Pundik’s Kloyz at 9 Žemaitijos St.

AHARON PUNDIK KLOYZ (1882), ŽEMAITIJOS ST. 9

There is historical evidence claiming that the Jewish house of prayer in this place was in the 19th century. Aharon Pundik (1821 - 1885) was a merchant of basketry meat who bought this house estate around 1860. In 1882, it was reconstructed by installing a cloaca. The interior of the house of prayer was simple, and there was also a women’s section. In ghetto times, they were converted into a dwelling house. Today the former Kloyz is a two-storey rectangular building at the far end of the courtyard at Žemaitijos street also showing the inscription of the year the house was buillt. Unfortunately, the architecture of the building has changed a lot, as the original interior divisions have been lost and the building today accommodates several apartments.

In the list of Vilnius synagogues from 1904, the kloyz was called the "Prayer house of Pundik" but in the list of 1915 - "the prayer house of Leib and Mirel Abramson". The archival materials from 1915-16 indicated that the kloyz was situated in a rented apartment No 11, at 11 Zhmudskaia (today 9 Žemaitijos) street and that the congregation consisted of 45 regular worshippers. It is also known that the electricity was installed in the kloyz in 1915.

Continuing along Žemaitijos Street, we will find some more interesting relics of Jewish Vilnius. An old Yiddish sign has survived on the facade of the house at 7 Žemaitijos Street. A small plaque at the end of the street reads in Lithuanian that this street was perviously named after M. Strashun (1817 - 1885), the bibliophile and patron. The street had six kloyzes (Kaminkreciu - Strašuno str. 4, Vesiku - Strašuno str. 8, Ptaškino - Strašuno str. 10, Pundiko - Strašuno g. 11, Broliu Cholemų - Strašuno str. 12, Mackevičiaus - Strašuno str. 15).

There are still only a few of dozens of Yiddish inscriptions in Vilnius Old Town and some of them can be seen on Žemaitijos street. At the arched entrances to the courtyards on Žemaitijos street, you can see a couple of advertising signs of restored Jewish shops. These signs date back to the 20th century when Jankel and Gidla Gordon owned a colonial shop, which smelled of oriental spices, coffee, tea and chocolate, as well as the more economical Chajos Link kerosene and salt store.

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