Pasvalys, Lithuania (KHAIT, KRIGER)
Pasvalys, Lithuania Surnames: KHAIT, KRIGER Jewish Population: 1897: 1,590 (60% of 15,780 population) Family Members: Yudel Khait, Husband of 2nd great-Aunt (Brother-in-law of Celia Kriger) (also Grandson of Bensel Khiat) B 1869 Pasvalys; M Asna Kreiger; D 1933 Tel Aviv Extended family of Kriger's and Khiat's lived in Pasvalys. History: Pasvalys is situated on a hill with the river Posbolka at its feet. A railway connects Pasvalys with Birzai. Prior to World War I there were about 400 Jewish families in Pasvalys; there were also a few Karaite families there, remains of a former Karaite settlement. During World War I, in April 1915 the Jews were exiled into the interior of Russia; not all of them returned at the end of the war (1918). In 1921 there were 525 Jews in Pasvalys; in 1923 - 748 . In independent Lithuania between the two World Wars there was a prayer house in Pasvalys and a Hebrew school of the "Tarbuth" network. Among the local rabbis ra