Maisiagala — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

A small town in the district of Vilna, Lithuania.

Maisiagala is situated about 25 kms north of Vilna. In the period between the two world wars the whole of the district of Vilna was part of Poland. Jews settled at Maisiagala apparently in the last quarter of the 19^th century. In a population census of 1859 752 inhabitants were counted at Maisiagala, none of them Jewish. In 1897 there were however 109 Jews among the 920 inhabitants of the town.

Most of the Jews of Maisiagala made their iving in the clothing industry, from tailoring to marketing. A number of Jews were craftsmen and some engaged in petty trade and peddling in the district of Vilna.

The majority of the local Jews had small auxiliary farms next to their houses.

In the period between the two world wars there was no change in the living activity of the local Jews but in the course of the economic crisis of the 1930's they were aided by relatives who had emigrated to South Africa.

In 1930 some 800 people were living in Maisiagala, about half of them Jews. Among the local Jews were many Karaites.

The Holocaust period.

Following the outbreak of WW2 (September 1, 1939) and the occupation of Poland by the Germans, and in accordance of the pre-war agreement between Germany and the U.S.S.R., the regions of East Poland were given to the rule of the U.S.S.R.

The region of Vilna was handed over by the Soviets to Lithuania, which in less than a year became a republic of the Soviet Union. Under the Soviet, and later the Lithuanian rule, the Jews of Maisiagala lived in relative security and Jewish refugees from occupied Poland were absorbed in the Jewish communities of the district.

On June 24, 1941, two days after their attack on the U.S.S.R., the Germans occupied the Vilna district, with Maisiagala in it. Exact information of the fate of the Jews of Maisiagala during the German occupation is not available, but it may be assumed that they suffered the same fate as that of the rest of the Jews of Lithuania and were murdered by the Germans and their Lithuanian collaborators. It is known however that the Karaites of Maisiagala survived the war as the Germans did not regard them as Jews.

From: Beit Hatfutsot