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"The Shadow of Death: The Holocaust in Lithuania"
By Harry Gordon
There are stories that touch our lives when we hear them. Harry Gordon's story in "The Shadow of Death" does just that. After reading this book, it is amazing that Gordon is even alive to this tell this story.
The Holocaust is one of the most documents events is history. The shocking horrors of this historical time period are retold in numerous books, films, and documents. But none can be any more eye-opening than Gordon's personal recollection of his experience in Lithuania during this historical nightmare.
Gordon's story begins in June of 1940 when Konvo was suddenly surrounded by military tanks which many assumed were from Germany. This frightened many Jews, including Gordon and his family because they had heard that the Germans had already taken over France and Poland and were sending the Jews to ghettos and concentration camps. As soon as the saw the red stars and realized that they were Russians instead of Germans, their fears instantly disappeared. Little did they know that this was only the beginning of this horrendous event. Then in March of 1941, an order was issued that all German citizens in newly annexed Russian territory were to return to Germany. Jews now realized that war between Germany and Russia was unstoppable.
War began on June 22, 1941; this was also the beginning of a long battle to survival for Gordon. Gordon and his family, along with many other Jews in Konvo, tried to escape, only to find out that they had to turn around and return home. People were being shot to death and women were being tormented and raped; everything was chaos. Gordon was also faced with another tragedy in his life when he returned home: the death of his mother, who had died in a German hospital of "poison," as the German hospital worker told him.
The Jews were soon forced by the Germans to move into the ghettos. Many had to leave so quickly that they could not take many of their belongings, however, this didn't matter because once they were in the ghetto, the Germans collected the valuables leaving Jews with almost nothing. While in the ghetto, Gordon worked for the airfield work brigade working very hard for eighteen hours a day.
The little ghetto was liquidated on October 4, 1941; Gordon and his family along with other Jews in the small ghetto were all moved into the big ghetto, left to find a new place to live.
...emendously careful in their everyday lives and not discuss about their past neither their families. Jews had to be completely cut off from the real world. They would come across problems in a location so it was essential to move to different homes. Children spent most of their childhood with strangers. Imagining the children, their main concern was probably if their families would survive the war, and that they may not be able to find their parents when it’s all over. Because children were taken by complete strangers, it was likely that they would not see their parents or other relatives again.
Some of the horrors of Nazi Germany are depicted through the eyes of Albert who lives in the Kovno ghetto. Before the ghetto his parents were well off, but once Nazi Germany began their rights as citizens and humans began to deteriorate. The Jewish were taken to the Kovno ghetto
In the second half of the film, it is now March 13th, 1943, and the liquidation of the ghetto is taking place. Many Jews are unjustly killed as they are pulled from their houses or did not co-operate. Those who tried to hide are found and kill...
The Nazis began to force Jews into designated areas known as ghettos. These ghettos were not just a place for the Jewish population to stay, but used as a starting point from which the Jews were then placed into concentration and death camps. When placed in these camps, many were killed immediately upon entering the camps by the gas chambers, ovens, or bullets. Some didn’t even make it to the camps, but were shot and dumped into mass graves by the German mobile killing squad called the Einsatzgruppen. Sadly, many of those sent ...
Almost all of the Warsaw Jews were killed in the gas chambers, the moment they arrived. The Germans had deported the Jews to the to the Lublin/Majdanek concentration camp, and to the Poniatowa, Trawniki, Budzyn, and Krasnik forced labor camps. The German’s plan was to liquidate the ghetto in only 3 days, but the fighters of the ghetto managed to keep it the ghetto there for more than a full month.
"History1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/tp/holocaust.htm - Similar Sites and Reviews | Xmarks." Xmarks | Bookmark Sync and Search. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. .
On April 19, 1943, after months of secret planning, something revolutionary occurred for Jews during the Holocaust. It was the day of the largest Jewish revolt against German-occupied Europe; the uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto. On the eve of Passover, around 750 Jewish resistance fighters stood up to the Nazi soldiers in refusal of mass deportation, an attempt to save themselves from what was thought to be the inevitable. The heavily-armed and well-trained German troops eventually defeated the resistance; this event demonstrated the dedication of the Jewish fighters to attempt to save the others during a time of life or death. The Jews initiated this uprising because it was thought to be the only option of continued life for Jews in the Ghetto,
"Ghettos under the Nazis - My Jewish Learning." Ghettos under the Nazis - My Jewish Learning. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2014.
On April 1, 1933, the Nazis started their first action against the Jews by announcing a boycott of all Jewish- run businesses. About five months later, the Nuremberg Laws were issued on September 15, 1935. These excluded Jews from public life and also took away their citizenship as well. On November 9-10, 1938; burning of synagogues and destroying of Jewish business took place. Jews were physically attacked and about 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. This night was also known as “Kristallnacht” or “Night of Broken Glass”. Also on November 9th Hershel Grynszpan, a 17 year old Jewish boy, shot Ernest vom Rath because he was departed from his family. Rath was the third secretary in the Ger...
2nd Part Hall, Allan Incredible Stories of young Jews who hid in the heart of Nazi Berlin The Daily Record 23 March 2013 www.dailyrecord.co.uk Rahel
Joyce began the interview by explaining the pre-war period. Joyce Kleinman was born to a beautiful home in Czechoslovakia on September 12, 1925. Although some discrimination was present, no significantly harmful acts were conducted against the Jewish community. All races could eat wherever they pleased, and all children were schooled together, explained Joyce. The discrimination arose in 1939, when World War II began in Poland. At this time, Joyce was 11 years old and Reisi was 14. Joyce explained how the two girls would often hear sirens outside their windows along with shootings as the war raged on. They would hear planes flying over the roof of their house, and they were not able to open their windows for fresh air because of the terrifying noise. Jews were no longer allowed at school, and all of the Jews were one day required to go down to the police station. Because Joyce and Reisi’s father was a well-respected man within the community, the police let them leave.
”(Feldman 29) These two things tie into each other. The Holocaust was a genocide. Many innocent people were torn apart from their families, for many never to see them again. This murder of the “Jewish people of Europe began in spring 1941.”
The massacres of Jews began immediately after the Soviet counterattcks on June 29, 1941, before German police and officials even arrived. In Daugavpils, all Jews between the ages of sixteen to sixty were called to the down town square where they were assembled and incarcerated. At one of the main streets in Riga, Bear Slayer Street (the bear stands for the Russians) were the two Riga ghettos.
Hermanns, William. The Holocaust: From a Survivor of Verdun, New York, NY, Harper and Row
In September of 1939 German soldiers defeated Poland in only two weeks. Jews were ordered to register all family members and to move to major cities. More than 10,000 Jews from the country arrived in Krakow daily. They were moved from their homes to the "Ghetto", a walled sixteen square block area, which they were only allowed to leave to go to work.