Alternate names: Žagarė [Lith], Zhager [Yid], Zhagare [Rus], Żagory [Pol], Žagare [Latv], Zhagar, Zager, Žagarės, Russian: Жагаре. זאַגער-Yiddish. 56°21' N, 23°15' E, 29 miles N of Šiauliai (Shavl), 16 miles WNW of Joniškis (Yanishok), on the Latvian border. 1900 Jewish population: 5,443.
:Lite (vol. 1) (New York, 1951).
Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), XIV, p. 728: "Żagory". [March 2009]
photo and map. Unmaintained cemetery contains about 100 stones in poor condition. There were Jews in both Old Zagare and New Zagare. In 1897, 1,629 Jews lived in Old Zagare and 3,814 Jews in New Zagare, essentially two separate Jewish cmmunities. Remnants of Jewish cemeteries in both sides exist. The custom was not to transport a dead body over water. I visited there last summer [date?] and saw both cemeteries. I have pictures. [Source?]
On the Latvian border, two Jewish cemeteries each have about 75 standing stones. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The cemetery in Novozhagory (New Zagare) remains relatively good, but cemetery in Starozagory (Old Zagare) is destroyed. Few tombstones remain. Source: Dr. Feigmanis forwarded by Judi Langer Caplan. Aleksandrs Feigmanis, Kahovkas 2-12 LV-1021, Riga
NEW ZAGARE CEMETERY:
The stones in New Zhagar cemetery appear to be made of some very soft stone that is eroding very rapidly. If an emergency effort is not made very soon, they will all be completely illegible. Source: Len Yodaiken [date?]
OLD ZAGARE CEMETERY:
The cemetery in Old Zagare is in bad condition; few tombstones still remain there. The cemetery in New Zagare has about 300 remaining tombstones. Source: Aleksandrs Feigmanis, Kahovkas 2-12 LV-1021, Riga.
I have 133 photographs taken in the Old and New Zagher cemeteries by an acquaintance in England. 34 photographs were taken in the Old Zagher cemetery, the rest in New Zagher. Aside from general views, there are about 118 tombstones of which only 64 are decipherable. Of these, only 26 have a surname. The remaining 38 have only personal names, but sometimes only parts of names are discernable. Most of the tombstones are made of material that has suffered considerably from the weather. The earliest tombstone dates from 1851, the latest from 1934. Since the Jewish community in Zagher was a long established one, obviously, a considerable number of tombstones from the 18th and early 19th century have disappeared. In many cases, the date appears towards the bottom of the tombstone that has sunk into the ground or undergrowth. The surnames deciphered are: Ashkloni, Astrachin, Birenbaum, Freedman (halevy), Gachdash, Hirsch, Idelson, Jaffe, Loenstein, Mandelshtam, Mendelson, Rittow, Rosesohn, Shochat, Shoposnik, Tankel, and Zagorsky,. Some of the surnames appear several times. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Petah Tikvah, Israel [date?]
Lithuania Jewish Cemetery Project cleanup in summer of 2015.
Žagarės balselis. "The old Jewish cemetery", author James Mace, Photo source [Aug 2015]
MASS GRAVE:
Zagare, town park; 90 pic. # 84-85. Zagare, Jewish cemetery, near the village of 2uriai; 90; pic. # 83 US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad .