Timeline of Events
- 1942
- January 16
- January 20
- March 1
- March 21
- May 27
- June 9
- June 28
- July 15
- July 23
- August 25
- September 5
- October 26
- December 17
- 1943
- February 1
- February 2
- March 13
- April 19
- August 23
- September 20
- October 14
- October 19
- November 3
- December 28
- 1944
- January 16
- January 22
- March 19
- May 15
- May 15
- June 6
- June 18
- July 9
- July 11
- July 20
- July 23
- August 1
- August 2
- August 9
- October 7
- November 23
- November 25
- December 11
- 1945
- January 17
- January 27
- February 4
- February 13
- February 13
- March 7
- April 2
- April 4
- April 11
- April 11
- April 11
- April 12
- April 13
- April 15
- April 17
- April 20
- April 23
- April 25
- April 27
- April 29
- April 30
- April 30
- May 4
- May 4
- May 5
- May 7
- June 4
- August 15
- September 2
- November 20
- November 21
- November 29
- December 1
- December 11
- December 22
Letter from Elkhanan Elkes
First page of the ethical will of Elkhanan Elkes, the chairman of the Kovno ghetto Jewish Council. Elkes wrote the letter between October 19 and November 11, 1943, and had it smuggled out of the ghetto to his two grown children, who were living in England at the time. —US Holocaust Memorial Museum, donation of Dr. Joel Elkes
October 19, 1943
First page of the ethical will of Elkhanan Elkes, the chairman of the Kovno ghetto Jewish council. Elkes wrote the letter between October 19 and November 11, 1943, and had it smuggled out of the ghetto to his two grown children, who were living in England at the time.
Elkes writes: "I am writing to you my beloved children...in the Valley of Tears, the Kovno Viljampole Ghetto...I am writing this in an hour when many shattered souls, widows, and orphans, threadbare and hungry, are camping on our doorstep imploring us for help. My strength is ebbing. There is a desert inside me. My soul is scorched. I am naked and empty, and there are no words in my mouth...The Germans killed, slaughtered, and murdered us in complete equanimity. I saw them; I was standing in their presence as they were sending many thousands of men and women and children and infants to be butchered...I embrace and kiss you and say to you that I am your loving father to my very last breath. Elkhanan."
