Trade course for Marijampolė’s refugees: the last
hope was emigration
After the war broke out in 1939, many refugees, Jews among
them, arrived in Lithuania from Poland. Many of them stayed
in Marijampolė, the largest town in the Polish border region.
The Paris-based ORT Central Board decided to open a course
in trades for war refugees and committed to finance it. In
April 1940, ORT, receiving some funds for the course from
Paris, applied for permission to the Education Minister to
establish a trade course for refugees in Marijampolė. It
was granted on 15 May 1940; engineer Slava Braudaitė
was appointed the head of the course. Mejeris
Joselevičius, Klejeris Kliačko, Doba Arlukaitė, and
Rachelė Kupienė were appointed lecturers. Some of
them were refugees themselves.
On 6 August 1940, after ORT in Lithuania had
already closed, the education people’s commissariat
of Soviet Lithuania took over the course until its
closure. Permission was granted to complete the course,
therefore the dressmaking course was to be closed on 15 May
1941, while other sections were closed on 15 November
1940.
On 2 September 1940, the following number of students
attended the courses:
electrical engineering section – about 30 students;
dressmaking – 25 girls;
shirt making section – 17 students;
millinery – 8 students.
Engineer Naftalis Lurje was the last head of the course.
List of Jewish lectors, war
refugees of the course in
Marijampolė [Marjampol],
1940. LCVA
CV of Slava Braudaitė, 27
April 1940. LCVA
Slava Braudaitė’s application
to appoint her as head of
trade courses for refugees in
Marijampolė [Marjampol],
27 April 1940. LCVA
Information about the students of
the trade course for war refugees
in Marijampolė [Marjampol].
When ORT was closed, the
education people’s commissariat
of Soviet Lithuania took over the
course, 2 September 1940. LCVA
Permission issued to ORT by the Ministry of Education
to establish trade courses for refugees in Marijampolė
[Marjampol], 15 May 1940. LCVA
ORT application for the
establishment of courses for
refugees in Marijampolė
[Marjampol], 15 April
1940. LCVA