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23 First Name: Edith Also Known As: Edith Singer Last Name: Turner Date of Birth: June 23, 1929 City of Birth: Vilna Country of Birth: Poland (now Lithuania) Shema Yisrael Edith Singer Turner I was born in Vilna, Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania), in 1929. I had a wonderful childhood surrounded by my family, good friends, and excellent schools. It all changed abruptly when I was ten years old. Germany attacked Poland in September 1939. Within two weeks, Poland lost the war. My father, Nachem Singer, had experience from the First World War, and he believed that it was safer to live in a small town during wartime. So we left our lovely home and the beautiful, cultural city of Vilna and moved to a small town called Święciany. Within a few weeks, Germany and the Soviet Union entered into an agreement whereby the Soviet Army occupied the eastern part of Poland. Święciany became part of the Soviet Lithuanian Republic. On June 22, 1941, just before my twelfth birthday, the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. I remember the day when the German tanks entered and the soldiers wearing helmets marched in. It was a sunny June day, but to me it looked dark, like a black cloud descending on us. Shortly after, the Nazi terror began against the Jews. Three months after the Germans invaded, the SS rounded up the entire Jewish population of our town and sent us to Poligon, which was an extermination site. Then the Germans moved Jews from small towns and villages to the Poligon Camp. There were about eight thousand Jews in the camp. Lithuanian police and SS surrounded and guarded the camp. Conditions were brutal. Men, women, and children were squeezed into three small barracks, practically one on top of the other. We had no food or water. The latrines were in front of the barracks. It was hot and the stench was terrible. If anyone tried to escape, they were shot on the spot. 24 Out of Chaos My mother, Miriam Singer, was a nurse. She joined a few doctors and nurses who formed a semi-emergency tent to treat many injured and sick patients. Talking to several people, she learned that the Lithuanian commandant could be bribed, and she found a man who knew him. During the roundup, she gave this man a diamond ring, earrings, and a beautiful gold watch surrounded with diamonds to bribe the commandant to let us go. The commandant believed that sooner or later we would be caught, so he let us go. My parents, sister Alice, fifteen years old, and I escaped with four more people, who my mother claimed were our family. They ran in a different direction, and we never saw them again. A couple hours after we had escaped, the Germans shot and killed all eight thousand Jews. After walking all night, we hid in the barn of decent Christians, the Mishkela family. They kept us for four weeks, but we had to leave because it was too dangerous for the Mishkelas to hide Jews. Not knowing which place would be safer for us, we left to join my father’s family in Głębokie, Poland (now in Belarus). The trip to Głębokie was frightening and exhausting. Avoiding SS and police stations near the town of Postawy in Belarus, the wonderful Mr. Mishkela and his son Juzek led the way. It took us four cold November nights. I was scared walking in the dark and hearing dogs barking. We carried bread, water, and cooked potatoes. Mr. Mishkela brought us to the home of his reliable Christian friends who allowed us to rest near the warm oven, and they gave us hot soup. As soon as we got to Głębokie, the Gestapo forced the Jewish population to give up their homes and move into a small, crowded area of the town, which became the Głębokie Ghetto. An electrified fence with a big iron gate surrounded the ghetto, guarded by Germans, local police, and German shepherds. The Gestapo counted the Jews, who worked as forced laborers for the German Army, as the Jews went in and out of the ghetto. In the summer of 1942, a tragic massacre took place in the ghetto. The SS divided the ghetto into two parts; one was for the older people and the other for the younger people who were assigned to work and carried colored work permits indicating the importance of their job. My...

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