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Alternate names: Inturkė [Lith], Intorik, אינטוריק [Yid], Inturki,  [Rus, Pol], Inturkės, Anturkė, Intorok, Russian: Интурки. 55°10' N, 25°33' E, 35 miles NNE of Vilnius (Vilna), 23 miles S of Utena (Utiyan), 7 miles SE of Moletai (Maliat). 1900 Jewish population: fewer than 100.

Inturke, surrounded by lakes on all sides, is on the road from Moletai to Vilnius, near Moletai, Joniskis, and Dubingiai. Prior to WWI, 62 Jewish families (250 persons) lived in the village, but before the Holocaust only 40 families remained including the adjoining village, Raitarada. Others emigrated to South Africa, the USA, and a few to Palestine. In 1919 a great fire in the village destroyed almost all the Jewish homes. The population reduced further during Independent Lithuania when Vilnius was ceded to Poland. The Jews worked as fishermen and petty merchants. Three annual market fairs took place annually. A Beit HaMidrash and before World War I a small yeshiva existed. During Lithuanian independence, a small public library, but no school or cheder existed so Children of Inturke attended schools at Moletai, Kaunas, and Ukmerge (Vilkomir). On the eastern side of one of the lakes about one kilometer away, was the village of Raitarada with a Jewish community of 20 families. A post office was opened in 1926. No evidence of common graves or other signs of massacre were found at Inturke and Raitarada after WWII; presumably, the population was murdered in Utena where all Jews of the region were brought by force. [March 2009]

 

Parent Category: EASTERN EUROPE