrael"Tammuz,5699)
In the initial years of the first war,a portion of the jews of Vishki abandoned their homes and travelled deeper into Russia.As a result of the battles which raged in the municipality in the years1917-1919,the majority of the housing was destroyed or damaged.The Jews especially suffered from shortages and distress in the period of Bolshevick rules(1919)
BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS
At the begining of 1920,with the stabilization of the Latvian government after the hardships of the war,the predominet majority of the Vishki Jewish community was steeped in an impoverished status,without any source of income.Some relief came thanks to aJewish medical staff(a doctor,a nurse and midwife)that worked here largely due to the financial help of the "joint(distributioncommitee)"in the areas of hygiene,health of the community and entire municipality.The "Joint"also expedited help in additional areas and granted food supplies to tens of needy families.Loans for economic rehabilitation were given to merchants and craftsmen from amutual credit fund,established with the support of the joint in 1921.This important institution lasted until the outbreak of world warII.
From a statistical survey conducted in the years 1935 it is clear that out of 58 stores and businesses that were in the municipality,50 were Jewish ownership,including all the clothing stores,shoe stores,iron merchandising,haberdashery,and neibourhood groceries,except for one.78 of the 158 inns in the municipality were jewishly owned.The majority of these inns were typically one story wooden strustures with a court or adjacent grounds.
As the 30's wore on,the communal population decreased by 20% and more(from 530 in the year 1930 to 423 in 1935).The reasons inhered in the deadlock of the municipality,the minimal sources of business.Many youths left for larger cities where they studied,searched for work,or got involved with pioneer groups preparing for aliyah to the land of Israel.A number of families emigrated across the ocean.
From 1921,there was a school with only four classes.The language of instruction was yiddish.In its first years they taught about 60 children.
The firts political parties to establish branches in Vishki were the parties of Tz'irei Tziyon(the youth of Zion)and the bund.The bund also opened a community center for the youth.From the 30ies and on,branches of the"Shomer Hatzair-Netzah"and "Beitar"were established.
WORLD WAR II
During the period of Soviet rule,considerable changes occured in the Jewish community as a result of the new police policy:a significiant number of stores and businesses were nationalized and so Jewish communal life came to an end in increasing proportions.In the meantime the local"Hevrah Kaddishah"(i.E the Sacred Burial Society)was closed by virtue of a military order promulgated on december 12,1940.
With the outbreak of war between Russia and Germany,in june of 1941,a portion of the Jewish youth of the municipality fled,especially those pillars of the left,gonig deep into Russia.
At the end of june 1941,Vishki was captured by the germans.On the night of july 28,the local Jews were banished to the ghetto of Dvinsk.On the road,they were joined by streams of Jews from other municipalities who were transported there.As soon as they passed by the Agloneh monastery,the Jews were shot by Latvians who gathered on both sides of the road,thus extracting from them some victims.After a stay of a number of days in the crowded Dvinsk ghetto,the Vishki Jews were told,as were all the Jews who had arrived from the surrounding villages,that they were about to be transferred,as it were,to another ghetto.They were taken to the adjacent Pogolankah(Fogolankh?) Forest and murdered with guns,as part of the terrifying slaughter known in the Dvinsk ghetto as the "provincial action".Among the victims was the last rabbi of Vishki,Rabbi Yaakov Meir Pulchinski.The two USDIN brothers from Vishki who worked in a peat mining camp adjacent to Eizpoteh escaped from there.Together with two other Jews they hid for a long period of time in the ruins of an ancient fortress in the area.In the year 1944,the four were discovered and murdered.
In the month of july 1944,the Red Army returned and captured Vishki."
Translated from yiddish
The two Usdin brothers were Shlioma and Leib Usdin,sons of Israel-David and Haja- Mera.Israel-David Usdin was the son of Shlioma,who was the son of Leib Usdin,my GG Grandfther's brother.From"The List of peatfactory workers for 1943".(updated jan 6,2008)
The Latvian Names Project
Text in hebrew
what is Bikkur Holim
Вишки
Поселок известен тем, что здесь родилась Марта Скавронская, известная впоследствии как Екатерина I, русская царица, жена Петра I. Само местечко возникло в XVIII веке, а евреи здесь появились в конце XVIII века и до 40-х годов XIX века составляли большинство населения.
В начале ХХ века сокращение населения объясняется потоком беженцев в годы Первой мировой войны, а позже – отъездом еврейской молодежи в Палестину и их переселением в города Латвии.
В середине 30-х годов ХХ века в местечке было 158 домов, из которых 88 принадлежали евреям. В Вишках плодотворно работала еврейская община, при которой действовали Hevra Kadisha (Похоронное общество), Bikkur Cholim (Общество по оказанию помощи больным), а также синагога. Почти 100 лет раввинами в местечке были выходцы из семьи Платинских (Плацинских) .
Translation:
Marta Skavronskaya was born in the village of Vishki. She was the wife of Peter I and was called Ekaterina I (a russian tzarina). This settlement was started in the XVIII century, the Jews appeared at the end of the XVIII century till the mid XIX century of which they comprised the majority of population.
At the beginning of the XX century, the population was greatly reduced due to the flow of refugees in the years of WWI, the migration of the Jewish youths to Palestine and the Latvia cities. In Vishki there were 158 houses and 88 of them belonged to Jews. In Vishki the Jewish community formed Hevra Kadish (funeral society, Bikkur Holim (visits to the ill villagers), and a synagogue. Rabbis during this time frame were descendants from the Platinski (platsinsk) family.
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