»The group going to the ghetto split in two: one part – Shimon Eidlson, Aharon Maneiskin, Aharon Vilentchuk and Tuvia Pilovnik – went through the village of Sargenai. Joining me along the straight road were Ivan Vasilenko, Aba Diskant, Berl Gempl, Pinia Krakinovski, Mendl Deitch, Meishe Gerber and Michael Gelbtrunk. .... I led the group along the road. The edges of the road were covered with snow. The road itself was smooth and free of snow. We walked in the middle of the road in order not to leave footprints. We walked quickly. Electric light posts illuminated the road. Everything was covered with snow. There was too much light for our »hike.«....We encountered a guard who was flirting with a girl and was not aware of us. ....We lay in the snow beyond the barbed-wire fence. Everything around us was covered in white. There was nowhere to hide here….I do not know whether Jesus was really born on Christmas. But we, the corpse-burners, did indeed come to life on that night. Christmas night marked the birth of Christianity; us prisoners we created the legend of the rebellion. We fled from the Ninth Fort to the ghetto and landed us in the Kauen concentration camp which the ghetto had been turned to during our absence.«

Alex Faitelson: Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania 1941-1944

»I still bear the sight in mind: a pretty girl, a brunette of about fifteen, is streched out across the grave and looks at me with large black eyes, full of surprise and fear, with her mouth pratly open... I could not move away.«

Alex Faitelson: Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania 1941-1944

From November 27 until the day of the escape,
December 25, 1943, there were sixty-four prisoners
in the Fort working under order 1005 B:
26 Jewish prisoners of war
14 Partisans from the Kovno ghetto
17 Men from the Kovno ghetto including a young boy
3 Women from the Kovno ghetto
3 Russians from the vicinity of Jonava
1 Polish woman

Alex Faitelson: Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania 1941-1944

Alex Faitelson: Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania 1941-1944, Alex Faitelson: Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania 1941-1944, Alex Faitelson: Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania 1941-1944,

»There was a hand drill in the smithy with three borers out of order. I took this tool, returned to the tunnel and began to drill into the door. Gelbtrunk stood on guard. The drilling was difficult. An iron door, six millimeters thick, with drilling borers of three millimeters. To make an opening through which we could crawl, I had to drill at least 350 holes. The drill made a noise. What worried me was whether the noise could be heard from the other side of the door. Although the walls of the fort were a meter and a half thick, I did not know what was on the other side of the door. I stopped drilling from time to time and listened. All was quiet. I’d already made three holes. The wind was coming through them. Gelbtrunk suddenly came running: “Alter, you are being called!” I ran with bated breath, full of fear... the trucks had to be cleared. I drilled in the same manner for some days but only managed to make twelve holes, for I had to cease drilling a number of times during the day.«

Alex Faitelson: Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania 1941-1944

»Paul Blobel approached his task systematically. In accordance with Himmler’s instructions of June 3, 1943, Blobel set up a special unit to teach how to eradicate mass graves, burn corpses, grind bones and plant trees on the sites of former graves. In courses lasting ten days he instructed how to burn dead bodies. Twelve officers participated in every course, officers of the various camps...«

Alex Faitelson: Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania 1941-1944

»Having escaped from the fort, the Jewish escapees split into three groups. The search for the remaining escapees is being assiduously pursued.«

from a document by the Gestapo

Hochzeitsfrühstueck von Onkel Hermann im Hotel Adlon, Berlin Dezember 1940.
Es hat mich einige Überwindung gekostet, Florentine Rost van Tonningen, die unverbesserliche Witwe Mainoud Rost van Tonningens in Holland zu besuchen, aber es war notwendig, nachdem eine solche Gelegenheit noch knapp 60 Jahre nach dem Krieg bestand. Inzwischen ist die Witwe verstorben.

Onkel Hermann war ehemaliger „Stellvertretender Sonderbeauftragter des freiwilligen europäischen Sondereinsatzes in den besetzten Ostgebieten“. Mit dieser kryptischen Berufsbezeichnung war die Germanisierung des Ostens gemeint: mein Onkel war ab Anfang 1942 damit beschäftigt, in erster Linie Holländer - später sollten es auch Dänen, Belgier, Franzosen werden - in den „neu erworbenen“ (mein Vater, der Bruder meines Onkels, in einem Geschäftbrief aus dieser Zeit) Gebieten anzusiedeln. Eine Zahl von "3" Millionen Holländern geisterte zeitweise durch die Welt, ueber 5000 Holländer kam das Projekt jedoch nicht hinaus; bereits zwei Jahre später brach es zusammen, als im Juni ’44 die Front nachgab. Hermann bemühte sich verzweifelt, seine fliehenden Schutzbefohlenen in Lagern zusammenzuhalten, damit sie nicht in die Heimat entkamen, so durchdrungen war er von der Richtigkeit seines Auftrages.
Ich habe keinerlei Hinweise gefunden, dass mein Onkel im Fort oder sei es auch nur im Ghetto gewesen ist (ein Besuch von Minister Rosenberg, nicht zuletzt in seiner Eigenschaft als Chef des Einsatzstabes Rosenberg ist dokumentiert: es ging um die Sicherstellung jüdischen Schrifttums für das geplante Institut in Frankfurt) oder auch nur näher über die dortigen Vorkommnisse informiert war. Etliche seiner Reisen führten ihn in dieser Zeit (1942-44) nach Kaunas, wo er sich mit NS Offiziellen im Hotel Metropol traf, nur wenige Kilometer entfernt. Das Hotel gibt es heute noch.

»At the end of the nineteenth century the Russians decided to fortify their western borders. The city of Kovno played an important strategic role at the time, for all the roads and railways connecting Germany and Russia had to pass through the city. In July 1879, the Russian Tsar, Alexander II, authorized the military staff’s plan to build a chain of nine citadels around the city of Kovno. In 1909, the Ninth Fort was built alongside the town of Sargenai, near the Zhemaitchu road, eight kilometers from the center of town.«

Alex Faitelson: Heroism & Bravery in Lithuania 1941-1944

»Forty-two men worked at the “battlefield” burning corpses, twenty were employed doing other jobs in the fort and only two were permitted not to work because of illness.«

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