Rochelle Blackman Slivka

Born 1922, Vilna, Poland

Germany occupied Vilna in June 1941. In October, Rochelle and her family were confined to the Vilna ghetto, where her mother died. Her father was killed in a camp in Estonia. When the Vilna ghetto was liquidated in 1943, Rochelle and her sister were deported--first to the Kaiserwald camp in Latvia and later to Stutthof, near Danzig. In 1945, on the sixth week of a death march that forced the sisters to protect their bare feet with rags, the Soviet army liberated them.

Describes massacre of Jews at Ponary, on the outskirts of Vilna.

Steven Springfield

Born 1923, Riga, Latvia.

The Germans occupied Riga in 1941, and confined the Jews to a ghetto. In late 1941, about 28,000 Jews from the ghetto were massacred at the Rumbula forest. Steven and his brother were sent to a small ghetto for able-bodied men. In 1943 Steven was deported to the Kaiserwald camp and sent to a nearby work camp. In 1944 he was transferred to Stutthof and forced to work in a shipbuilding firm. In 1945, Steven and his brother survived a death march and were liberated by Soviet forces.

Describes a massacre in the Rumbula Forest, Latvia.

Aaron Lejzerowicz