History

                         Kopcheve (Yiddish)              Kopciowo (Polish)            Koptsiovo (Russian)

To genealogists, it is the minute detail of history that is important.  Kapciamiestis is a very small town without a detailed written history.  We have been able to learn a little but not yet enough to provide an adequately documented history.  Here is a brief time line which provides some of the background detail and below are links to articles about the town’s Jewish Community. 

15px

Pre-history

Evidence of a stone age settlement has been found near the Kapciamiesitis-Gardinas  road, on the banks the Balta Ancias

15th Century

Kopciowo was the property of the Kapocius family

1569

Poland and Lithuania agree to the union of the two countries.  The Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth is established by the Union of Lublin

1795-1807

Kopciowo comes under Prussian administration

1807-1813

Part of the Great Dukedom of Warsaw, Bialystok District

1815

Annexed to Russia as part of the Augustowa Gubernia

1866

Transferred to the Suwalki Gubernia

1915-1919   

German occupation

1920-1940  

Independent Lithuania

1940              

Following the Ribbtentrop-Molotov treaty, Kapciamiestis is in the control of Russia.

1941

German invasion, Kapciamiestis is occupied on the first day of the war, 22 June 1941. Fires burn in the town center

1941

15 September 1941 – the Jews are transported to the Katkiske Ghetto near Lazdei where 118 of the the Jews of Kopcheve were massacred on 3 November 1941.

1944

Russian Army re-enters Lithuania and annexes the country to the Soviet Union at the end of the war.

1990

Lithuania regains its independence

2004

Lithuania joins the European Union

The Sky of Dzukija
by Pupienis, Antanas. Po Dz ukijos dangumi: Lazdiju krastas ir zmones. Vilnius: Valstybinis leidybos centras, 1994. pp.155-172.

During their trip to Kapciamiestis, Carol Hoffman and Connie Buchanan learned of a local history project the school had undertaken.  Sigmund Sablius (b.1928) was a chemistry teacher prior to becoming mayor of Kapciamiestis (1990-1995). His wife, Valerie, had conducted the oral history project at the school.  It was Sigmund who read a chapter from Po Dz ukijos dangumi to them  having first recounted his personal  experiences of the German invasion. He read slowly, allowing  time for their guide Regina to translate into English.  The book has been out of print for some years.  A translator we have recently found was able to find a copy of the book in the library and translated this section about Kapciamiestis for us.
Under the Sky of Dzukija

The Jewish Community  

The following links are to articles/translations about Jewish Kopcheve.

 

Kopcheve, written by Joseph Rosin

 

Pinkas Hakehillot:  the English translation is at http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/pinkas_lita/lit_00565.html 

 

Yahadut Lita (Lithuanian Jewry), Vol. 3 Town: Kapciamiestis (Kopcheve), Seiny District, p. 344 (Vol. 3)  http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/lithuania2/lit2_00344.htm

Kapciamiestis Jewish Youth Association, publication for this website, 2012.

 
JewishGen Kehilalinks Jewish Community of Kopcheve see Litvak

The Slownik Geograficzny Krolestwa Polskiego ( Georgraphical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other slavonic countries) was written between 1880 and 1902 and consists of 17 volumes. It includes some details of the history of the area.  A digital edition is available from The Polish Genealogical Society of America. For translations of entries relating to

 

    Kopciowo       

 

    Wiesiejie        http://www.pgsa.org/towns/townsW.htm#Wiejsieje

 In the spring of 2016 the Emilija Pliater Museum under the direction of archivist Odeta Barkauskiene uncovered the exhibition of the History of the Jews in Kapciamiestis. That exhibition is also an interactive computer exhibition in English, Lithuanian and Russian in the museum. You can preview parts of it Kapciamiestis Rural District

   

CONTACT US:  kapciamiestis@gmail.coE