New book on Jewish history in Lithuania published by Parkes Honorary Fellow

Congratulations to Parkes Honorary Fellow, Nick Sayers, on the publication of his monograph ’The Jews of Lithuania: A Journey through the Long Twentieth Century’

The book, which was released in September 2024, is the result of Nick's personal quest to understand more about his family background in eastern Europe. It leads him to dig deeply into many of the big questions about modern Jewish history in Lithuania: Why were lots of Jewish people living in Lithuania in the late nineteenth century? Were their lives becoming difficult at that time and, if so, why was this? Why did some Jews emigrate? How did these people choose where to go and how did they make the move? What happened to their family and friends left behind, both during the First World War and in the inter-war period? Why and how were Lithuania’s Jews murdered in the Holocaust and how has Lithuanian society tried to come to terms with this in the post-war world?

This book aims to remedy the gap in the historical understanding of Jewish history in Lithuania. It also reflects on some positive aspects of the Jewish experience in Lithuania: that for many years Lithuania was a good place for Jews to live and that those who emigrated carried with them Jewish traditions and approaches to life and learning acquired while living in Lithuania. These stood them in good stead in the countries they moved to. It meant that many Lithuanian Jewish emigrants settled into their new homes and flourished remarkably quickly. Many people know very little about the lost world of the Jews of Lithuania.

The book is available to purchase now via Nick's website.

About the author

Nick Sayers read history at Magdalen College, Oxford 1978-1981. He spent his working life as a corporate transactional lawyer and was a partner at several leading London law firms. He has a Masters in Historical Research from Birkbeck and is an Honorary Fellow of the Parkes Institute, University of Southampton.

Nick is a member of the advisory board of the Jewish Historical Society of England.