I stayed in the Wilno ghetto until shortly before it was liquidated. I managed to escape on 20 September 1943 and went into hiding with my brother until my liberation."

Source: affidavit by Lala Weiss, 1957

In the summer of 1941, my homeland was occupied by the Nazis. The first shock was when my father was arrested and dragged away. I never saw him again. Together with my mother and my brother, I was sent to the Wilno ghetto. Here I lived in the most terrible conditions. I had to do the heaviest road construction or field work every day. We were harassed at work, we went hungry and trembled every moment before being deported. My mother was seriously ill and she was dragged away in 1942. As the conditions got worse and worse, I managed to escape the ghetto, and together with my brother I hid in the neighbourhood of Wilno, in the village of Werki.

Source: affidavit by Lala Weiss, around 1968

Vilnius was occupied by the Germans in the summer of 1941. Kl. had to carry out heavy forced labour on the railway and was beaten a lot.

In September 1941 Kl. was not transferred to the ghetto, but was imprisoned with other Jews. He lived in a crowded room and was severely beaten many times.

He managed to get out of the prison and into the ghetto thanks to his skilled labour diploma; those who remained in the prison had been killed.

Because the ghetto was overcrowded, Kl. had to sleep outside with his mother, wife and child. They were only given a room on the floor in October. The food was completely inadequate. In the early days, a series of selections took place, during which Kl. went into hiding several times. Finally, Kl. was separated from his relatives along with his brother. The latter were killed.

Kl. and his brother were deported to Estonia on a 4-day railway journey without any food.

Source: Expert report by Dr Pineas, 1969

Before the war, I lived in Vilnius with my husband and children at Stefanastr.21. Shortly after the Germans marched into Vilnius in July 1941, my husband was dragged out of the flat by the Gestapo and I haven't seen him since. I myself had to leave my flat in July 1941 and move to the WILNO GHETTO, where I had to live in Osmianskastr.8 in a room with many other people. The ghetto consisted of only a few streets fenced in with barbed wire, strictly guarded by Germans and Lithuanians. I had to wear the yellow Star of David on my chest and back as a Jewish badge and was subject to a Judenrat appointed by the Germans, whose chairman was called Gens.- I worked under duress at the railway station doing various transport jobs.- When the ghetto was liquidated in August 1943, I lost two children who were taken away from me and never returned.- I myself was waggoned in and taken to ZAL Waiwara.

Source: affidavit

I was in the Vilna ghetto with him, where we both worked on the railway. We went to work under armed guard and we were also guarded at work and wore a yellow badge in the shape of a "Star of David" on our clothes.

Since the establishment of the ghetto in 1941, I was inside the ghetto together with Josef Segalowicz, until they began to transfer people from the ghetto to the camps before its liquidation. I was transferred to the concentration camp in Riga in September 1943, which was called "Reiswanwald" (?).

Testimony of Chaim Srolowicz, 1972

Note: Reiswanwald == Kaiserwald

In July 1941, the German troops came to Wilno. I was dragged into forced labour and was beaten several times by the Germans and Ludwieners. The Germans immediately built a ghetto in Wilno and in September 1941 I was sent to the ghetto, where I had to do all kinds of forced labour every day. I was beaten a lot and never got enough to eat. Up to 20 people were crammed into one room. I did the hardest work for the soldiers and the Gestapo. I had to wash clothes and scrub floors. I dragged stones as the Germans were building roads and I dug trenches for those who had been shot. At the end of September 1943 I came to Estonia but from there I went straight on to Viivikonna.

Source: affidavit

The persecution began immediately after the outbreak of the German-Russian war. In September 1941, I was driven into the ghetto where I was exposed to all the horrors and terrors from the very beginning. My whole family - my daughter, my wife, my four younger brothers and their families - were shot in September. [It was in the village of Niemieci b. Wilhno (a suburb of Wilna). This was a terrible shock for me, from which I never recovered. I myself was made to do various forced labour in the ghetto. Despite my age, I had to saw wood and carry wood. We were often mistreated and every day it was a question of whether we would not be murdered. One day, when I didn't work fast enough for a guard, he beat me up until I was unconscious. A friend who worked with me was also abused and died in front of me. I haven't heard well since that day.
I tried to escape in 1942 but was discovered. It was a miracle that I survived. As far as I remember, it was in the winter of 1943 (note: probably a spelling mistake). As punishment for this, I was beaten first. Scars on my back still bear witness to these beatings today. I probably only stayed alive because the guards who discovered my escape were completely drunk. They made fun of me by taking away my clothes, then they ordered me to run and as I ran they shot after me. I wasn't hit, but I fell over and stayed down. The guards left in their full drunkenness and I stayed alive. Of course, I also had to suffer from hunger, dirt and the usual diseases and infections in the ghetto. In 1943  when the ghetto began to be liquidated, I was able to make contact with a business friend shortly beforehand. It was the farmer Lipinski in the village of Ragnony near Vilnius. At the risk of my life, he managed to intercept me on my way to work and bring me safely to Ragony. I lived in hiding with him until my liberation. At first I was in a barn and later in the cellar. These months were also torture. [Every day I had to expect to be discovered. My rescuer could only give me very little and always cold food. After all, he was also exposed to mortal danger.

The Nazis came in the summer of 1941 and that was the beginning of my ordeal. The first place they dragged me to was the Wilno ghetto. I lived here under the most oppressive conditions. I had to starve and work hard. I was in constant fear of being deported. My family was taken away and killed. I often worked with illnesses for fear of being recognised.

Source: Affidavit

Before the outbreak of the persecution, I lived in Podbrodzie with my husband Szmul Jewerowicz, whom I had married in 1925, my son and my daughter.

My home was occupied by the Russians in 1939 and the Nazis came in the summer of 1941. We were immediately subjected to all kinds of persecution. The most terrible thing happened to me when a little later my husband and my two children, my mother and four of my siblings were taken away from Podbrodzie, where they were shot right in the neighbourhood. This was a terrible shock for me. I hid for some time and saw no possibility of surviving. I made my way to Vilnius. In the ghetto I had to endure all the torments of this camp.

Source: affidavit

I stayed in the Wilno ghetto until shortly before it was liquidated. I managed to escape on 20 September 1943 and hid with my brother until my liberation. We fled to a farmer near Wilno who lived in the village of Werki. We lived hidden in his barn, where we had dug a pit in the barn floor and covered it with wooden planks. The farmer had piled hay over it. At irregular intervals he handed us food down into the pit. We were practically trapped in the barn as we were never allowed to leave it. We lived in undoubtedly inhumane conditions. We were liberated by the Russians at the end of July 1944.

Source: affidavit

Hoping that my children were still alive - I was not an eyewitness to their deaths - I fled in September 1943 and hid in the village of Worsziany and the neighbourhood of Worsziany until my liberation. We lived under the greatest privations. Our hiding place was without air and light, we had no sanitary facilities and hardly anything to eat.

We lived in constant fear of death. We had to leave our hiding place in January 1944 because suspicions had already been aroused.

When I was liberated, I was only a shadow of a human being.

Source: affidavit

In the above matter [...] In 1941 the home town of Wilno was occupied by the Germans, in September 1941 the client and his parents were sent to the Wilno ghetto and from there in September 1943 to the forced labour camp HKP Wilno. In March 1944, a child action was carried out in the HKP Wilno, the child was smuggled out of the forced labour camp and taken to a Christian farmer named Lapin in Wilno. After the liberation in July 1944, the father picked up the child again. "The child was terribly neglected and had a rash all over its body, it was terribly emaciated. It was hidden in the cellar of the house where it lay on straw. Mr Lapin told me that he had to keep the child in the cellar. The child had become ill, but he could not dare to take it to a doctor."

Source: Extract from the Konrad Kittl file 1966 with statements from prison compensation proceedings from 1954?

We were also in H.K. Vilnius together. A daughter had been born to her in the ghetto in 1942. In 1944 there was a large-scale paediatric operation here in the H.K.P. and she lived in constant fear for her child. However, Dr Feigenberg succeeded in putting her to sleep artificially and smuggling her out of the detention centre.

Testimony of Lea Nemser, 1961?