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Late 1941, Warsaw, ghetto. “ענליוו ןגעוו תועידעי” [“News about Vilna”] Account by Miriam Abramowska, 20-year old refugee from Vilna, recorded by Nechemia Tytelman, concerning the beginning of the German occupation of the town
[1] Information about Vilna503
Events until 12 October are as follows:
With the arrival of the Germans, the Lithuanians – part of the Lithuanian Red Army volunteer force who had broken away – began their vicious work, which consisted in seizing everyone for work and sending people away en masse. Thousands of people were dragged away by them, and itis not known to this day where their bones lie.
For six weeks the Jews lived relatively peacefully. There was no ghettoyet, and people expected that life would continue in the same way.
The sudden Bekanntmachung announcing that Jews had killed two Germans changed the situation entirely. The incident had allegedly [2] taken place on Rudnicka or Szklana Street. That provocation was the lead-up to driving all the Jews into a ghetto in a single day. The Vilna ghetto comprises sev-eral streets, such as Jatkowa, Rudnicka, and Straszuna.
Since the arrival of the Germans, the Jews have had to wear yellowpatches and walk in the middle of the road.
At the same time that the Jews were driven into the ghetto, men and boys from age 13 up were arrested. They were taken en masse to Ponary and Łukiszki, and shot by the thousand.
The newly formed kehilla administration has already been dissolved several times and its members arrested.
The Jewish ghetto in Vilna is surrounded by a wooden fence. Windows facing the Christian neighbourhood are boarded up.
[3] Jews go en masse to forced labour, because it gives them an opportunity to buy some food products outside the ghetto.
