June 14, 1941, Deportations to Siberia

The Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in the summer of 1940 and transformed it into a Soviet state. Strict censorship was imposed, many non-governmental organizations were disbanded, and large estates and businesses were confiscated. Sometime between February and early June 1941, General Ivan Serov, a Soviet state security official, issued top-secret instructions for the coordinated, sudden arrest and deportation to Siberia of “enemies of the Soviet people” in the Baltic states. (“Regarding the Procedure for Carrying Out the Deportation of Anti-Soviet Elements from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia”)

The “Serov Instructions” were executed without warning on June 14, 1941. Whole families were arrested, taken together to collection points. There, in many cases, the family members would be separated, with the heads of families sent to Gulag labor camps and other family members sent to settlements in “distant” areas. [1]

The Lithuanian government’s special archives of the Soviet secret police, such as the NKVD and KGB, contain the records of many of those deported to Siberia from Lithuania. In 2016 the archives provided a list of the names of the Jewish deportees from the Rokiskis region. Following is an English translation of part of the information from that list. (Courtesy of Litvak Special Interest Group. All rights reserved.) One of the deportees, Samuil Meller, reviewed the information from the list and provided corrected and additional information, as did a witness who was not deported. The corrected and additional information is provided within brackets (“[ ]”).

Rokiskis-Region Jews Deported To Siberia

Surname	Given Name	Father	Family Position	Sex	Birth Year	Town [of Arrest]	Notes
MELERIS / [MELLER]	Motelis [Mordechai]	Abramas-Icikas	Head of household	M	1885 [1892]	Rokiskis	Sent to the NKVD Gulag [Krasnoyarsk Krai, station Reshoty, died there in 1942]
MELERIENE / [MELLER]	Sara [received a doctorate from the Sorbonne]	Abramas	Wife	F	1889	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai [Tiumentsevo village, and after World War II moved] to Rubtsov [where she died in 1976]
MELERIS / [MELLER]	Amnon	Motelis	Son	M	1927	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai [Tiumentsevo village, and after World War II moved] to Rubtsov. [Survived, later moved to Israel. He died there in 1997.]
MELERIS / [MELLER]	Judel	Abramas-Icikas	Head of household	M	1899 [1902]	Rokiskis	Sent to the NKVD Gulag [Krasnoyarsk Krai, station Reshoty. After World War II, returned to Lithuania. In 1952, exiled to Biysk in Altai Krai. In 1972, moved to Israel. He died there.]
MELLER	Jacha [Jakha]	Moisei	Wife	F	1904	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Biysk (Tiumentsevo according to some other documents) district [Exiled in 1941 to Vilkovo village in Tiumentsevo district. After World II, returned to Lithuania. In 1952, exiled to Biysk in Altai Krai. In 1972, moved to Israel. She died there.]
MELLER	Miron	Judel	Daughter [Son]	F [M]	1927 [1926]	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Biysk (Tiumentsevo according to some documents) district. [Exiled in 1941 to Vilkovo village in Tiumentsevo district. After World II, returned to Lithuania. In 1952, exiled to Biysk in Altai Krai. In 1974, moved to Israel. He died there in 2004. ]
MELLER	Zuzana [Shoshana]	Judel	Daughter	F	1928	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Biysk (Tiumentsevo according to some other documents) [Exiled in 1941 to Vilkovo village in Tiumentsevo district. After World II, returned to Lithuania. In 1952, exiled to Altai Krai, Vilkovo village in Tiumentsev district and later transferred to Krasnoyarsk. In 1972 moved to Israel, where she lives now (2017).]
KLIGMANAS / [KLINGMAN]	Jankelis [Moshe ?]	Smuelis / [Shmuel]	Head of household	M	1895	Rokiskis	Sent to the NKVD Gulag [survived, later moved to Israel ]
KLIGMANIENE / [KLINGMAN]	Chaja	SERAS / [SHER] Chaimas	Wife	F	1894	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Barnaul; in 1942 transferred to Yakutia (not specified); in 1951 transferred to Krasnoyarsk Krai to Abansky district [survived, later moved to Israel ]
KLIGMANAITE / [KLINGMAN]	Sima	Jankelis	Daughter	F	1922	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Barnaul; in 1942 transferred to Yakutia (not specified); in 1951 transferred to Krasnoyarsk Krai to Abansky district [survived, later moved to Israel ]
VOLOVIC / [VOLOVICH]	Jakov	Judel	Head of household	M	1890	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Barnaul; in 1942 transferred to Yakutia to Yakutsk
VOLOVIC / [VOLOVICH]	Liza	Abram	Wife	F	1900	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Barnaul; in 1942 transferred to Yakutia to Yakutsk
VOLOVIC / [VOLOVICH]	Rasel / [Rashel]	Jakov	Daughter	F	1936	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Barnaul; in 1942 transferred to Yakutia to Yakutsk
VOLOVIC / [VOLOVICH]	Zelik	Jakov	Son	M	1922	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Barnaul; in 1942 transferred to Yakutia to Yakutsk
MELERIS / [MELLER]	Chona [Khona]	Abramas-Icikas	Head of household	M	1887 [1895]	Rokiskis	Sent to the NKVD Gulag [Krasnoyarsk Krai, Reshoty station, and died there in 1942]
MELERIENE / [MELLER]	Faina	Samuelis	Wife	F	1900	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to [Vilkovo village in] Tiumentsevo district [He died there in 1943 ]
MELERIS / [MELLER]	Samuelis	Chona [Khona]	Son	M	1927	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to [Vilkovo village in] Tiumentsevo district. [Conscripted into Russian military, fought in the Russo-Japanese War of 1945, later lived in Leningrad / St. Petersburg, Russia, and in 2000 moved to the USA ]
PENTUSEVICIUS / [PENTUSEVICH]	Samuelas	Zelinas	Head of household	M	1889	Pandelys	Exiled to Altai Krai (not specified)
PENTUSEVICIENE / [PENTUSEVICH]	Reza	Pilchas	Wife	F	1900	Pandelys	Exiled to Altai Krai (not specified)
RUCHAS / [RUKH]	Peisach	Michail	Head of household	M	1871 [1878]	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Pavlovsky district [died in Siberia]
RUCHIENE / [RUKH]	Pera [Pera-Aida]	Mendelis	Wife	F	1880	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Pavlovsky district [died in Siberia in 1952]
RUCHAS / [RUKH]	Leiba	Peisach	Son	M	1908	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Pavlovsky district [survived, later moved to Israel. He died there in 1982.]
RUCHAITE / [RUKH]	Basia	Peisach	Daughter	F	1920	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Pavlovsky district [survived, later moved to Israel, where she was known as Batya. She died there in 1999.]
MELERIS / [MELLER]	Samuelis / [Shmuelis Wolf ]	Abramas	Head of household	M	1895 [1887]	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Barnaul district; in 1942 transferred to Yakutsk [Information is incorrect. Exiled to Rasskazikha village in Pavlovsky district; transferred in 1942 to Kazach’ye village in Yakutia, near the shore of the Arctic Ocean. He died in there in 1943]
MELERIENE / [MELLER]	Mariana [Mira]	Mejeris	Wife	F	1895	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Barnaul district; in 1942 transferred to Yakutia [Information is incorrect. Exiled to Rasskazikha village in Pavlovsky district; in 1942 transferred to Kazach’ye village in Yakutia, near the shore of the Arctic Ocean. In 1959 moved to Krasnoyarsk. She died there in 1970.]
MELERIS / [MELLER]	Abramas Icikas	Smuelis Vulfas	Son	M	1938	Rokiskis	Exiled to Altai Krai to Barnaul district; in 1942 transferred to Yakutia. [Information is incorrect. Exiled to Rasskazikha village in Pavlovsky district; in 1942 transferred to Kazach’ye village in Yakutia, near the shore of the Arctic Ocean. Moved to Krasnoyarsk in 1959 and lives there now (2017).
LEVINAITE / [LEVIN][2]	Chana Leja	Josel	Head of household	F	1915	Rokiskis	Exiled to Guryev region (not specified)
FISERIS / [FISHER]	Sendaras /[Shendar]	Matelis	Head of household	M	1882	Pandelys	Exiled to Krasnoyarsk Krai (not specified)

In addition to the names above, which were provided by the Lithuanian special archives, the following individuals were also deported:

ZALCMAN	Avraham		Head of household	M	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel
ZALCMAN	Yacha		Wife	F	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel
ZALCMAN	Michael	Avraham	Son	M	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel
ZALCMAN	Basia	Avraham	Daughter	F	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel
ZALCMAN	Yudite	Avraham	Daughter	F	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel
ZALCMAN	Rachel	Avraham	Daughter	F	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel
LEVIN	Faina		Head of household	F	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel
LEVIN	Joseph		Son	S	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel
LEVIN	Dvora		Daughter	F	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel
LEVIN	Yudite		Daughter	F	Rokiskis	Survived, later moved to Israel

The Meller families that were deported to Siberia in June 1941 consisted of the four sons of Abramas-Icikas Meller and their wives and children. Samuil Meller was born in Klaipeda 1927. He lives now (2017) in California. His grandfather, Abramas-Icikas, lived at 2 Vytauto gatve in Rokiskis.

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[1] Approximately 17,500 Lithuanian citizens were deported. Of this number, about 1,700 were Jews. “Multidirectional memory and the deportation of Lithuanian Jews,” by Violeta Davoli_t_, Ethnicity Studies, 2015/2 (Lithuanian Social Research Centre, June 2015), pp. 131, 134.

[2] According to one witness, although Chana Leja Levin’s name was on the list of those to be arrested, she may have been spared arrest. In this regard, it should be noted that Yad Vashem’s database of Holocaust victims includes two murdered individuals from Rokiskis with the name of “Khana Levin.”