Jewish architects in constructon of modern Kaunas, Lithuania, 1919-1939. A collectve portrait

ENThe modern Kaunas in 1919–1939 was fundamentally shaped by the overall process and urgency of the city’s status as a provisional capital, and the large Jewish community of Kaunas actively participated in the construction of modern Kaunas (building contractors, structural engineers, construction engineers and architects). Two generations of modern architects can be described: the first one was born ca. 1888–1890s, trained in the Russian Imperial schools and were the first to offer modern designs for the Jewish community in the early 1920s. The second generation born in 1900–1910 was trained in Western European schools or the local University in Kaunas and became active designers making almost 20 percent of Kaunas architects in the late 1930s. They produced modern designs for housing, industry, and commerce for Jewish and Lithuanian commissioners. The construction of modern housing became one of the most significant attributes of Kaunas Modernism and the Jewish community of Kaunas designed, built and owned almost half of new housing. Modernism and functionalism predominated these designs in the 1930s, and demonstrated a close connection with Western European trends in architecture. The modern and productive Jewish architectural community in Kaunas was abruptly destroyed in 1941.After the Soviet occupation in June, 1940, the Soviet deportations started in June 1941, and were first of all aimed at the cultural, economic, political and military elite of Lithuania, therefore it also affected Kaunas’ Jews. The family of Gedalis Ilgovskis, contractors and construction engineers, was deported to Barnaul in Altai Region, Russia, while their properties in Kaunas were nationalized by the Soviet government. In July 1941 the Nazi government established the Kovno Ghetto. Jewish architects and engineers who stayed in Kaunas, including well-known concrete structural engineers Anatolijus Rozenbliumas and Solomonas Millis were, together with their families, placed in Kovno Ghetto. Both fortunately survived and later worked as prominent construction engineers in Soviet Lithuania until the 1970s. Several highly qualified Jewish engineers – Volfas Brunas, Michailas Dulmanas, Izraelis Giršas, Šmuelis Liubeckis, Leiba Zimanas – were evacuated to Soviet Russia at the beginning of the Nazi occupation in June, 1941. They were sent back to Soviet Lithuania at the end of 1944, taking up posts in major construction and design institutions. [Extract, p. 55-56]

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