| Relationship | Family/ Pre-Marriage Name | First Name | Father’s Name | Mother’s Name | Occupation or Nickname | Place of birth/ Residence | Age or birth date | Place and date of death |
| Husband | Terushkin | Chaim Yakov | Baruch | Chief Rabbi of Shkud | Shkud | 61 | Shkud, till mid-July 1941 | |
| Wife | Terushkin/Hovsha | Kheina | Rebbetzin | Shkud | 55 | Dimitravas, Alka Hill, August | ||
| Son | Terushkin | Hirsh | Chaim Yakov | Kheina | Teacher | Shkud | 30 | Shkud |
| *** |
According to Hana Shaf-Brener, Chaim Yakov Terushkin, Chief Rabbi of Shkud, son of Baruch, aged 61, was married to Kheina, nee Hovsha, 55. The couple had a 30-year-old son, Hirsh, a teacher.
Rabbi Terushkin (Photo Kehilat Shkud 36)
The following is excerpted from Kehilat Shkud 36-37: Rabbi Yaakov Khaim Baruch Terushkin was Shkud’s rabbi from 1917, following the death of Rabbi Yechiel Michel Hovsha, until the community’s destruction in 1941. He was married to Rabbi Hovsha’s daughter Cheina. He was considered an outgoing personality and mediator: a spiritual man, but very good looking, an academic, and a great supporter of Zionism: “Three of his girls are in Israel now” [as of 1948]. He was a supporter of youth and an active teacher. “He didn’t just meet people’s spiritual needs, he was feeding them information, encouraging them to have a political stance, he was trying to tie down the youth so they would have roots, some solid ground for the future.”
Kehilat Shkud gives a few more details of Rabbi Terushkin’s life: “In the New Town was a synagogue and two study-houses. In one study-house, people used to learn Torah and Mishna all week with the participation of Rabbi Terushkin” (55; see also 27). Rabbi Terushkin was also the spiritual leader of “Tiferet Bachurim,” a youth group that focussed its activity on public prayers in a special minyan, and the studying of Mishnayes (19).
Two differing accounts are given of the murder of Rabbi Terushkin. According to Kehilat Shkud, he was killed during a battle between the Soviet and German armies in the centre of Skud’s New Town on June 28, 1941. “With the fighting over, many civilians were found to have been killed, among them a number of Jews, together with the Rabbi of Shkud, Rabbi Terushkin zts”l, fallen on Maisad street” (46). But Hana Shaf-Brener reports an eyewitness account of Berl Yelovich, who reports that, immediately after the defeat of the Soviet army and the Nazi occupation of Shkud, “they brought everybody to the Shaul Hall, tortured them insanely, and murdered them. … Amongst them was also the Shkud rabbi, Rabbi Terushkin” (Shaf-Brener 9).
According to Leon Bernsteins memoir “My Little Town Shkud,” Rabbi Terushkin’s “beloved, refined [son] Hirsh Terushkin … studied jurisprudence in Kovne.”
One of Rabbi Terushkin’s daughters, Batya, was active in the youth group Mizrachi (Kehilat Shkud 22). According to Jewish Gen’s Lithuania Directories database, Basia Terushkin was “found in Russia” in 1943, presumably having escaped the massacres in Shkud.
Another of Rabbi Terushkin’s daughters, Ester, was a member of the Israel National Fund:
KKL activists in Shkud after the parade on the 25th anniversary of the passing of Dr. Herzl z”l: Bottom row, right to left: Shmuel Axelrod, Pesach Bob (now in South Africa), Eliezer Eisen.
Second row: Feivel Neiman, Yentel Savel-Vrotnitzki, Tzvi Yoselevitz, David Davidov, Rachel Savel-Elkes, Yitzhak Cohen.
Third row: Meir Hovsha, Ester Terushkin Rosen (now in Israel), Chaim Natanson (now in Israel), Yeshayahu Yudelman (now in South Africa), Chaya Sheindling Mevezis (now in Israel), Alexander Pinta (now in Israel), Mina Cohen, Gershon Faktor (now in Israel), Mordechai Shlez, Itta Yankelovitz, Meir Taitz (now in Israel), Israel Tenor
According to Jewish Gen’s Lithuania Marriages database, Ester Terushkin, daughter of Yankel Khaim and Keine (nee Havsha), born in 1912, a cashier, married Abram Kravetz, son of Mausha and Pere Leya (nee Bloch), born in 1914, in Shkud in 1933.
Yad Vashem has this to say about the Terushkin family of Shkud:
Yaakov Terushkin was born in Sluck, Belorussia (USSR) in 1881 to Barukh and Dvora. He was a rabbi. Prior to WWII he lived in Skud, Lithuania. During the war he was in Skud, Lithuania. Yaakov was murdered in the Shoah. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by his daughter [Ester]. http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=5646615&language=en
Khaim Tirushkin was born in Skud, Lithuania in 1883 to Barukh and Tzipora. He was a rabbi of community and married Khiena nee Hovsha. Prior to WWII he lived in Skud, Lithuania. Khaim was murdered in the Shoah. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by his granddaughter. http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=5627817&language=en
Chiena Terushkin nee Hovsha was born in Shkod, Lithuania in 1883 to Mikhel and Khaia. She was married. Prior to WWII she lived in Shkod, Lithuania. During the war she was in Shkod, Lithuania. Chiena was murdered in the Shoah. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by her daughter. http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=5665333&language=en
Khiena nee Hovsha was born in Skuodas, Lithuania in 1885 to Yekhiel and Khaia. She was a housewife and married Yaakov. Prior to WWII she lived in Skuodas, Lithuania. During the war she was in Skuodas, Lithuania. Khiena was murdered in the Shoah. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by her granddaughter. http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=986087&language=en
Hirsh Terushkin was born in Skud, Lithuania in 1910 to Yaakov and Khiena. He was a teacher and single. Prior to WWII he lived in Skud, Lithuania. Hirsh was murdered in the Shoah. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by his sister. http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=5646616&language=en
Hirschel Tirushkin was born in Skuodas, Lithuania in 1910 to Yaakov and Khiena. He was a law student and married. Prior to WWII he lived in Skuodas, Lithuania. Hirschel was murdered in the Shoah. This information is based on a Page of Testimony submitted by his granddaughter. http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=976323&language=en