JURBARKAS (Ger. Jurburg), town in S.W. Lithuania; until the
incorporation of Lithuania within Russia in 1795, the town
belonged to the principality of Zamut (Zhmud; Samogitia);
subsequently, until the 1917 Revolution, it was in the province
of Kovno. Jews who visited Jurbarkas at the end of the 16th
century are mentioned in the responsa of Meir b. Gedaliah of
Lublin (Metz, 1769, 4a no. 7). Within the framework of the
Lithuanian Council (see *Councils of the Lands) the community of
Jurbarkas belonged to the province (galil) of Kaidany
(Kedainiai). In 1766, 2,333 Jews were registered with the
community. A wooden synagogue built in Jurbarkas during the
second half of the 17th century was preserved until the
Holocaust. There were 2,527 Jews registered with the community
in 1847. The Jews numbered 2,350 (31% of the total population)
in 1897, and 1,887 in 1923. In June–September 1941, after the
occupation of the town by the Germans, some 1,000 Jews were
murdered at the cemetery and outside the town. Lite (1951), 15