Official documents reveal how my father made his way from Hamburg, Germany to the United States. No official or personal documentation or word of mouth, however, has provided information to show how he made the journey from Kaunas, Lithuania to Hamburg, Germany. The following excerpt from Tomas Balkalis’s “Opening Gates to the West: Lithuanian and Jewish Migrations from the Lithuanian Provinces, 1867–1914, p. 58, describes the various routes taken: (my highlights)
“Within Lithuania, the migrants took the four major routes that let them near and across the Russian–German border. The northern route, Libava – Kretinga – Bajorai – Tilsit, attracted those who departed mainly from Kovno, Courland and Livland provinces. The second route went along the Ri- 59 Opening Gates to the West: Lithuanian and Jewish Migrations from the Lithuanian Provinces, 1867–1914 ver Nemunas from Kovno through Jurbarkas to Bajorai. Meanwhile, two southern routes started in Alytus and Grodno and converged in the German town, Eydtkuhnen, from where all migrants traveled to Tilsit. These routes were taken largely by migrants from Vilna, Grodno, Minsk and Vitebsk provinces. . . . Since emigration from Russia was unlawful and a receipt of a foreign Russian passport was heavily bureaucratic, expensive and could take up to a half year, the vast majority of emigrants preferred to cross the border illegally. The crossing was made relatively easy by a large network of emigration agents and local peasants living from human and goods’ trafficking. . . . Within Lithuania, the hotbed of migrant recruitment became the city of Vilna where dozens of agents operated. Other major cities where they worked were Kovno, Minsk, Libava, Odessa and Yekaterinoslav (Эйдинтас, 1989: 53). Yet the network of agents sprawled all over Lithuania including towns of Sventzani (Švenčionys), Jashune (Jašiūnai), Olitta (Alytus), Širvintos, Vilkomir (Ukmergė) and many others. In fact, according to one official observer, almost every town in Lithuania had one or two secret Jewish emigration agents (Офросимов, 1912: 10–11). The agent network was significant for both Jews and Lithuanians looking for an exit.”