Prof. Dr. Ruth Leiserowitz is Deputy Director of the German Historical Institute in Warsaw and teaches at the Humboldt University in Berlin. She is a specialist on Eastern Europe, Jewish and Baltic history.

Dr. Leiserowitz is President of the Berlin-based “Jews in East Prussia. History and Culture Society”

Her most recent publication is: “A Border from a Jewish Perspective. Developments on the Prussian Periphery” in Jewish and Non-Jewish Spaces in Urban Context, edited by Alina Gromova, Felix Heinert and Sebastian Voigt, pp. 129–44: Neofelis Verlag, 2014.

“Litvakian Traders in Cross-Border Traffic – an Example from 1838” (Tues-135), 4:30-5:15 P.M.

Throughout the 19th century, Jewish traders from Lita played an essential role in Memel. Relatively little is known about their lives or the profile of their work. This presentation will sketch out some of the contours of the life and work profiles of Litvakian traders in Memel.

The depiction is based on sources from 1838, dealing with a period that has only been presented in a limited way in the literature. This is something which, first and foremost, is attributable to lack of sources. Documents such as border certificates, passports and police interrogations will be presented and explained.

Topics: Ashkenazic research, Immigration and migration over the ages, Repositories, East Prussia/Lithuania