About mid-November the authorities ordered the completion of the resettlement operation as soon as possible. Then, one day, at 11:30 a.m., the operation was stopped and Lithuanian militia [40] entered Ghetto II. They took all the Jews (approximately 8,000) to Łukiszki prison. Given the scope of the operation and its rushed pace, many Jews managed to escape and go into hiding. The Lithuanians apparently noticed this and, having emptied Ghetto II, started searching for hidden Jews with the help of police dogs. Not even the police or the Judenrat were spared and thus a complete liquidation of Ghetto II was achieved.
At night, around mid-November, the authorities mobilised the entire police force, who received an order to bring all holders of yellow certificates to the commissariats immediately, along with their families and documents. It caused understandable fear and panic, as police officers came to their homesin the middle of the night and ordered them to dress and go to the commissariat. Indescribable tragedy ensued when family members of professionals were given blue identity cards, while all [41] unauthorised family members, such as children older than 16, siblings, and so on, were given none. Such blue certificates were proof that their holders were members of the family of a yellow Schein holder, and as such, they were dependents of the latter. At 6 a.m. the following day, all workers with their families (who were provided withblue cards) were to go to their respective work details (except for employees of the Judenrat, who gathered in the building of the Jewish community). Their departure dragged on until 2 p.m. and then Lithuanians entered the ghetto and took all the remaining Jews, approximately 2,000 people. On that day, there were numerous incidents of Jews being killed, for example whena daughter did not want to be separated from her old mother or father, or when a worker wanted to take his adult son with him to the work detail. The operation was completed at 5 p.m. and then the Lithuanians started looting Jewish property. The Jews found in the ghetto after 5 p.m. (300–400 people) were taken by the Lithuanians to the empty Ghetto II. There, they found Jewish homes [42] destroyed and looted, corpses strewn in the streets, and the sick dying in their homes. The entire ghetto seemed dreadfully deserted, like a city after a pogrom. Those people did not stay in Ghetto II long, becausesoon they were taken away and shot. A fairly large group, however, managed to escape with the help of the Jewish police. During those few days when the Jews stayed in Ghetto II, there were rumours that Ghetto II would be revived again, but, unfortunately, they turned out to be false.
VI L NA [ 22] 323
