Postcards
Postcards Shep Zitler received as a Prisoner-of-War at Stalag VIII B from his sister Doba. The bottom postcard, dated September 16, 1942, reads: “Mother and Father are no more. Meer is in Lidris. Doba and little child are in GhettoGhetto: an enclosed district where Jews were forced to live separate from the rest of society.
The concentration of Jews in ghettos was a policy implemented by Germany in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The establishment of ghettos was often the first stage in a process which was followed by deportation to concentration camps and selection for extermination or for forced labor. Forcing Jews into ghettos required their ingathering from surrounding areas and their segregation from local populations. Source: Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. . There is no one else. If you want to write ‘Doba Lewin address: Blok Kalis’Kalis: a small labor camp located outside of the Vilna ghetto. It housed about 1250 workers and their families.
The camp resembled a ghetto more than a concentration camp in that families were not separated and the clothing was ordinary. The workers were engaged in making fur garments for the German army. This involved re-manufacturing confiscated civilian fur coats into winter uniforms.
On March 27, 1944, a deportation (Aktion; action) involving the children took place. It was said that the children were to be taken to a clinic near the camp to receive anti-typhoid shots. Some of the mothers went with their children to the “vaccinations.” Martin Weiss arrived at the clinic, grabbed the children and loaded them onto trucks. The mothers resisted and several of them were put on the trucks also. One woman who shouted “Murderer” to Weiss was shot on the spot. The children were sent to death camps. With the Soviet army near and the German front collapsing, the inmates of Kalis were taken to Ponary and murdered or sent to other camps further west. Sources: Encyclopedia of the Holocaust; Arad, Ghetto in Flames. Street Mindaugievis 15 m 24 Vilnius.”
Photo Credit: Shep Zitler
