How I saved myself from the Kovno Ghetto at the time of the
destruction of the ghetto. It was in the last days of the
liquidation of the Kovno Ghetto in July 1944. I am Gita Abramson
Bereznitzky, born on August 8, 1919, in the town Yurburg,
Lithuania.
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Gita Abramson Bereznitzky |
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In the beginning of June 1941 I had come to Kovno from
Shaulai for an operation. The war broke out while I was
still in the Jewish Hospital of Kovno. I was able to walk
again, so I went to my sister Bela, who then lived in
Kovno on Vilnaer street. We realized that we could not
escape, and therefore we stayed in Kovno. We moved into
the Ghetto in August 1941. I remained in the Ghetto from
August 1941 until July 1944, from the beginning to the
end, that is, from the the time when it was established
until the destruction of the Kovno Ghetto. In the Ghetto I
was recruited to the illegal anti-fascist partisan
organization, led by the writer Chaim Jelin (Chaim Yellin
became was ultimately captured by the Gestapo and died in
their hands, possibly by suicide - according to Avraham
Tory in his book Surviving the Holocaust - The Kovno
Ghetto Diary page 500 ) . As a member of the organization
I obeyed every command. Since I was fair-haired, and
looked like a non-Jew, I became a courier, a person who
could easily pass in and out of the Ghetto without wearing
the yellow star. Among those things that I did, I would go
to the home of a non-Jewish woman in our organization,
Mania Lishinzkene, a Lithuanian. She also was a courier
and lived in Slabotke Viliampole, at 14 Ragutsha Street.
She had a flat, where the responsible leaders of
government and Ghetto organizations would meet, along with
partisans and secret weapon dealers. At the end of June
1944, I was living at 8 Brolu Street in the Ghetto. This
is the place where the fence was located (the border of
the Ghetto) - on one side was Brolu street, and on the
other side, outside the Ghetto, was a cemetery. Here it
was easy to pass, but in order to pass, someone had to
watch. Pesach Shatel and Joshke Mikles would watch when I
would pass. Our friends Dima Gelpern (he still lives in
Vilna), Lucy Zimmerman, Rochel Padeson lived together with
me. It was right next to the Catholic cemetery. We were
separated from the cemetery by a barbed wire fence,
through which I would pass to go into the city without
wearing the yellow star.
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Mania Lishinzkene and Gita Abramson |
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Before the liquidation of the Ghetto, we, the surviving
members of the organization, stayed in the Ghetto in a hiding
place. In this hiding place, Dima Gelpern, (who now lives in
Vilna), Pesach Shate (died) and Nina Finkelstein (died) , Dr.
Brauns with his family, myself and others stayed together. On
July 13, 1944 the Germans discovered our hiding place. They
ordered all of us to leave and to stand up in lines of four
people in a row, and told us that we would be led to work. While
standing in the row, I decided I would escape given the first
opportunity. Each of us had one bottle of water, and a loaf of
bread, but I gave this away. I didn't take it so that I could
run more quickly. While we were being led through the Ghetto, I
recognized Mania Lishinzke standing on the other side of the
street. She also recognized me, and shouted to me: "Genia" (and
she motioned to me with her hand). I had from the beginning
decided that I had to risk an escape. While we were led through
Panjeru Street and near a big garden, I quickly left the row and
started to run. While running, I heard a shot, and at that
moment I threw myself into a field of tall potato plants. I
quickly threw away my coat with the yellow star, got up and
continued to run. While I was running, a young Lithuanian ran
after me and told me to stop. I thought that this was my end. He
came running up to me and asked me whether I knew a woman named
Sara and where she was. I answered him that I did not know her
and continued running. In this moment, I saw that Nina
Finkelstein was running with me, and both of us turned in the
direction to Mania's house. Mania was waited for us at her door,
so that she could take us immediately to her hiding place, which
was under the steps leading to her house. All this happened on
July 13, 1944. In the same night, Lucy Zimmerman came to us; she
had run from Alexot. All of us were very happy to have escaped
and to be together. We slept over night and the next morning,
one of us saw two German soldiers through the window. We crept
into the hiding place, but Lucy went out through the door. (She
looked Jewish). She crept through the fence into Mania's garden
and hurt her foot. Later, she went to the Ghetto and saw that
the Ghetto was burning. All this we heard only later. While
there, the Russian collaborators recognized her. She was a very
good looking, dark-haired, Jewish looking woman. Her foot was
bleeding. They approached her and asked her for her documents,
but unfortunately, she did not have any documents. She pointed
to the house and told them that she lived there. When they came
back to the house, Lucy asked Mania for the document, and said
that Mania was her sister. "Mania, you are my sister" she cried,
"give me the passport, help me." We were lying in the hiding
place, and heard all that was being said above our heads. Mania
called in one of the soldiers and offered him money, but he said
that the older one was the commander and if he would take money,
he also would agree. Unfortunately, when the second one entered
the house, and heard that she offered him money, he shouted at
her and said " you are a Jew too and you have to come with us."
Mania also looked Jewish. Mania with her little son, Lucy and
the soldiers left to the Ghetto. They were already standing
against the wall waiting to be shot, when a Lithuanian neighbor
of Mania's came after them and swore that she was not Jewish.
Then, a German approached her and asked her for her passport.
Mania answered that it was in her house in the cupboard. The
German soldiers, Mania with the child and Lucy came back from
the Ghetto to the house. The door of the cupboard was pulled
open and Mania showed the Germans her passport. The Germans said
to her: "Sorry, dear lady." Afterwards they left with Lucy to go
back to the Ghetto. Lucy was shot afterwards. Lucy had called:
"Mania, you are my sister. Give me the passport." Until today, I
can hear these words in my ears, but nobody could help her. This
was the end of the second day after the escape.
We heard through the floor what Mania said to herself: " Poor
Lucy, such a good woman, what a tragedy." Afterwards, Mania
opened one of the planks and told me to come out. She told me: "Genia,
I have to talk to you. You see that my house is being watched,
so you will have to leave." We stayed overnight and the next day
she contacted friends in the city and one of them Mikolas
Mustekin (this was his pseudonym) gave us an address in Kovno at
4 Lukshe Street, and the name of someone named Mattas. We did
not know who Mattas was. The next day Mania dressed us up and
brought us to Mattas using a different route. We arrived at a
flat on the second floor. The owners of the flat had left for
the country and gave it to their comrade Mattas, who carried a
walking stick and wore blue glasses pretending to be blind. He
greeted us and was very friendly to us. He cooked small flour
dumplings for us. Mania and her son Vitas brought us food and
cigarettes. Mania was like a mother to us, and her children were
like our brothers and sisters. The oldest son Tadas and Vitas,
the middle one treated us very well, without getting anything in
return. All this was seemed quite natural for them, when in
fact, they continually risked their lives for us.
A few days before the liberation of Kovno, which occurred on
July 27, 1944, our dear friend Mattas did not come home to spend
the night. We were very afraid and concerned and could not
understand what had happened. The lock of the outer door was not
in order, and so it was easy to enter the flat. Our window on
the second floor was exactly opposite the gate of the courtyard.
Nina and I decided that one of us would sleep and the other one
would watch to see who would enter through the gate. When I was
watching, I saw that Germans soldiers entered the courtyard.
This was early in the morning. They knocked on the windows and
called: "Get up, come out to work." I woke up Nina and we
decided to creep into the attic, which could be locked with a
key. We agreed that if they found us, we would say that we had
escaped from Vilna, from the Russians. Then we waited in
silence. Suddenly we heard a woman at the door say: "You, old
man, don't have to be afraid. They are only looking for people
who can work." To the Germans she said: "There is only an old
man living here, and he is not at home." It was our luck that
they left. From the anxiety I had very strong stomach cramps. I
crept out of the attic and on my belly crept to the toilet. When
I left the toilet I noted the sofa in the front room. I lifted
the seat and saw that it contained a chest that was empty except
for some soft potatoes. I told this to Nina and we decided that
we had to hide in the chest in the sofa, and wait until dark
until the siege ended. That is what we did. While we lay in the
sofa, I put a soft potato between the lid of the chest and the
seat, so that we would have air to breathe. We could not stop
thinking about what might have happened to Mattas. Maybe he
betrayed us? Later we heard a woman come to the flat looking for
the old man. She spoke as if to herself: "Don't be afraid, the
Germans have already left." I saw her feet through the opening.
I cannot recall how long we were in the chest. Suddenly we heard
the old man Mattas entering the flat with his stick. He went to
the parrot which was in a cage and noticed that the plaid cloth
which was on the sofa was in a different position than before.
He opened the sofa and saw us. What happiness that he had found
us! With tears in his eyes he repeatedly said: "My dear girls,
my good children." He told us that that night when he was coming
home, he was called to work on the streets. He played a bit,
pointing at his blue glasses and saying that he was totally
blind and therefore could only walk with the stick and could not
work. Thus, they let him go home. He was sure that they had
already found us and taken us away. How happy he was to find us!
The same day Mania's son Vitas came to us and brought us food.
We asked him to have Mania take us back to her house and that is
what happened. She again came to us, dressed us up and brought
us to the river. Tadas brought us to the other side of the
river, one at a time with a small boat. We could not pass the
Slobodka bridge, because one had to show documents which we did
not have. When we came to Mania, we met a Jewish man who was
also hiding there. Mania had found him in a public toilet and
taken him in to her house. She called him the "shitty one",
because he was full of dirt when she found him. On July 31 at
night Mania went out to the street and noted that it was totally
quiet. Suddenly she noticed the Red Army. She started to call
and we all left the house. We all run to the Soviet soldiers on
the street and out of joy kissed and hugged them, not knowing
what else to do. It is impossible to describe our joy. This we
will always remember and tell that only because of them were we
save.
I will never forget our dear "mother" Mania Lishinzke and her
children who lived 14 Ragucha1Street. Mania died on August 20,
1956 , from an abscess. We attended her funeral, and accompanied
her to her final resting place.
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"I was in the Shomer HaZair (Young Watchman - a Zionist
organization). I studied at the Gymnasium (secular high school)
in Yurburg and I showed you the picture of my class. My best
friend in Yurburg was Nuna Chaimovitch. In the Gymnasium we
would dance together. I was the girl and she was the "Kozak". In
Yurburg we spent a lot of time with the family. Meyerelie
Naividel, my mother's first cousin, (and grandfather of your
husband Benny Naividel) would come every Friday to our house.
Also our friends from school would come - our house was always
open and friendly. On Friday my mother would always prepare grey
peas. It was a tradition. We would talk then and sing together
."
"I was very active in several youth organizations. Then, in
1938 I went to Kovno. Before that I had worked in the Jewish
Bank in Yurburg, with Sundelovitch. Afterwards he left for Kovno
- there was a factory "Guma", and he was the main bookkeeper
there. When he left, he asked me also to come. I worked there
from 1938 and in 1940 I was sent to Shavel (Shaulai) in a
department of Guma. I worked in this department. Later, the
Soviets came and I was transferred from the department in Guma
to the "Prokturatur", where I worked in the secretarial
department. I worked there until I left for Kovno in June 1941
for my operation. I was there when the war started. My sister
Bela lived in Kovno. I went to live with her. We left her flat
and since it was late we went to a cellar on the street and were
sitting there. Then, we asked ourselves what we were waiting for
and so we left the cellar and went back to the flat, because I
was still very weak. Shortly afterwards, the cellar was burned
down. While sitting in her flat we were afraid, since I was an
activist. My mother sent us a letter through somebody - my
father was not alive any more by then. On July third the best
Jewish men of Yurburg were gathered and murdered. My mother was
still alive. She wrote that the "little one" should watch out,
since she knew about my activities. Afterwards, my mother was
also murdered. When the Ghetto was opened, Bela and I went there
and found a place to stay at 5 Ershvuko Street, and we lived
there. My sister and I worked. I worked on the airport and in
the brigade. Bela married. Together with her husband Yosef
Kaplan, she was taken to Alexot and from there to the
concentration camp in Stutthof (they now live in Israel). I
stayed in the Ghetto, in the organization. A lot of people left
to join the partisans, but I was told that they needed me in the
Ghetto, because I was fair-haired and could easily leave the
Ghetto and act as a courier."
"After the war I remained in Kovno and worked in the
orphanage as a bookkeeper. In the beginning I was again called
to work in the Prokuratur. There I worked as a secretary. They
paid very little. In the Jewish orphanage I would get food as
well, therefore I returned to work there. I did not have
anything. Afterwards I left to live in Vilna. There I worked in
a department of the Ministry of Health. Josef and I met at the
end of 1946 and we were married so thereafter. In 1947 my son
Aaron (Alik) was born. After my marriage and the birth of my
son, I worked in various places as a bookkeeper. I also worked
in a furniture department. I worked until I was 57 years old. On
June 28, 1990 we came to live in Israel."
Gita had written on Oct. 15, 1994, "During the war I was in
the Kovno Ghetto together with my sister Bella. We went through
an awful lot. Bella was also in the Stutthof Concentration camp.
I escaped from the Kovno Ghetto on July 13, 1944, the day they
liquidated the Ghetto in Kovno. I was lucky enough, with the
help of a Lithuanian woman, to hid out because I don't really
look Jewish. After my sister Bella was freed from the camp, we
both resided in Vilna. ....Bella and I with our families are now
residing in Israel for the last four years."
Gita Abramson Bereznizky lived
with her husband Yosef in Kiron, Israel. Their son Aaron (Alik),
a psychologist, lives with his family in Kfar Sava, Israel. They
immigrated to Israel from Vilna in 1990, along with Gita's
sister, Bella Abramson Kaplan. Gita died in August 2000, in Tel
Aviv, Israel. |