Karaites in North-Eastern Europe: The Karaite Community of Troki between the Two World Wars Mikhail Kizilov The community of Troki was the oldest and largest Karaite community in Poland- Lithuania. The earliest written document that testifies to the presence of Karaites in the town is the Karaite ketubba of 1400. In addition to the Karaite community, there also was a Rabbanite qehila. In 1646, however, in order to avoid competition with the growing Rabbanite community, local Karaites sent a petition to the Polish gov- ernment demanding removal of the Rabbanite Jews from the town. From that mo- ment on, until the Russian annexation of Poland-Lithuania, the Rabbanites were not allowed to trade or to acquire property in Troki. 1 In contrast to their rather well-to-do Crimean brethren, merchants and tobacco- traders, most of Troki's Karaites were farmers. At the beginning of the twentieth century the community had been living compactly along the Wielka Kowieńska street 2 in the northern part of Troki, where they also had their agricultural planta- tions. According to the memoirs of local inhabitants, the town was divided into sev- eral districts: Rogatka, Śródmieście, Karaimszczyzna, and Za Mostem. Although the Karaites had been living in all the aforementioned districts, the main part of the community inhabited the northern part of Troki, the so-called „Karaimszczyzna.” 3 1 MIKHAIL KIZILOV; TATJANA SHCHEGOLEVA, Troki glazami evreya. Evreyskie zhurnalisty 30– ykh godov XX veka o gorode Troki i ego obitateliakh, in: Paralleli 4–5 (2004), pp. 352–354. 2 Later renamed to Karaimska street, subsequently to M. Melnikait÷s during the Soviet times, and then again back to the „Karaite street“ (Karaimų gatve). 3 Due to the fact that the main language of the Troki Karaite community in interwar years was Polish, the author will use mainly Polish transliteration of the personal names and placenames. Quotations from Polish, Russian, Hebrew, and German sources are given in the author’s trans- lation. For more on the Karaite community of Troki before World War I see JACOB MANN, Texts and Studies in Jewish History and Literature, Vol. 2, Karaitica, Philadelphia 1935, pp. 551–1408; MAJER BALABAN, Karaici w Polsce, in Idem, Studja Historyczne, Warszawa 1927, pp. 55–89; JURGITA ŠIAUČIŪNAITö-VERBICKIENö, Ką rado Trakuose Žilberas de Lanua, arba kas yra Trakų žydai, in: Lietuvos Istorijos Studijos 7 (1999), pp. 28–37; GOLDA AKHIEZER; DAN SHAPIRA, Qara’im be-LiÔa u-ve-Vohlyn-GaliÒia ad ha-me’a ha-18, in: Peamim 89 (2002), pp. 19–60; MIKHAIL KIZILOV, The Arrival of the Karaites (Karaims) to Poland and Lithuania: A Survey of Sources and Critical Analysis of Existing Theories, in: Archiwum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 12 (2002–2003), pp. 29–45; Idem, Ezra ben Nisan ha-Rofe of Troki (1595–1666) – A Karaite Physician in Legend and History, in: Leipziger Beiträge zur jüdischen Geschichte und Kultur 1, München 2003, pp. 83–103; GOLDA AKHIEZER; ILYA DVORKIN, Ktovot ha-MaÒevot mi-Bate ha-´Almin be-LiÔa, in: Peamim 98–99 (2004), pp. 225–260. On the Troki dialect of the Kipchak-Karaim language see the classical studies by TADEUSZ KOWALSKI, Karaimische Texte im Dialekt von Troki. Texty Karaimskie w narzeczu Trockiem, Kraków 1929; Idem, Pieśni