Joniškis 1913

Hebrew text on the back

from Янишки / Yanishki to Двинск / Dvinsk

This is a postal stationery sent in 1913 from Янишки / Yanishki (now Joniškis, Lithuania), Ков (Kovno gubernia) to Двинск / Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia). Nice arrival cancel of Двинск город.  / Dvinsk city! It has again the old manuscript looking Jewish text on the back which was the major reason why I bought this card in the first place. Prewar Joniškis had a large number of Jewish people with some fine Synagogues which were very recently restored.

Joniškis 1965

This is a cover sent in 1965 from Йонишкис / Joniškis, Lithuania SSR to Montrose, Angus in Scotland, UK. I particularly like the three sport stamps on the cover, which are the ones to commemorate the 1965 Спартакиада / Spartakiada, a major sport event in USSR.

Joniškis 1916

This is a German field post (Feldpost) card of Janischky (now Joniškis, Lithuania) sent in 1916 from the field post station 264 to Imlingen bei Saarburg, Lothringen, Germany (now Imling, Lorraine, France). Saarburg is also part of France today with the name Sarrebourg.
Joniškis is also a confusing town just like Abeli/Obeliai which I have posted previously, located near the border with Latvia. So far I have encountered the spellings: Janischky, Janiszki, Jonišķi. We see lot of people on the picture, even cars (I see at least 4 of them)... Sunday mass? Wedding? Easter? I can tell it is not during the winter but what is it, I don't know. Joniškis has a big church comparing to the size of the town, with an enormous bell tower you can see from far away when driving from Šiauliai and looks like as if the long straight road is directly leading to this tower. Curiously, same phenomenon happens with the bell tower of the cathedral of  Šiauliai when you drive from Joniškis.

Joniškis 1920

This is a cover sent in 1920 from Joniškis, Lithuania to Worcester, Massachusetts USA. It is correctly franked with 80 skatikų according to the postal rate at that time. Worcester has a population over 180,000 and it is the 2nd largest city in New England after Boston.

Joniškis 1917

A German field post (Feldpost) card of Janiszky (spelled Janiszki in Polish, now Joniškis, Lithuania) sent in 1917 to Straßburg - Neudorf, Elsaß, Germany (now part of Strasbourg, France). Despite the fact that Joniškis was politically part of Lithuania, it has been considered topographically part of Kurland especially by many Baltic Germans.  The picture shows one lady looking towards the photographer, which makes the postcard very alive from my personal opinion.

Joniškis 1935

A domestic letter used within Joniškis in 1935. It is not so common considering the relatively small size of the town, with a population of little over 10000. Pre-war Joniškis is known to have a large percentage Jewish population.

Joniškis 1965

This is a commemorative stationery of the 25th anniversary of Lithuania Soviet Socialist Republic, sent in 1965 from Йонишкис/Joniškis to Bruxelles/Brussels, Belgium. The regular international mail rate was 6 kopecks at that time so this letter must have been overfranked.

Žeimelis 1939

A registered letter sent in 1939 from Žeimelis to the district court in Joniškis. Žeimelis is a small town in Šiauliai county, not far from the Latvian border, with a population of approximately 1200. There is also a nice arrival cancellation of Joniškis on the back!