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112-679: Ginzberg was born in Kaunas , Vilna Governorate (then called Kovno). His religious Lithuanian-Jewish family's piety and erudition were renowned, seeing that they traced their lineage back to the Gaon of Vilna 's brother. Ginzberg received a traditional Jewish education, and later studied in German universities. Ginzberg first arrived in the United States in 1899. He began teaching the Talmud at

224-613: A moat , but before its completion the Crusaders attacked in the summer of 1369, expelled the Lithuanians from the island of Virgalė and with their masonry built Gotteswerder Castle . Gotteswerder Castle was captured after a five-week siege by the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army , led by Algirdas and Kęstutis, and two wooden castles were built close to it. Nevertheless, the fighting between the Crusaders and

336-445: A personal name , however the exact person is unknown and it is believed that he was the ruler of Kaunas Castle. The personal name Kaunas is derived from an adjective kaunus which means "who likes to fight". Other possible meaning of the name of the city of Kaunas is that it is derived from an old adjective which is not in use anymore and which meant "deep", "low", "located in the valley". Before Lithuania regained independence,

448-529: A Board of Directors of a synagogue is, after all, a negligible quantity when it is in opposition to the vote of historical Judaism with its myriad of Saints and thousands of Sages ... The sorting, distributing, selecting, harmonizing and completing can only be done by experienced hands. Ginzberg's initiative to base halakhic decisions on law committees and not laymen is the method the Conservative movement describes as its present one till today. In 1918, at

560-634: A collection of his responsa . Ginzberg's knowledge made him the expert to defend Judaism both in national and international affairs. In 1906, he defended the Jewish community against anti-Semitic accusations that Jews ritually slaughtered Gentiles . In 1913, Louis Marshall requested that Ginzberg refute the Beilis blood libel charge in Kyiv . On account of his impressive scholarship in Jewish studies , Ginzberg

672-654: A conversation the Tilsit Nazi Gestapo agent Heinz Gräfe  [ de ] clearly stated to Stasys Raštikis that the Provisional Government was formed without German knowledge. Such a form, although not having anything against individuals, is unacceptable to the Germans. The current Provisional Government should be transformed into a National Committee or Council under the German military authority. The Nazi Germans did not recognize

784-475: A golden cross between its horns , set against a deep red background. The aurochs was the original heraldic symbol of the city, established in 1400. The heraldic seal of Kaunas, introduced in the early 15th century during the reign of Grand Duke Vytautas, is the oldest city heraldic seal known in the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The current emblem was the result of much study and discussion on

896-597: A jail was established in one part of the castle, in the middle of the 18th century. At the end of the 18th century, the castle was sometimes used to hold meetings of noble families of Kaunas Powiat. After the third and final partition of the Polish–Lithuanian state in 1795, the city was taken over by the Russian Empire and became a part of Vilna Governorate . During the French invasion of Russia in 1812,

1008-511: A long term platonic relationship with Henrietta Szold , who was his editor at the Jewish Publication Society . She was in love with him, but was 13 years older than him. Ginzberg visited Berlin in 1908 and became engaged to Adele Katzenstein while he was there. Katzenstein was about 22 at the time. They had two children. Son Eli Ginzberg (1911–2002) was a professor of economics at Columbia University . The second child

1120-549: A lucrative business in bootlegging liquor was largely helped by the minimal police surveillance at the time. There were only 134 agents designated by the Prohibition Unit to cover all of Illinois , Iowa , and parts of Wisconsin . According to Charles C. Fitzmorris, Chicago's chief of police during the beginning of the Prohibition period, "Sixty percent of my police [were] in the bootleg business." Section 29 of

1232-593: A new basis in front of the whole world innocent conscience. The Lithuanian Nation, exhausted from the terror of the brutal Bolsheviks , decided to build its future on the basis of national unity and social justice." and signatures. On 24 June 1941, tank units of the Red Army in Jonava were ordered to retake Kaunas. The rebels radioed the Germans for assistance. The units were bombed by the Luftwaffe and did not reach

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1344-487: A number of contributing factors that led to its ratification in 1919. For example, the formation of the Anti-Saloon League in 1893. The league used the after effects of World War I to push for national prohibition because there was a lot of prejudice and suspicion of foreigners following the war. Many reformers used the war to get measures passed and a major example of this was national prohibition. The league

1456-606: A number of exceptions and exemptions. Many of them were used to evade the law's intended purpose. For example, the Act allowed a physician to prescribe whiskey for his patients but limited the amount that could be prescribed. Subsequently, the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association voted to submit to Congress a bill to remove the limit on the amount of whiskey that could be prescribed and questioned

1568-749: A railway connecting the Russian Empire and Imperial Germany was built, making Kaunas a significant railway hub with one of the first railway tunnels in the Empire, completed in 1861. In 1898 the first power plant in Lithuania started operating. After the unsuccessful January Uprising in 1863 against the Russian Empire, the tsarist authority moved the Catholic Seminary of Varniai , prominent bishop Motiejus Valančius and Samogitian diocese institutions to Kaunas, where they were given

1680-746: A result, Kaunas was an active participant in European urban life. The city also was a particularly important centre for the Lithuanian Armed Forces . In January 1919, during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence , the War School of Kaunas was established and started to train soldiers who were soon sent to the front to strengthen the fighting Lithuanian Armed Forces . Part of the Lithuanian armoured vehicles military unit

1792-631: A short-lived local version of the Volstead Act, the first 4,000 arrests led to just six convictions and not one jail sentence". While the production, transport and sale of intoxicating liquor was illegal, their purchase was ruled legal in United States v. Norris . Prohibition lost support because ignoring the law gained increasing social acceptance and organized crime violence increased. By 1933, public opposition to prohibition had become overwhelming. In March of that year, Congress passed

1904-705: A threat to the occupiers, were quickly arrested, interrogated and released to the reserve, deported to the concentration camps or executed, which made many, trying to avoid that fate, join the Lithuanian partisan forces. The army itself was initially renamed the Lithuanian People's Army but was later reorganised into the 29th Rifle Corps of the Soviet Union . In June 1940, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Lithuania in accordance with

2016-653: A vast amount of aggadah from all of classical rabbinic literature , as well as apocryphal , pseudopigraphical and even early Christian literature, with legends ranging from the creation of the world and the fall of Adam, through a huge collection of legends on Moses, and ending with the story of Esther and the Jews in Persia. Ginzberg also write Geonica (1909), an account of the Babylonian Geonim containing lengthy extracts from their responsa, as discovered in

2128-604: A wine substitute, Orthodox rabbis of the 1920s soundly rejected its use. The Reform movement in 1920 proclaimed that grape juice be used instead of wine to eliminate future complaints. Shortly afterwards, on January 24, 1922, the Conservative movement publicized the 71-page response written by Ginzberg tackling the halakhic aspects of drinking grape juice instead of wine in light of the historical circumstances. Besides Ginzberg's well-grounded decision to permit grape juice, he includes meta- halakhic reasoning: The decision of

2240-575: A wreath near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the presence of numerous audience. The Sicherheitsdienst confiscated the pictures of the wreath-laying ceremony, thinking that it could be dangerous for the German occupation policy in Lithuania . On 17 July 1941 the German civil administration was established. The government's powers were taken over by the new occupants. Nazi Germany established

2352-791: Is the capital of Kaunas County , and the seat of the Kaunas city municipality and the Kaunas District Municipality . It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kaunas . Kaunas is located at the confluence of the two largest Lithuanian rivers, the Nemunas and the Neris , and is near the Kaunas Reservoir , the largest body of water in the whole of Lithuania. As defined by Eurostat,

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2464-788: The Byelorussian SSR border. In the morning, the Lithuanian Government resigned, and the president left the country to avoid the fate of the Soviets' puppets and in the hope of forming a government-in-exile . Soon the Red Army flooded Lithuania through the Belarus–Lithuania border with more than 200,000 soldiers and took control of the most important cities, including Kaunas where the heads of state resided. The Lithuanian Armed Forces were ordered not to resist, and

2576-599: The Cullen–Harrison Act , which legalized " 3.2 beer " (i.e. beer containing 3.2% alcohol by weight or 4% by volume) and wines of similarly low alcohol content, rather than the 0.5% limit defined by the original Volstead Act. In February 1933, Congress passed the Blaine Act , a proposed constitutional amendment to repeal the Eighteenth Amendment to end prohibition. On December 5, 1933, Utah became

2688-573: The Grand Army of Napoleon passed through Kaunas twice, devastating the city both times. A hill fort mound in Kaunas is named Napoleon's Hill. To prevent possible easy access through the city and protect the western borders of Russia, the Kovno Fortress was built. It is still visible throughout the town. Kovno Governorate , with a centre in Kovno (Kaunas), was formed in 1843. In 1862,

2800-583: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) from its reorganization in 1902 until his death in 1953. During this time, he trained two generations of future Conservative rabbis, influencing almost every rabbi of the Conservative movement in a personal way. Ginzberg was highly praised by his colleagues; JTS leader Louis Finkelstein described him as a "living symbol of love for Torah ". Leading Israeli Conservative posek David Golinkin has written prolifically on Ginzberg and published

2912-618: The Lithuanian Air Force remained on the ground. At the time, the Lithuanian Armed Forces had 26,084 soldiers (of which 1,728 officers) and 2,031 civil servants. While the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union , subordinate to the army commander, had over 62,000 members, of which about 70% were farmers and agricultural workers. After the occupation, the Soviets immediately took brutal action against

3024-441: The Lithuanian Air Force to be an example for other military units. The ANBO 41 was far ahead of the most modern foreign reconnaissance aircraft of that time in structural features, and most importantly in speed and in rate of climb. At the time, Kaunas had a Jewish population of 35,000–40,000, about one quarter of the city's total population. Jews made up much of the city's commercial, artisan, and professional sectors. Kaunas

3136-527: The Magistrate (12 lay judges and 4 burgomasters ), and the so-called Benchers ' Court (12 persons). Kaunas began to gain prominence, since it was at the intersection of trade routes and a river port . At the time, Kaunas became an important port and centre of trade with Western Europe , thus rapidly growing. In 1441, Kaunas joined the Hanseatic League , and Hansa merchant office Kontor

3248-543: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . Vladimir Dekanozov , a Soviet emissary from Moscow, gained effective power in Lithuania. Shortly afterwards, on 17 June 1940 the puppet People's Government of Lithuania was formed, which consistently destroyed Lithuanian society and political institutions and opened the way for the Communist Party to establish itself. To establish the legitimacy of the government and design

3360-510: The Neris river. Jewish life in Kaunas was first disrupted when the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in June 1940. The occupation was accompanied by arrests, confiscations, and the elimination of all free institutions. Jewish community organizations disappeared almost overnight. Soviet authorities confiscated the property of many Jews, while hundreds were exiled to Siberia . Volstead Act The National Prohibition Act , known informally as

3472-593: The Reichskommissariat Ostland in the Baltic states and much of Belarus, and the administrative centre for Lithuania ( Generalbezirk Litauen ) was in Kaunas ruled by a Generalkommissar Adrian von Renteln . Jews began settling in Kaunas in the second half of the 17th century. They were not allowed to live in the city, so most of them stayed in the Vilijampolė settlement on the right bank of

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3584-559: The Second Polish Republic , Kaunas became the temporary capital of Lithuania . It would hold this position until 28 October 1939, when the Red Army handed Vilnius over to Lithuania after its invasion of Poland . The Constituent Assembly of Lithuania first met in Kaunas on 15 May 1920. It passed some important laws, particularly on land reform, on the national currency, and adopted a new constitution. The military coup d'état took place in Kaunas on 17 December 1926. It

3696-782: The Slovak Republic ), was seeking the protection of its citizens and did not support the Nazis ' Holocaust policy. However, the Provisional Government did little to stop the anti-Jewish violence encouraged by the Nazis and the anti-Semitic leadership of the Lithuanian Activist Front . Minister of National Defence General Stasys Raštikis met personally with the Wehrmacht generals to discuss

3808-542: The Volstead Act , was an act of the 66th United States Congress designed to execute the 18th Amendment (ratified January 1919) which established the prohibition of alcoholic drinks . The Anti-Saloon League 's Wayne Wheeler conceived and drafted the bill, which was named after Andrew Volstead , chairman of the House Judiciary Committee , who managed the legislation. The Volstead Act had

3920-586: The ancient Lithuania and especially its earthwork mounds. Later, many of the Seminary students were active in Lithuanian book smuggling ; its chief main objective was to resist the Russification policy . Kaunas Spiritual Seminary finally became completely Lithuanian when in 1909 professor Jonas Mačiulis-Maironis became the rector of the Seminary, and replaced use of the Polish language for teaching with

4032-496: The cocktail party among higher socioeconomic groups . Those inclined to help authorities were often intimidated and even murdered. In several major cities—notably those that served as major points of liquor importation, including Chicago and Detroit —gangs wielded significant political power. A Michigan State Police raid on Detroit's Deutsches Haus once netted the mayor, the sheriff, and the local congressman. Prohibition came into force at 12:00:01 am on January 17, 1920, and

4144-476: The unsuccessful coup attempt in June 1934 , Voldemaras was imprisoned for four years and received an amnesty on condition that he leave the country. During the interwar period , Kaunas was nicknamed the Little Paris because of its rich cultural and academic life, fashion, Art Deco architecture, Lithuanian National Romanticism architectural style buildings as well as popular furniture, interior design of

4256-464: The Act allowed 200 gallons (the equivalent of about 1000 750-ml bottles) of "non-intoxicating cider and fruit juice" to be made each year at home. Initially "intoxicating" was defined as exceeding 0.5% alcohol by volume, but the Bureau of Internal Revenue struck that down in 1920, effectively legalizing home winemaking. For beer, however, the 0.5% limit remained until 1933. Some vineyards embraced

4368-651: The Commander of the Armed Forces Vincas Vitkauskas , Divisional General Stasys Raštikis , Kazys Bizauskas , Antanas Merkys and most of the Lithuanian government members decided that it would be impossible, especially the previously stationed Soviet soldiers, and accepted the ultimatum. On that night before officially accepting the ultimatum, the Soviet forces executed the Lithuanian border guard Aleksandras Barauskas  [ lt ] near

4480-465: The Crusaders from intruding deeper into Lithuania and its capital, Vilnius . In 1362, the castle was captured after a siege of several weeks and destroyed by the Teutonic Order. Lithuanian rulers Kęstutis and Grand Duke Algirdas arrived to help the castle's defenders, but the castle was already surrounded by the fortifications of the Crusaders, and they could only watch the collapse of

4592-598: The Eighteenth Amendment, and (3) industrial alcohol use. Before the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment, the War Time Prohibition Act was approved on November 21, 1918. This was passed to conserve grain by prohibiting its usage in the production of spirits. Title II of the Volstead Act, "Permanent National Prohibition," which was defined as "intoxicating beverages" containing greater than 0.5 percent alcohol. This section also set forth

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4704-410: The German border. After realizing this, NKVD started terror against the Raštikis family. His wife was separated from their one-year-old daughter and brutally interrogated at Kaunas Prison , his old father Bernardas Raštikis, three daughters, two brothers and sister were deported to Siberia . Soldiers, officers , senior officers and generals of the Lithuanian Army and LRU members, who were seen as

4816-461: The Jewish community during the Prohibition Era . The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , ratified on January 16, 1920, declared that "the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within ... the United States ... for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited." The subsequent Volstead Act defined "intoxicating liquors" and provided for several exceptions, one of which as for sacramental use. The Christian Church

4928-514: The Lithuanian delegation departed to Moscow , where it later had to sign the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty because of the unfavorable situation. The treaty resulted in five Soviet military bases with 20,000 troops established across Lithuania in exchange for Lithuania's historical capital Vilnius. According to the Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Kazys Musteikis , Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Juozas Urbšys initially told that Lithuanians refused Vilnius Region as well as

5040-399: The Lithuanian language. Prior to the Second World War , Kaunas, like many cities in Eastern Europe , had a significant Jewish population. According to the Russian census of 1897 , Jews numbered 25,500, 35.3% of the total of 73,500. The population was recorded as 25.8% Russian, 22.7% Polish, 6.6% Lithuanian. It established numerous schools and synagogues and were important for centuries to

5152-418: The Lithuanian-American Holocaust historian Saulius Sužiedėlis, "none of this amounted to a public scolding which alone could have persuaded at least some of the Lithuanians who had volunteered or been co-opted into participating in the killings to rethink their behavior." Lithuanian police battalions formed by the Provisional Government were eventually enlisted by the Nazis to help carry out the Holocaust . In

5264-425: The Lithuanians for the area went on until the Lithuanians eventually took control in 1404; it was an important point during the 1409 Samogitian Rebellion and the 1410 war with the Crusaders . Grand Duke Vytautas the Great funded Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Kaunas (the construction was completed in 1400) to show his gratitude to the Virgin Mary for saving him from almost drowning in

5376-418: The Lithuanians previously worshiped god Kaunis whose statue was located in the current Kaunas Old Town near Neman River. In 1408 Vytautas the Great granted Kaunas the city rights and himself chose the coat of arms of Kaunas with aurochs . On 30 June 1993, the historical coat of arms of Kaunas city was re-established by a special presidential decree. The coat of arms features a white aurochs with

5488-497: The Neris and Nemunas rivers. All of the city's streets were paved, horse-drawn transportation was replaced with modern bus lines, new suburbs were planned and built ( Žaliakalnis neighbourhood in particular), and new parks and squares were established. The foundations of a social security system were laid, three new schools were built, and new public libraries , including the Vincas Kudirka library, were established. Vileišis maintained many contacts in other European cities , and as

5600-417: The Russian garrisons, but the nervous Joseph Stalin replied, "No matter if you take Vilnius or not, the Russian garrisons will enter Lithuania anyway". He also informed Juozas Urbšys about the Soviet–German secret protocols and showed maps of the spheres of influence. Two of the military bases with thousands of Soviet soldiers were established close to Kaunas in Prienai and Gaižiūnai . Despite regaining

5712-509: The Sixth Annual Convention, Ginzberg, as the acting president, declared that United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism stood for 'historical Judaism' and thus elaborates: Now let us understand the exact meaning of the expression historical Judaism ... Looking at Judaism from a historical point of view, we become convinced that there is no one aspect deep enough to exhaust the content of such a complex phenomenon as Judaism ... Accordingly, Torah-less Judaism ... would be an entirely new thing and not

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5824-454: The Soviet Union. After the occupation, the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service did not recognize the new occupiers' authority and started the diplomatic liberation campaign of Lithuania. In 1941, Kazys Škirpa , Leonas Prapuolenis , Juozas Ambrazevičius and their supporters, including the former Commander of the Lithuanian Army General Stasys Raštikis , whose whole family was deported to Siberia , began organizing an uprising. After realizing

5936-405: The Talmud." In 1943, Ginzberg predicted that after the war , only two centers of Jewish culture would remain in the world: The United States and Palestine —with the latter depending upon the former for support. He foresaw problems for the Jews remaining in Europe due to their being perceived as those who caused Germany to lose the war. One of Ginzberg's responsa concerns the use of wine in

6048-429: The Volstead Act, titled "Industrial Purposes." The production, importation, and distribution of alcoholic beverages—once the province of legitimate business—was taken over by criminal gangs, which fought each other for market control in violent confrontations, including murder. Major gangsters , such as Omaha 's Tom Dennison and Chicago 's Al Capone , became rich, and were admired locally and nationally. Enforcement

6160-401: The War Time Prohibition Act in 1918. The case for wartime prohibition was strong and the prohibitionists could use their early successes under the necessities of mobilization to make the change permanent through a constitutional amendment in 1919. H.R. 6810, was the full name given to the National Prohibition Act, which in short meant, "An act to prohibit intoxicating beverages, and to regulate

6272-438: The ability of a legislature to determine the therapeutic value of any substance. Vine-Glo was produced ostensibly to let people make grape juice from concentrate but it included a warning on its packaging telling people how to make wine from it. According to Neely, "The Act called for trials for anyone charged with an alcohol-related offense, and juries often failed to convict. Under the state of New York's Mullan – Gage Act,

6384-487: The author of Magen Abraham that the commandment is honored best by the use of old wine is rejected. Even this authority would admit that it is better to pronounce the kiddush over new wine than to desecrate the Divine Name and to disgrace the Jewish people, and we well know the damage caused the Jewish people by the trafficking in sacramental wine. At the time of Ginzburg's responsum, the Orthodox rabbinate had exclusive authority to sanction sacramental wine for Jews, and

6496-482: The beloved historical capital, the Presidency and the Government remained in Kaunas. On 14 June 1940, just before midnight, the last meeting of the Lithuanian government was held in Kaunas. During it, the ultimatum presented by the Soviet Union was debated. President Antanas Smetona categorically declined to accept most of the ultimatum's demands, argued for military resistance and was supported by Kazys Musteikis, Konstantinas Šakenis , Kazimieras Jokantas , however

6608-426: The brutal 1st Motor Rifle Division NKVD responsible for the June deportation , and the puppet Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic regime commanders were forced to flee into the Latvian SSR through the Daugava River. The commander of the Red Army's 188th Rifle Division colonel Piotr Ivanov reported to the 11th Army Staff that during the retreat of his division through Kaunas "local counterrevolutionaries from

6720-401: The castle. Most of the 400 castle's defenders were killed in action, and commander Vaidotas of the Kaunas Castle garrison tried to break through with 36 men, but was taken and made a prisoner . It was one of the largest and most important military victory of the Teutonic Knights in the 14th century against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The Lithuanians constructed a new wooden castle on

6832-415: The city from the inside (secure organizations, institutions, enterprises) and declare independence. By the evening of 22 June, the Lithuanians had controlled the Presidential Palace , post office, telephone and telegraph, and radio station. Control of Vilnius and most of the rest of Lithuanian territory was also shortly taken over by the rebels. Multiple Red Army divisions stationed around Kaunas, including

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6944-426: The city was generally known in English as Kovno , the traditional Slavicized form of its name. The Polish name is Kowno [ˈkɔvnɔ] , and the names in Belarusian include Koўна ( Kowna [ˈkou̯nɐ] ) and Каўнас ( Kawnas [ˈkau̯nɐs] ). The Yiddish name is קאָװנע Kovne , and the names in German include Kaunas and Kauen . On Carta Marina from 1539,

7056-468: The city was named Cavm . The city and its elderates also have names in other languages (see Names of Kaunas in other languages and names of Kaunas elderates in other languages ). A 16th-century legend in the Bychowiec Chronicle claims that Kaunas was established by the Romans in ancient times . These Romans were supposedly led by a patrician named Palemon, who had three sons: Barcus, Kunas and Sperus. Palemon fled from Rome because he feared

7168-509: The city. It was the first coordinated Lithuanian–German action. The first German scouts, lieutenant Flohret and four privates, entered Kaunas on 24 June and found it in friendly hands. A day later the main forces marched into the city without obstruction and almost as if they were on parade. On 26 June 1941 the German Oberkommando der Wehrmacht ordered the rebel groups to disband and disarm. Two days later Lithuanian guards and patrols were also relieved of their duties. Already in July, in

7280-400: The continuation of something given ... Ginzberg sought to emulate the Vilna Gaon's intermingling of "academic knowledge" in Torah studies under the label "historical Judaism"; for example, in his book Students, Scholars and Saints , Ginzberg quotes the Vilna Gaon's instruction, "Do not regard the views of the Shulchan Aruch as binding if you think that they are not in agreement with those of

7392-428: The culture and business of the city. During the Imperial Russian Army 's Great Retreat of World War I , Paul von Hindenburg 's German Tenth Army occupied Kaunas in August 1915. After Vilnius was occupied by the Red Army in 1919, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania established its main base in Kaunas during the Lithuanian Wars of Independence . Later, after the capital, Vilnius, had been annexed by

7504-461: The earth ) in the greater coat of arms refers to Saint Nicholas , patron saint of merchants and seafarers, who was regarded as a heavenly guardian of Kaunas by Queen Bona Sforza . According to the archeological excavations , the richest collections of ceramics and other artifacts found at the confluence of the Nemunas and the Neris rivers are from the second and first millennium BC . During that time, people settled in some territories of

7616-400: The fines and jail sentences for the manufacture, sale and movement of alcoholic beverages, as well as set forth regulations that described those who would enforce the laws, what search and seizure powers law enforcement had or did not have, as well as how adjunction of violations would be in place, among many others. Despite these strict laws on alcohol commerce, there were numerous ways in which

7728-399: The first city in Central and Eastern Europe as a UNESCO City of Design , and also to becoming a World Heritage Site in 2023 as the only European city representing large scale urbanization during the interwar period and versatile modernism architecture . Kaunas was selected as the European Capital of Culture for 2022, together with Esch-sur-Alzette and Novi Sad . The city

7840-431: The first documented infringement of the Volstead Act occurred in Chicago on January 17 at 12:59 am. According to police reports, six armed men stole $ 100,000 worth of "medicinal" whiskey from two freight-train cars. This trend in bootlegging liquor created a domino effect among criminals across the United States. Some gang leaders had been stashing liquor months before the Volstead Act was enforced. The ability to sustain

7952-422: The first issue of the daily Į laisvę (Towards Freedom) newspaper, the Independence Restoration Declaration was published, which had been previously announced on the radio. It stated that "The established Provisional Government of revived Lithuania declares the restoration of the Free and Independent State of Lithuania. The young Lithuanian state enthusiastically pledges to contribute to the organization of Europe on

8064-652: The first version of the bill, which Congress amended many times. President Woodrow Wilson vetoed the bill, Congress overrode his veto, and the bill went through on October 28, 1919. The Volstead Act went into play on January 16, 1920, where it became a challenge for the United States Supreme Court to navigate through. The Volstead Act was presented to help promote the togetherness of federal and state legislation in regulating alcohol. The Volstead Act consisted of three main sections: (1) previously enacted war Prohibition, (2) Prohibition as designated by

8176-816: The form of fragments in the Cairo Genizah . He continued this work in the similar collection entitled Ginze Schechter (1929). Ginzberg wrote 406 articles and several monograph -length entries for the Jewish Encyclopedia (Levy 2002), some later collected in his Legend and Lore. He was also founder and president of the American Academy of Jewish Research. Many of his halakhic responsa are collected in The Responsa of Professor Louis Ginzberg, edited by David Golinkin Ginzberg had

8288-492: The former Bernardine Monastery Palace and St. George the Martyr Church . Only selected noblemen were permitted to study in the Seminary, with the only exception being peasant son Antanas Baranauskas , who illegally received the nobleman documents from Karolina Praniauskaitė . He began lectures using the Lithuanian language , rather than Russian, and greatly influenced the spirit of the seminarians by narrating about

8400-849: The high-ranking officials of the state. Both targets of the ultimatum, Minister of the Interior Kazys Skučas and the Director of the State Security Department of Lithuania Augustinas Povilaitis , were transported to Moscow and later executed. Antanas Gustaitis , Kazys Bizauskas , Vytautas Petrulis , Kazimieras Jokantas , Jonas Masiliūnas , Antanas Tamošaitis also faced that fate, and President Aleksandras Stulginskis , Juozas Urbšys , Leonas Bistras , Antanas Merkys , Pranas Dovydaitis , Petras Klimas , Donatas Malinauskas and thousands of others were deported . Stasys Raštikis , persuaded by his wife, secretly crossed

8512-570: The interwar period from ~18,000 to ~154,000 residents. Between the World Wars , industry prospered in Kaunas, which was the largest city in Lithuania. Under the direction of Mayor Jonas Vileišis (1921–1931) Kaunas grew rapidly and was extensively modernised. A water and waste water system, costing more than 15 million Lithuanian litas, was put in place, the city expanded from 18 to 40 square kilometres (6.9 to 15.4 sq mi), more than 2,500 buildings were built, plus three modern bridges over

8624-542: The island of Virgalė, which stood at the confluence of the Nemunas and Nevėžio rivers; however in 1363 the Crusaders burned the castle. The wooden castle was rebuilt, but in 1368 the Crusaders attacked once again, destroyed the castle and, according to the chronicles, killed 600 pagan defenders, while they themselves suffered only three casualties. The Lithuanians attempted to rebuild the castle with masonry and higher, wider walls, four flanking towers , and surrounded by

8736-406: The mad Emperor Nero . Palemon, his sons and other relatives travelled to Lithuania. After Palemon's death, his sons divided his land. Kunas got the land where Kaunas now stands. He built a fortress near the confluence of the Nemunas and Neris rivers and the city that grew up there was named after him. A suburban region in the vicinity is named "Palemonas". According to historian Teodor Narbutt

8848-508: The manufacture, production, and sale of high-proof spirits for other than beverage purposes, and to ensure an ample supply of alcohol and promote its use in scientific research and in the development of fuel, dye, and other lawful industries." Prohibition was originally proposed by a man by the name of Richmond Hobson , and the proposition was brought to Congress as an amendment to the Constitution. Later, attorney Wayne Wheeler proposed

8960-508: The meeting in which the ministers participated together with the former President Kazys Grinius , Bishop Vincentas Brizgys and others. Ministers expressed distress at the atrocities being committed against the Jews but advised only that "despite all the measures which must be taken against the Jews for their Communist activity and harm done to the German Army , partisans and individuals should avoid public executions of Jews". According to

9072-610: The new Provisional Government, but they did not take any action to dissolve it. The Provisional Government, not agreeing to continue to be an instrument of the German occupiers, disbanded itself on 5 August 1941 after signing a protest for the Germans action of suspending the Lithuanian Government powers. Members of the Provisional Government then went as a body to the Garden of the Vytautas the Great War Museum , where they laid

9184-689: The part of the Lithuanian Heraldry Commission, and realized by the artist Raimondas Miknevicius . An aurochs has replaced a wisent , which was depicted in the Soviet -era emblem that was used since 1969. Blazon: Gules, an aurochs passant guardant argent ensigned with a cross Or between his horns. Kaunas also has a greater coat of arms, which is mainly used for purposes of Kaunas city representation. The sailor, three golden balls, and Latin text "Diligite justitiam qui judicatis terram" ( English : Cherish justice, you who judge

9296-638: The plans of Lithuania's "legal accession to the USSR", on 1 July, the Seimas of Lithuania was dismissed, and elections to the puppet People's Seimas were announced. The controlled (passports had imprints) and falsified elections to the People's Seimas were won by the Lithuanian Labour People's Union, which obeyed the occupiers' proposal to "ask" the Soviet authorities to have Lithuania admitted to

9408-448: The population of Kaunas functional urban area , is estimated at 391,153 (as of 2021), while according to statistics of Kaunas territorial health insurance fund, there are 447,946 permanent inhabitants (as of 2022) in Kaunas and Kaunas district municipalities combined. Moreover, the tertiary education institutions of Kaunas attract thousands of students annually. The city's name is of Lithuanian origin and most likely derives from

9520-409: The possession and personal use of alcohol remained legal under the Volstead Act. It was in fact legal to own alcoholic beverages that were obtained before the Prohibition, as well as serve these types of drinks to family or guests in the home with proof of purchase on hand. This allowed numerous individuals, specifically those who were wealthy to stockpile these beverages before Prohibition. Alcohol that

9632-411: The present Kaunas: the confluence of the two longest rivers of Lithuania area, Eiguliai , Lampėdžiai, Linkuva, Kaniūkai, Marvelė, Pajiesys, Romainiai , Petrašiūnai , Sargėnai, and Veršvai sites. A settlement was established on the site of the current Kaunas Old Town, at the confluence of two large rivers, by at latest the 10th century AD and more settlements developed in the 11th century AD. Kaunas

9744-425: The privacy of the home on Shabbat , Jewish holidays , weddings , and brit milah (circumcision) ceremonies. This alone would have made the regulation of ceremonial wine complicated. It was not difficult for crooks to rig illegal "wine synagogues" to trick the government to receive their wine which would then be bootlegged. While contemporary Orthodox Jewish authorities are generally permissive of grape juice as

9856-546: The reality of the repressive and brutal Soviet rule, in the early morning of 22 June 1941 (the first day when the Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union ), Lithuanians began the June Uprising , which was organized by the Lithuanian Activist Front , in Kaunas, where its main forces were concentrated. The uprising soon expanded to Vilnius and other locations. Its main goal was not to fight the Soviets but to secure

9968-581: The rebellion was taking place in the country, the insurgents took Kaunas and the Proclamation of the Independence Restoration of Lithuania and the list of the Provisional Government were announced by Leonas Prapuolenis . The message was being repeated several times in different languages. The Provisional Government hoped that Nazi Germany would re-establish Lithuanian independence or at least allow some degree of autonomy (similar to

10080-543: The responsum was thought by the Orthodox community to be tainted by self-interest. Ginzberg was the author of a number of scholarly Jewish works, including a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud and his six-volume (plus a one-volume index) The Legends of the Jews , (1909) which combined hundreds of legends and parables from a lifetime of midrash research. The Legends of the Jews is an original synthesis of

10192-673: The river, during the Battle of the Vorskla River , in 1399. Following the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, Kaunas Castle became a residence of the elder of Kaunas, and its military significance decreased. "After leaving Poseur , I arrived in a large fortified city of Kaunas. It has a very beautiful large castle standing on a cliff of the Nemunas River. Kaunas is twelve miles from Poseur." — Guillebert de Lannoy description of Kaunas during his trip between 1413–1414. In 1408,

10304-427: The sale of grapes for making wine at home. Zinfandel grapes were popular among home winemakers living near vineyards, but their tight bunches left their thin skins vulnerable to rot from rubbing and abrasion on the long journey to East Coast markets. The thick skins of Alicante Bouschet were less susceptible to rot, so that and similar varieties were widely planted for the home winemaking market. The Act contained

10416-431: The shelters deliberately fired on the Red Army, the detachments suffering heavy losses of soldiers and military equipment". About 5,000 occupants were killed in Lithuania. On 23 June 1941 at 9:28 am Tautiška giesmė , the national anthem of Lithuania, was played on the radio in Kaunas. Many people listened to the Lithuanian national anthem with tears in their eyes. From Kaunas radio broadcasts, Lithuania learned that

10528-697: The situation. He approached the Kaunas War Field Commandant General Oswald Pohl and the Military Command Representative General Karl von Roques by trying to plead for him to spare the Jews, but they replied that the Gestapo is handling those issues and that they could not help. Furthermore, in the beginning of the occupation, the prime minister of the Provisional Government of Lithuania, Juozas Ambrazevičius , convened

10640-567: The time and widespread café culture. The interim capital and the country itself also had a Western standard of living with sufficiently high salaries and low prices. At the time, qualified workers there were earning very similar real wages to workers in Germany , Italy , Switzerland and France , the country also had a high natural increase in population of 9.7 and the industrial production of Lithuania increased by 160% from 1913 to 1940. The population of Kaunas increased 8,6 times during

10752-614: The town was granted Magdeburg rights by Vytautas the Great and in 1413 became the centre of Kaunas Powiat , in Trakai Voivodeship . Moreover, Vytautas ceded Kaunas the right to own the scales used for weighing the goods brought to the city or packed on the site, the wax processing, and woolen cloth-trimming facilities. The power of the self-governing Kaunas was shared by three interrelated major institutions: vaitas (the Mayor ),

10864-566: Was a centre of Jewish learning, and the yeshiva in Slobodka ( Vilijampolė ) was one of Europe's most prestigious institutes of higher Jewish learning. Kaunas had a rich and varied Jewish culture . There were almost 100 Jewish organizations, 40 synagogues, many Yiddish schools, 4 Hebrew high schools , a Jewish hospital , and scores of Jewish-owned businesses. It was also an important Zionist centre. Initially prior to World War II , Lithuania declared neutrality . However, on 7 October 1939,

10976-597: Was a daughter, Sophie Ginzberg Gould (1914–1985). Kaunas Kaunas ( / ˈ k aʊ n ə s / ; Lithuanian: [ˈkɐʊ̯ˑnˠɐs] ; previously known in English as Kovno / ˈ k ɒ v n oʊ / ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius , the fourth largest city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas

11088-454: Was able to successfully regulate the use of ceremonial wine. The clergy could easily monitor the nominal amount of sacramental wine that each worshipper drank, especially because it was usually drunk only in Church and only on Sundays (for the communion or Eucharist ceremony). This was not the case for the Jews, who needed a greater quantity of wine per person. Furthermore, the wine was drunk in

11200-522: Was celebrated for its rich cultural and academic life, fashion, construction of countless Art Deco and Lithuanian National Revival architectural-style buildings as well as popular furniture, interior design of the time, and a widespread café culture. The city interwar architecture is regarded as among the finest examples of European Art Deco and has received the European Heritage Label . It contributed to Kaunas being designated as

11312-409: Was difficult because the gangs became so rich that they were often able to bribe underpaid and understaffed law-enforcement personnel, and afford expensive lawyers. Many citizens were sympathetic to bootleggers , and respectable citizens were lured by the romance of illegal speakeasies , also called " blind tigers ." The loosening of social mores during the 1920s included popularizing the cocktail and

11424-493: Was first mentioned in written sources in 1361 and at the end of the 13th century the brick Kaunas Castle was constructed to defend the residents from attacks by the Teutonic Order . At the time only two brick castles stood near the Nemunas River (in Kaunas and Grodno ), which was the main front line of fights between the Crusaders and Lithuanians . Consequently, Kaunas Castle had a strategic importance, as it prevented

11536-504: Was in the late 16th – early 17th century, which led to construction of many brick masonry buildings throughout the city. In the early 17th century, the prosperity of Kaunas led to the beginning of the construction of the Wall of Kaunas , which, however, was not completed, due to later wars and economic reasons. In 1665, the Russian army attacked the city several times, and in 1701 the city

11648-508: Was largely organized by the military, especially general Povilas Plechavičius , and resulted in the replacement of the democratically elected Government and President Kazys Grinius with a conservative nationalist authoritarian Government led by Antanas Smetona . Shortly afterwards, tension between Antanas Smetona and Augustinas Voldemaras , supported by the Iron Wolf Association , arose seeking to gain authority. After

11760-584: Was moved to Žaliakalnis , armed with advanced and brand new tanks, including the famous Renault FT , Vickers-Armstrong Model 1933 and Model 1936. In May 1919, the Lithuanian Aircraft State Factory was founded in Freda to repair and to supply the army with military aircraft . It was considerably modernized by Antanas Gustaitis and started to build Lithuanian ANBO military aircraft. The exceptional discipline and regularity caused

11872-615: Was occupied by the Swedish Army , during the Great Northern War . The bubonic plague struck the area in 1657 and 1708, killing many residents. Fires destroyed parts of the city in 1731 and 1732. In the first half of the 18th century, the northern wall and two towers of the Kaunas Castle collapsed, due to damage from river water, and this led to abandonment of the castle, and it turned into ruins. Subsequently,

11984-450: Was one of 66 scholars honored with a doctorate by Harvard University in celebration of its tercentenary in 1936. In his opening address to students, Ginzberg spoke of the need to keep Conservative Jewry under the rubric of halakha . The conception that in religious matters anyone, however ignorant, can judge for himself, is the direct denial of the old Jewish maxim , 'The ignorant cannot be pious' ( Avot 2:5) ... The majority vote of

12096-695: Was opened – the only one in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. By the 16th century, Kaunas also had a public school and a hospital and was one of the most firmly established towns in the whole country. Furthermore, in the 16th century Grand Duchess Bona Sforza achieved that the Kaunas Eldership should become a property of the Jagiellonian dynasty ; starting in 1533, she carried out the Volok Reform . The greatest economic boom of Kaunas

12208-478: Was successful in getting many states to ban alcohol prior to 1917 by claiming that to drink was to be pro-German and this had the intended results because many of the major breweries at the time had German names. Additionally, many saloons were immigrant-dominated which further supported the narrative that the Anti-Saloon League was pushing for. Another factor that led to the passage of the Volstead Act

12320-436: Was the idea that in order to feed the allied nations there was a greater need for the grain that was being used to make whiskey. Prohibitionists also argued that the manufacture and transportation of liquor was taking away from the needed resources that were already scarce going into WWI. They argued that Congress would have conserved food and coal much earlier had not liquor interests been placed above public welfare. This led to

12432-564: Was the largest city and the centre of a county  [ pl ] in the Duchy of Trakai of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Trakai Palatinate since 1413. In the Russian Empire , it was the capital of the Kaunas Governorate from 1843 to 1915. During the interwar period , it served as the temporary capital of Lithuania , when Vilnius was seized and controlled by Poland between 1920 and 1939. During that period Kaunas

12544-621: Was used for medical purposes remained legal under the Volstead Act. Physicians were limited on what they could prescribe their patients. They were allowed one pint of spirits every ten days, a restriction the American Medical Associate opposed for being inadequate. Pastors, priests, ministers, rabbis and others who practiced religious actions could acquire a permit to provide alcohol for sacramental purposes only. Alcohol for any industrial purposes were allowed in Title III of

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