Only a year ago Lithuania was the only country in Eastern Europe where the Jews were not affected by the economic crisis. Thirty-six different Jewish institutions, educational and charitable, existed in Kovno alone, and all were maintained by local contributions, with no assistance from the American Joint Distribution Committee, or any other foreign Jewish relief organization.
Today the picture is quite different. Thousands of Jews, small merchants and artisans are now besieging the local relief committee in Kovno asking for assistance.
Most of those who now stand at the doors of the relief committees were not long ago among the contributors to different charity funds. Today they are the receivers.
Such is the situation in Kovno, in Shavel and in other cities and townships in Lithuania. The world crisis has reached even the distant places of Lithuania and the Jews there are now the first victims.
It was impossible a year ago to for-see that the Lithuanian Jewry would be so greatly affected. Lithuania, a small peasant country with a population of over 2 million, with the Jews constituting only seven per cent of the entire population, has always presented favorable economic conditions for the Jews. There was never a question of starvation in Lithuania, simply because it is a country of farmers. A country which is plentiful. A country which exports bread, butter, eggs, poultry and livestock to other countries.
Being well provided, and having quite a sufficient income from his exported goods, the Lithuanian peasant was always a frequent visitor to the cities. He was often seen in Kovno spending his money freely in Jewish stores, dealing with Jewish artisans, ordering from Jewish peddlers.
The Jew in Lithuania, for the most part a city dweller and a trader, therefore made a living, more or less, as long as the farmer could sell his products for foreign consumption.
The world crisis, however, passing by Lithuania for a while, has finally found this country too. The exports from Lithuania now show a large drop. The farmer is affected. Naturally, the Jew is likewise hard hit.
Kovno, a year ago a lively city, with a large number of Jewish institutions, with a throbbing, many-sided, normal Jewish life, is now becoming more and more impoverished. The number of needy Jews here mounts daily. The number of Jewish commercial enter-
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
