Talsi History

Talsi History

Below is a very brief Jewish history of Talsi. A reading list for further information is included below.

Talsi is first mentioned in historical documents in 1231, first settled around two small lakes – Vilcumuijas and Talsi1. German nobility and later merchants settled there beginning in the late 13th century. Jews first moved to Talsi in the early 1800’s. In 1862, the town housed a Jewish synagogue, a Jewish prayer house, and a Jewish school2. The Jewish population of Talsi reached about 1400 by 1897. In that year, the District of Talsen boasted the highest literacy rate in Kurland, at 77.7%3.

The name Talsen is supposed to be derived from two German words, “Tal” and “See”, meaning “valley” and “lake”, and in fact the German influence in the area was quite strong. Among the Jewish upper class in Talsi, many of the children studied at German schools, and many families spoke German.

During the Revolution of 1905, many Jews were active in opposing the Russian government. Half of Talsen was destroyed by fire in 1905, when Russian troops surrounded the town and started firing4. Thus, very few records remain from the town before that time.

On April 28, 1915, the Jews of Kurland were ordered to leave within 24 hours4. They were accused of sympathizing with the Germans. Most were sent to five provinces within Russia designated to take the expelled Jews. Some returned after the war, and before World War II, the Jewish population of Talsi was around 500. This community disappeared in September 1941 when they were taken outside the town and shot by a squad of Latvian “Arajs Commandos”5.

Population Figures

  • General
    • 1801: 1996
    • 1863: 14856
    • 1881: 34077
    • 1881: 35086
    • 1897: 41137
    • 1897: 42006
    • 1910: 43507
    • 1913: 45006
    • 1914: 51107
    • 1920: 29787
    • 1925: 40777
    • 1930: 41927
    • 1935: 41167
    • 1952: 41168
  • Jewish
    • 1881: 13987
    • 1897: 1386 (33% of population)4
    • 1897: 14115
    • 1910: 12907
    • 1920: 4547
    • 1925: 6377
    • 1930: 6097
    • Pre-World War II: 6056
    • 1935: 4995
    • 1941: Jewish community liquidated by firing squad5

Rabbis

from Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Latvia & Estonia, Dov Levin, ed., Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel, 1988, p.130, translation

  • 1860-1891: Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Leibovitz
  • 1891-1896: Rabbi Mordechai Lichtenstein
  • 1896-1906: Rabbi Yakov ben Hillel
  • 1906-1915: Rabbi Yitzhak Eliezer Hirshovitz

Sources

  1. Talsi postcards, 1984, no author given.
  2. Kurljandskaja gubernija. (Gouvernement Kurland.), A. Oranovski, Petersburg, 1862., p.475.
  3. Kurland: Eine allgemeine Siedlungs-, Verkehrs- und Wirtschaftsgeographie, Dr. F. Mager, L. Friederichsen & Co., Hamburg, Germany, 1920, p.75
  4. Dr. Shaul Lipschitz, “Jewish Communities in Kurland”, from The Jews in Latvia, published by the Association of Latvian and Esthonian Jews in Israel, Tel Aviv, 1971. pp.276-285
  5. The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, Vol.3, ed. Shmuel Spector, New York University Press, New York, 2001, pp.1286-1287.
  6. Kurland: Eine allgemeine Siedlungs-, Verkehrs- und Wirtschaftsgeographie, Dr. F. Mager, L. Friederichsen & Co., Hamburg, Germany, 1920, p.61
  7. Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Latvia & Estonia, Dov Levin, ed., Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, Israel, 1988, p.130, translation
  8. Columbia Lippincott Gazetteer of the World, Leon E. Seltzer, ed., Columbia University Press, 1952, p.1869
  9. Kurland: Eine allgemeine Siedlungs-, Verkehrs- und Wirtschaftsgeographie, Dr. F. Mager, L. Friederichsen & Co., Hamburg, Germany, 1920, p.65
  10. Black Book of Localities Whose Jewish Population Was Exterminated by the Nazis, Avotaynu microfiche, 1989.

Further Reading

The titles below are specifically for Talsi history. An additional list of Courland resources is available here.

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