Immortalising the Jews of Krakenowa

While there are no Jews living in Krekenava, Lithuania today, it was a thriving Jewish community before the Holocaust. South African businessman Bernard Seeff, whose family originates from what was then called Krakenowa, left an indelible memorial to this once cultural and religious Jewish hub last week. 

Seeff, who lives in Johannesburg, created and unveiled a memorial plaque on the building that was once the synagogue. 

For Seeff, this visit to Krekenava was also a tribute to his father’s dream of returning to his birthplace. His father, Morris, and uncle Sydney grew up there. Although the family came to South Africa in 1929, memories of the town and the winding Nevėžis River stayed with them throughout their lives. 

At the plaque ceremony, Seeff shared his father’s stories of his childhood and swimming in the river. His family belonged to the Krakenowa Sick Benefit Society, so Seeff felt a duty to return and honour the community that once flourished there. 

Seeff’s mother, Dora, who is now 103 years old and lives in Johannesburg, is the oldest surviving Litvak in South Africa. She was from a nearby town. In its heyday, half of Krakenowa was Jewish. Just before the Holocaust, there were about 500 to 700 Jews in the town, but most of them were killed in mass executions in August 1941 by Nazi supporters and local collaborators. 

For Seeff, unveiling the plaque on Tuesday 12 May marked the fulfilment of an idea that had been years in the germinating. “I visited Krekenava in 2009,” he told the SA Jewish Report. “Many other shtetls had plaques and I always wanted to do the same for Krekenava. Logistics were impossible by remote so as soon as I had a chance to do it myself, I did.” 

The ceremony was attended by the Mayor of the Panevėžys District Municipality, Antanas Pocius, and the local priest. “I was greeted by the mayor of the Panevėžys region. Also, Gediminas Jankunas who is the priest of a beautiful basilica that was recently renovated,” Seeff said. 

The plaque, he said, was to commemorate both the Jewish community of then Krakenowa and their many descendants who later settled in countries including South Africa. Before World War II, Lithuania was home to one of the most vibrant Jewish populations in Eastern Europe, with small shtetls such as Krakenowa forming the heart of Jewish religious and cultural life. 

Like all Lithuanian shtetls, it was devastated during the Holocaust. Yet memories of the town survived through the families who left before the war, many of whom built lives in South Africa. 

Seeff said it was important to remember not only the Jewish community that once lived there, but the descendants who carried its legacy abroad. “Like many other shtetls, Krakenowa had a vibrant landsmanshaft, the sick benefit society, and it was fitting to memorialise them with a plaque on the shul,” he said. 

Landsmanshaften, organisations formed by immigrants from the same town or region, became an important part of South African Jewish communal life during the early 20th century. These societies offered financial and social support to immigrants while helping preserve memories, traditions, and shared heritage from the old country. 

While Seeff doesn’t know exactly how many South African Jews trace their ancestry back to Krekenava, he believes the community’s families are widespread. “I don’t know numbers, but there were a lot of Jews from Krekenava and they now have numerous descendants.” 

The plaque installation formed part of a wider trip through Lithuania with his wife, Isarae. “We were attending a conference in Lithuania starting on Thursday, so Isarae and I began our trip early to visit our roots,” he said. “That afternoon we visited the Šeduva shtetl museum and then went on to Keidan, where my wife’s grandfather came from.” 

Visits such as these have become increasingly common among descendants of Lithuanian Jews seeking to reconnect with family history and preserve the stories of communities that were mostly wiped out during the Holocaust. 

For Seeff, the plaque now serves as both a memorial to the once thriving Jewish community of Krekenava and as a bridge between past and present for the South African families who emerged from it.