trade – History of Šiauliai

Industrial Situation in the City

Šiaulių TIC — Thu, 01 Feb 2018 18:46:55 +0000

In 1950, there were already 27 enterprises in Šiauliai – only by one third less than before the city’s bombarding during the Second World War. The most distinguished were representatives of leather, textile and knitwear products. These were leather factories and plants: ‘Elnias’ (the former Ch. Frenkelis’s factory, restored after the war; the enterprise was equipped with the first conveyor in Lithuania and it quickly became the largest in Šiauliai), ‘Batas’, ‘Stumbras’ (the former brothers’ Nurokai factory). The factory ‘Elegant’ (in 1945, reorganized into ‘Verpstas’) dominated the knitwear industry. The leading factory in the textile industry was the flax processing factory ‘Linas’ (the former ‘Semlin’ factory). All of these enterprises were related by the Soviet nomenclative attitude to the nationalized industrial property, common in the whole Soviet Union: constant shortage of raw materials, plunder in the very enterprises using one’s position, and waste of funds, effecting quality of working conditions and tools.

Food industry recovered rapidly because meat production company ‘Maistas’ almost did not suffer during the war and transported its products to all Soviet Union. The sweets and confectionery factory ‘Rūta’ also quickly recovered after the years of the war. Having established economic relations with trade partners in the whole world, it began to grow rapidly again. The starch-syrup factory ‘Gliukozė’, established in the premises for storing linseed oil of the former enterprise ‘Ringuva’, was the most important enterprise of this kind in Lithuania, offering its products to the whole region: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Kaliningrad. The brewery ‘Gubernija’, the oldest industrial enterprise of Šiauliai, the origins of which are said to date back to 1665, when it operated as a brewery of Šiauliai manor, was almost completely destroyed during the war but managed to recover and started fully functioning. Most of the production was sold in Šiauliai city and county; and the smaller part, in other cities of Lithuania.

In the post-war period, metal processing and machine manufacturing industry was formed in Šiauliai, although until then there were no machine manufacturing enterprises. The manufacturing of bicycles began growing: upon forfeiture as the spoils of war against the Nazi, the Soviets transferred the bicycle factory from Germany and equipped it in Šiauliai; later, it was renamed as ‘Vairas’. Initially, it suffered from the poor supply of raw materials and the never-ending construction of the enterprise; later, it became known as the manufacturer of bicycles for teenagers ‘Kregždutė’ and ‘Ereliukas’, which were transported to all Soviet Union and some foreign countries. Another, new industrial sector – gypsum production – started developing in ‘Alebastro’ factory. There were also other industries, such as fuel and energy, brick, peat, typography, cardboard and other factories as well as enterprises providing services. Generally speaking, most of the enterprises founded at that time were created in the places of enterprises that had been operating in the interwar period.

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Alaus darykla „Gubernija“.

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Televizorių gamykla.

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Batų gamykla.

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The Contribution of Šiauliai Jews to the City’s Industrial and Financial Activities

Šiaulių TIC — Wed, 31 Jan 2018 15:32:27 +0000

After the war, the industry quickly recovered reaching the level of the pre-war period, as there were active representatives of the Jewish community in the city. In principal, their active manufacturing and trading activities formed the city’s productive capacity and economic guidelines.

Activities of Ch.Frenkelis, brothers Nurokai, Rogalinai and Choronžickiai tanneries were renewed. By competing, they could both oppose each other as equivalent factories and unite in a cartel, which was able to regulate production prices and the amount needed for the domestic market, when Lithuania was affected by the world crisis at the end of the third decade of the 20^th century.

After the war, the city’s textile industry grew particularly rapidly, as it was planned to turn Šiauliai into the centre of Lithuanian flax processing industry. In 1920, the flax factory ‘Semlin’, founded by Leiba Bernštein, which employed about 2000 employees during a season, arose. In 1932, brothers Joselis and Mendelis Abramsonai set up even three flax processing factories: ‘Litlin’, ‘Litverp’ and ‘Virvolit’. ‘Audiniai’ enterprise, which produced cotton, linen and wool fabrics, matched these factories. This factory greatly influenced further development of the Lithuanian textile industry.

Inter-war industrial and trade activities were credited by Jewish banks: Š. Nurokas’s bank house, I. Choronžickis’s bank, and the Commercial bank. They provided services to private persons, but primarily to large enterprises, trade establishments, various associations, and the city municipality. For example, Š. Nurokas’s bank house mainly financed the activities of Nurokai factory, etc.

In addition to factories, there were enough trade enterprises and shops in the city. Most of them belonged to Jews and were known for the fact that usually the goods did not have prices, as all shopping in such places was a matter of everlasting negotiations between the buyer and the seller. Usually these institutions were set up in the city centre, around one of the most visited places – the cinema ‘Kapitol’.

Due to Jewish entrepreneurship, Šiauliai quickly not only restored its industry and trade to the pre-Tsarist period but also overtook it.

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Ch. Frenkelio fabrikas nuo Prūdelio pusės.

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Šiaulių Didžioji Choralinė sinagoga, vadinta Baltąja gulbe.

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External Changes of Šiauliai City

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 18:30:32 +0000

It can be stated that the damage made by occupations to the city was beneficial: it was an impetus to start the renovation of the city’s infrastructure. Šiauliai municipality started promoting the city’s inhabitants to build two-three-storey brick buildings in the city centre. At the same time, old buildings that did not match the newly developed image were demolished. This way the city centre was cleared out of wooden straw-roofed buildings, initiating the development of the picture of the modern city. St. Peter and Paul’s Orthodox Church also appeared among the buildings to be demolished as it did not match the spirit of that period. After the land plot belonging to this church was taken over by the municipality, it was dismantled and moved to another place so that the square located in its former place could be later attached to the newly formed central square of the city. Markets in Šiauliai used to be in two places of the city: near the city’s slaughterhouse, where the so-called horse market would rally (people traded in animals, fodders, firewood, etc.) and near the city’s main market square, where food and other products were sold in the so-called ‘bobturgis’ (women’s market). Since old times, the main market was located in the very heart of the city, on the square near St. Peter and Paul’s Church, which was very unacceptable for the authorities because this was spoiling the aesthetic image of the modernizing city. No place for the market was found in the newly constructed central city square and the market was moved further away from the centre. Since then, the city centre has had place only for the city’s public events and for the events of state significance.

This way, the creation of new public spaces was begun in Šiauliai. Another such public space was given to the municipality as a gift from the local industrialist count Vladimiras Zubovas. It was his Didždvaris park, which, slightly extended turned into the city’s garden or the place where townspeople and guests could spend their free time. It was equipped with two tennis courts open to townspeople and guests.

A number of architectural monuments were presented to the city by talented architects Karolis Reisonas and Vladas Bitė, who lived in Šiauliai in the interwar period and were modern visionaries of their generation. Their most prominent buildings of the interwar period were the buildings of the county municipality, patient funds, the post office, the district court, Bronius Poška’s block of flats, Antanas Juška’s house, the new building of Šiauliai ‘Aušra’ Museum on Aušra Avenue, etc. The city was both reconstructed and modernized: new streets were built and the old ones were broadened, sewage and water supply pipes, telephone lines were laid, electrical wires were equipped. The municipality was discussing where to get enough electricity to meet the city’s needs and decided that the capacity of the private power plant that belonged to Ch. Frenkelis’s enterprise would be insufficient. Then the decision was made to build a thermal power station. This was done by the company of American Lithuanians under the order of city authorities. The company leased the right to use this power plant to the municipality, which eventually took over full control of the power plant. The thermal power station, built in Bačiūnai, near Lake Rėkyva, generated energy that was sufficient both for the needs of Šiauliai (illuminated streets, squares, electrified buildings) and Radviliškis, located nearby. After several years, when one more power station near Lake Rėkyva sprang, there was enough energy not only for Šiauliai but also for the whole region, and due to developed electrification capacities electricity for Šiauliai inhabitants became the cheapest in all Lithuania.

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Laisvės aikštė (dabartinė Prisikėlimo aikštė) nuo Šiaulių katedros bokšto.

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Laisvės aikštė (dabartinė Prisikėlimo aikštė).

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Šiaulių miesto centro vaizdas.

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Telefono linijos tiesimo darbai.

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Aušros alėjos vaizdas.

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Turgaus aikštė.

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Po karo sugriauto Šiaulių miesto atstatymo darbai.

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Development of the City’s Industry

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:34:27 +0000

The economic and industrial potential of the city was promoted by emerging local enterprises. Šiauliai of the early 19^th century can be called an agrarian and commercial city, where the majority of the population was engaged in agriculture, even though it did not have its own land. The situation began to change in the middle of the century, when Jewish population, who did not engage in agriculture, but were engaged in trade, began to grow rapidly in the city. As agriculture was prospering, the food industry had the most favourable development conditions. Breweries and vodka distilleries were the most successful industries, like in other cities of Lithuanian provinces at that time, but soon this business encountered a serious problem: the authorities imposed huge excise taxes on drinks produced in the city, while this was not applicable to the production produced in manors, since no tax was imposed on it. In 1875, when large-scale industry started developing, Šiauliai city crafts and small-scale industry were in the penultimate position among the regional centres of Kaunas province, but in the beginning of the 20^th century, as the number of craftsmen was steadily increasing, the city became the centre of the small-scale industry and was the first in the province after Kaunas.

At the turn of the 19^th-20^th centuries, the large-scale industry starts functioning at its full capacity, far from lagging behind other cities of the region or province. Its emergence might have been facilitated by land-based trade routes and import restrictions introduced by the authorities of the central Russian Empire. Here, several branches of industry that were set up should be pointed out. First, it was processing industry of raw materials from livestock, which was weak until the end of the 19^th century, but later grew so much that in the area of leather processing Šiauliai immediately followed Vilnius. Leather processing was initiated by one of the most successful Lithuanian businessmen ever Ch. Frenkelis, who in 1879, founded a leather processing enterprise in Šiauliai. Originally, it consisted of two small wooden houses, which eventually turned into a huge complex of brick buildings. Due to the innovations he introduced, the production of leather processing began modernising substantially and his products were soon noticed and appreciated not only in the provinces in Lithuania and Russian Empire but also in the Western market. In 1905, in world exhibitions held in Paris and Brussels, leather processed in Ch. Frenkelis’s factory was acknowledged as the best and received the highest ratings. Following such astonishing success of the entrepreneur, other business people who lived in the city and who came to the city started following his example and set up their businesses. The factories established by brothers Rogalinai (1894) and Nurokai (1898) continuously grew and increased the employees’ number. Ch. Frenkelis’s factory soon became the largest tannery in the entire Russian Empire: from 1905 to 1914, the turnover of the enterprise grew more than twice – from 7 to 15 million roubles. The factory became known for its red shoe soles, which were especially liked and appreciated. There were soap manufacturing enterprises, which slightly lagged behind these tanneries.

Food industry enterprises began setting up, the largest of which were J. Podliašukas’s tobacco factory, established in 1879 (its successful operation was stopped by the growing excise duties and a fire in 1892, after which the enterprise was no longer able to compete on the market); brothers’ Kaganai sweet and chocolate factory (founded in 1892), which in 1912 employed 250 workers; the first Lithuanian sweets workshop ‘Birutė’, owned by V. Vaitkus, which started operating in 1913.

Paper and polygraph industry also developed in the city, although not so intensively, but especially after the revolution in Russia in 1905-1907. Mostly printing houses prevailed. In 1882, the printing house of J. Volberg and F. Leivand was founded (later rebought by B. Šapiro); in 1896, J. Fridman’s printing house. There were also smaller representatives of wood and metal processing industries.

The most serious competitors of these branches of industry were industries of Aleksandrija and Gubernija manors, which belonged to counts Zubovai. An entire industrial suburb was set up in Gubernija. The brewery of the manor prospered, excise taxes were not applied to it. The brewery became one of the best breweries in the Russian Empire.

In the 19^th century small-scale enterprises were not very successful; they were very few and even these would quickly close up; for example, silk and wool products manufactory founded by the local merchant M. H. Nurokas together with Austrian T. Kiunel in 1858, survived hardly a year, but at the end of the century, Šiauliai became the centre for distribution of manufactured products with prospering N. Zubovas’s shopping house ‘Progresas’, M. Iserlijus’s and J. Podliašukas’s tobacco shop and other shops.

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Miesto vaizdas.

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Miesto vaizdas.

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Gubernijos bravoras.

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Frenkelio fabrikas.

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Building of Trade Routes and Urban Growth

Šiaulių TIC — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 17:24:18 +0000

In the late 18^th century and the early 19^th century, the detailed picture of Šiauliai, recorded in the city plan drawn up in 1800-1801, is already known. It is the first city plan and one of the first such cartographic works in the history of Lithuania. This plan clearly shows the arrangement of buildings, streets and interurban roads of the growing city. Urban growth and economic development were directly influenced by trade routes. In the early 19^th century, Šiauliai stood at the junction of post roads, one of which led as far as Palanga; another, to Panevėžys and further, already to Vilnius. Later, in 1835-1858, a very important highway from Riga to Tilžė via Šiauliai was built. Its significance grew even before it was completed – in 1853-1856, during the Crimean War, when all Baltic seaports were blocked. This in turn led to the economic revival of Šiauliai. The roads were used by post horses and private carriages of wealthy townspeople and civil servants. In 1825-1831, not far from Šiauliai, in the vicinities of the city (near the present settlements of Bubiai and Šaukėnai), the canal, known as Dubysos-Ventos perkasa, which was part of an ambitious project that had to join the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, was dug. The construction of the canal was the largest work of this kind at that time in the entire Russian Empire. It was hoped to join the Nemunas basin with the Baltic Sea, because after the partition of the Commonwealth of Both Nations, the river mouth went to Prussia and the Russian Empire had to look for other ways to access the Baltic Sea. Construction works ceased due to the rebellion of 1831 and subsequent attempts to restart them were inefficient. In the long run, the importance of this canal declined when other transportation alternatives appeared. The Liepaja-Romnai railway line was opened (on September 4, 1871, the Kaišiadorys-Liepaja stretch, and on November 1, 1873, Radviliškis-Kalkūnai branch), connecting Šiauliai with important stations in Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and Russia. The earlier built Riga-Tauragė highway also has to be kept in mind; therefore, the growth of the city became unstoppable. Over 52 years (1861-1913), the population increased from almost 6 thousand to more than 23,5 thousand, which allowed Šiauliai to become the second most populous city of Kaunas province (guberniya). From 1861, the number of recorded 467 homes jumped to 1853 in 1910, of which 221 houses were already brick. At the turn of 18-19^th centuries they started caring about planting greenery in the city, but only Didždvaris and the park established in it, which eventually became open to all inhabitants of the city, was famous for its exclusive green areas. On the other hand, there were enough green areas in the city, because plots with gardens were set up in many places.

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Šiaulių miesto planas 1800-1801 m.

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1871 metai.

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The Origins of the Jewish Community Development in the City

Šiaulių TIC — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 19:37:01 +0000

Initially, the city that has always been known as standing in the localities exclusively inhabited by Lithuanians, reluctantly let in the representatives of other peoples. The city let in the first Jewish merchants, who decided to settle in Šiauliai, because they had to obey the privileges granted by the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jonas Sobieskis. This was not because the local people were hostile to other nations but more because they feared, by the way, reasonably, the economic competition that would increase, for since the old times, everywhere the Jews were known as excellent merchants and manufacturers of various goods. At the beginning of the 18^th century, the plague that followed the Northern War, which destroyed the local community of Šiauliai, in 1736, led to abolition of the prohibition for the Jews to settle in Šiauliai, which until then was in force with certain reservations. In the beginning, townspeople protested against this decision but in the long run, people not only became reconciled to this, but the city became one of the Jewish cultural centres both in Lithuania and in all Eastern Europe.