Meer Solem Sokhen (1896 - bef. 1941)

Born 2 May 1896 in Pakruojis, Panevėžio, Литва, Российская империя

Ancestors

Husband of Chaja (Grin) Sokhen — married 23 Jan 1923 in Kriūkai, Šiauliai, Литва, Советский Союз

Died before 16 Jul 1941 before age 45 in Šakiai, Lietuva

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Biography

Solem Sokhen killed in the Šakiai massacre.

Meer Solem (see Notes) was born May 2, 1896 in Pakruojis, Panevezys, Lithuania, which was then part of the Russian Empire. His parents were Khaim Sokhen and Sheina Khana (Kats) Sokhen.^[1] He appeared to reverse his original first and middle names throughout his life, however.

In 1908 Solem lived in Pasvalys, Panevezys, Lithuania with his parents, grandparents, four siblings, and seven paternal aunts and uncles (one aunt was his uncle's wife).^[2]

Solem was issued a pink passport, valid for one year, July 31, 1914 in Pasvalys, Panevezys, Lithuania.^[3]

Solem married Chaja Grin January 23, 1923 in Kriukai, Siauliai, Lithuania, which was then part of the Soviet Union (see Notes)^[4] and they had at least one child (see Notes).

Although no record of Chaja's death has been found, he is believed to have been killed on or before July 16, 1941 in a massacre of all Jews in the area, based on the following:

On June 23 1941, one day after the German attack on the Soviet Union, German soldiers reached Kriukai and continued on towards Russia. Armed Lithuanian nationalists took control of the town. One of their first actions was to arrest four Jewish youths, sympathizers of the Soviet regime. The four were taken to the district town Sakiai and there killed. The Jews were robbed of their animals, sewing machines, radios and good furniture.

On July 2, 1941, the Lithuanians concentrated all the Jewish men, 41 in number, both young and old, and took them to Sakiai, on the pretext of giving them work. For three days they were kept in a silo, near the housing estate called the Jewish Pasture. On July 16, they were taken to the nearby forest and there, executed. A different account states that they were executed on July 9. The young girl, Khaya-Miriam Gertner, was killed with the men, as she had resisted the Lithuanian murderers who had come to take her father and brothers.

The Jewish women and their children were taken at the beginning of September, to the neighboring town Zapyskis. For some time they were kept in the Beth Midrash and then they were murdered on September 4, with the rest of the Jewish population near Vilkija. Apparently, there were no survivors. ^[5]

Notes

First Name and Middle Name
Although his birth record and one other show his name as Meer Sholem, most records show it as Solem Meyer or just Solem.

Shalom and Meyir are the correct Latin alphabet portrayals of the legal Hebrew names that would have been used for Lithuanian Jews and Solem and Meer are the Yiddish spellings.^[6] Other spellings shown are those found on transcriptions of Lithuanian records used as information sources.

Children
Solem's known children were:

• Abram Elija Sokhen, born June 7, 1924 in Krukiai, Panevezys, Lithuania, died August 9, 1924 in Krukiai, Siauliai, Lithuania

Geographic Change
Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, when district lines were re-drawn Pasvalys and Kriukai were no longer in Panevezys, but became part of Siauliai. At that time, the Russian Empire became the Soviet Union.

Sources

^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} LitvakSIG, Lithuanian Jewish Special Interest Group of JewishGen, (accessed February 27, 2017), free membership required, includes the following birth record:

   Name: SOKHEN, Meer Sholem

   Father: Khaim

   Paternal Grandfather: Mortkhel

   Mother: Khane 

   Birth Date: 2/5/1896

   Hebrew Date: 2 Sivan

   Town: Pakruojis 

   Uyezd: Panevezys 

   Guberniya: Kaunas 

   Comments: Family from Birzai

   Recorded: Pakruojis 

   Year: 1896 

   Record: # M10 

   Microfilm: 2287040 / 3 / 984

   Archive: LVIA/1226/1/2037 

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} LitvakSIG, Lithuanian Jewish Special Interest Group of JewishGen, (accessed March 10, 2017), free membership required, includes the following family record:

   Town: Pasvalys 

   Uzeyd: Panevezys 

   Guberniya: Kaunas

   Year: 1908

   Page: 350

   Registration # 728 

   Former Registration# 287/1874; 404/1887 

   Publication Type: Family list 

   Archive / Fond:  KRA/I-216/1/48 

   Last Name	First Name	Role	Father	Sex	Age	Note
   SOKHEN	Mortkhel	Head	Gerts	M	64	died 2-Jan-1913
   SOKHEN	Sharia	Son	Mortkhel	M	42	from 1st marriage
   SOKHEN	Chaim	Son	Mortkhel	M	38
   SOKHEN	Shimen Leyb	Son	Mortkhel	M	31
   SOKHEN	Iudel	Son	Mortkhel	Sex	M	29
   SOKHEN	Shmerel	Son	Mortkhel	Sex	M	28
   SOKHEN	Sara	Wife		F	60	2nd marriage
   SOKHEN	Feyga Sara	Daughter	Mortkhel	F	23	from 1st marriage
   SOKHEN	Rasha	Daughter	Mortkhel	F	21	from 1st marriage
   SOKHEN	Chaya	Daughter-in-law		F	29	wife of Shimen
   SOKHEN	Solem Meyer	Grandson	Chaim	M	12
   SOKHEN	Movsha Gerts	Grandson	Chaim	M	8
   SOKHEN	Yosel	Grandson	Chaim	M	5
   SOKHEN	Sheyna Khana	Daughter-in-law		F	37	wife of Chaim
   SOKHEN	Ela Ita	Granddaughter	Chaim	F	10
   SOKHEN	Simkha	Granddaughter	Chaim	F	3

3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} LitvakSIG, Lithuanian Jewish Special Interest Group of JewishGen, (accessed March 10, 2017), free membership required, includes the following passport issuance record:

   Name: SOCHEN / SHOCHEN / SOKHEN, Solem Meyer

   Father: Chaim 

   Comments: pink passport valid for 1 year 

   Type of Record: Passport issuance record 

   Day: 31 

   Month: July 

   Year: 1914 

   Town: Pasvalys 

   Uyezd: Panevezys 

   Guberniya: Kaunas 

   Archive/Fond/Inventory/File: KRA/I-216/1/11

   Record # 172 

   Page# 49

4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} LitvakSIG, Lithuanian Jewish Special Interest Group of JewishGen, (accessed February 27, 2017), free membership required, includes the following marriage record:

   Town: Kriukai 

   Uyezd: Siauliai 

   Guberniya: Kaunas 

   Date: 23/1/1923  

   Groom: SOCHEN / [SHOKHEN], Solom

   Bride: GRINYTE / [GRIN], Chaja

   Groom Father: Chaim

   Groom Mother: Chane   

   Groom Place: Kriukai 

   Bride Father: Smuelis 

   Bride Mother: Chane  

   Bride Place: Kriukai 

   Groom Birth: 32 

   Bride Birth: 1901 

   Rabbi: I. B. RAPOPORTAS 

   Place Recorded: Joniskis 

   Year Recorded: 1923 

   Record Type: Marriage 

   Record # 1 

   Microfilm # Not filmed /  

5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities in Lithuania, Kriukai, Dov Levin, "Pinkas Hakehillot Lita", Translation of the “Kriukai (Sakiai)” chapter, (accessed March 25, 2017).
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} First Name Translator, Jewish Gen, language converter for Hebrew, Yiddish, European languages, and United States versions of first names, (accessed March 1, 2017).
7. ↑ LitvakSIG, Lithuanian Jewish Special Interest Group of JewishGen, (accessed February 27, 2017), free membership required, includes the following death record:

   Name: SOCHEN / [SHOKHEN], Abram Elija

   Father: Solem 

   Mother: Chaja  

   Residence: Krukiai 

   Comments:

   Date of Death: 8/9/1924 

   Age: June 7 1924

   Cause of Death: Brights disease  kidney disease 

   Town: Krukiai 

   Uyezd: Vladislavov? 

   Guberniya: Suwalki? 

   PlaceRecorded: Joniskis 

   Year: 1924 

   Record # M1

   Microfilm: Not filmed

   Archive / Fond: LVIA/1817/1/40