The Shadow of Death: The Holocaust in Lithuania

Illustrations

In a photo sentto the uncles in America, Harry Gordon, age three or four, sits on the steps ofa government building in Kovno below the statue of the Fallen Lithuanian Soldier. Surrounding him are his father, Yakob Gordon, his mother, Eva Ganckewitz Gordon, his Uncle Abraham Gizelter, and his Aunt Ettel Ganckewitz Gizelter, Eva's oldest sister. Above left, Abraham and Ettel Gizelter, Harry's guardians after his mother was murdered and his father sent away, in a formal prewar photograph sent to Ettel's brothers in America. Both died during the Holocaust. Above right, Uncle Borach Shapiro, husband ofEva's youngest sister, Celia. A salesman dealing in German candy and dishes before the war, he survived Auschwitz and Dachau with Harry. After the war he learned that his son Maishke had survived Buchenwald. Below, an early photo of Celia, Solomon, and Golda Ganckewitz, Harry's aunts and uncle, who lived in his grandfather Ganckewitz's apartment house, along with the Gordons. All three died during the Holocaust. Harry, at about seven or eight, with his Aunt Celia on the balcony oftheir home in Kovno. The Ganckewitz sisters-Celia, Golda, Eva, and Ettel (missing from the picture)-were devoted to each other. Above, the Ninth Fort, where 40,000 executions took place: 25,000 Kovno Jews, 10,000 Jews deported from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, and thousands ofJewish prisoners ofwar who had served in the Red Army. Photo by Diane Franzen, 1984. Below, the gate to a tunnel in the Ninth Fort, possibly one ofthe tunnels used in the December 25, 1943, escape. Photo by Diane Franzen, 1984. A towering monument at the Ninth Fort, built by the Soviet Union in memory ofthose who died there. An inscription at its base reads "'lb the Victims ofFascism." Photo by Diane Franzen, 1984. Above, Harry, second from the right in the first row, at Bad Worishofen , where he waited for his papers from the U.S. to come through and where he met his wife, Jean (Genya Lelonik), from Poland. Below, Harry (left) at a Friday night Shabbas dinner at Bad Worishofen. A monument at BadWorishofen erected in memory ofJews killed in the Holocaust. Harry, about twenty-five years old, at Vilas Park in Madison, Wisconsin. The Jewish Welfare Council there arranged jobsfor him at the OscarMayer plant and later at a dairy. Below , the Gordon family on Thanksgiving Day 1962, thankful to be in America and American citizens. Harry and Jean's children are Eric (age eleven), Vivian (one), and Abraham (nine). ...