Signs of Klaipėda History

Sandora Society was a charitable, cultural, and educational society active in Lithuania Minor (mainly the Klaipėda Region) from 1904 to 1940. Its long-term chairman and leader was Lutheran priest Vilius Gaigalaitis. Based in Klaipėda (Memel), it supported Prussian Lithuanian activities as a counterweight to Germanization efforts. The society supported religious education for the youth, provided charitable aid to the elderly (including opening a modern care home in 1935 which continues to this day), organized church choirs, published monthly Pagalba as well as religious and educational books. It had a rich library which had about 7,000 books by 1937. Sandora and its institutions were closed after the German takeover of Klaipėda Region in 1939. The society was reestablished by Lutheran priests in 1989–1995.