A Gift to the Museum: Three Photographs of Šeduva
We are grateful to Alex Bomus for a wonderful recent donation to the museum: three historic photographs of Šeduva — its wooden synagogue, brick synagogue, and former Orthodox church.
For Alex, these are not simply old photographs of buildings. They are part of her family story.
Her great-great-grandfather was Shimon Pomus, a Šeduva watchmaker, jeweller and businessman. His workshop stood near the marketplace. He repaired and assembled watches and clocks and made jewellery by hand, serving local Lithuanian, Jewish and Roma customers.
His son, Aaron “Harry” Bomus, eventually took that tradition with him to New York. He established his own jewellery store, and later his son, Abraham Alexander Bomus, joined him in the business.
Three generations of watchmakers and jewellers!
Another of Shimon’s sons, Lippman Pomus, remained in Šeduva and worked as a watchmaker. He was lost in the Holocaust.
The Pomus family, however, was much larger, and its descendants are now spread across the world. This summer, descendants of the family visited the museum from Lithuania, Israel and even Kazakhstan, bringing with them their own memories and family stories.
These three photographs give us a glimpse of the Šeduva that their ancestors knew — the town where Shimon worked, where his family lived, and where Lippman continued the family craft.
We are deeply grateful to Alex for entrusting these photographs to the museum and helping preserve this part of Šeduva’s history for future generations.