About the activity

Jewish heritage in Klaipėda can be traced back to the 15th century. The Jewish community has long been known for its industriousness and entrepreneurial spirit, and the Memel region offered favourable conditions for developing trade links. Jews came to the city from many places – Prussia, Russia and other European countries – so there was no single unified community. Hasidim and Litvaks, often opponents of one another, lived here alongside German Jews.

Today Klaipėda has a Jewish community centre with around 300 members. An avenue of thuja trees with a memorial marker has been planted at the Jewish community memorial cemetery. On Grįžgatvio Street you can see a plaque dedicated to David Wolffsohn, a businessman of Lithuanian Jewish origin and Zionist activist who is associated with the design of the Israeli flag and the name of Israel’s currency. Since 2006, Rabbi Reb Noson Vershubski has lived and worked in Klaipėda.

To learn more about the history and present-day life of Klaipėda’s Jewish community, join one of the tours. You can also click >here< to explore Jewish heritage sites throughout Lithuania.</p

You can discover a route created especially to present Klaipėda’s Jewish heritage on the Krašto gidas website by selecting “Around Klaipėda on the Shekel Route”.