22 June, 1941, Operation Barbarossa

The date when the German Army, along with its Finnish, Hungarian, Slovak, Italian and Romanian allies all surged across the borders of the Baltic states, eastern Poland and the Soviet Union. Adolf Hitler’s goal: to destroy the Soviet Union.Aside from the horrors about to be inflicted on everyone, it was the Jewish population that would suffer the most.By the time Stalin’s army had regrouped, rearmed and retook their land in 1943 and 1944, every Jew who had not fled--or been spirited away in organized evacuations--would find themselves in ghettos, marched into forests or to the edge of ravines--and murdered.First it was tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands and eventually millions.The Germans and their allies did not act alone. Far too many locals in these lands lent a willing hand-- although in every country, there were a few brave souls who hid a friend, a neighbor, or a complete stranger.In this first season of CENTROPA STORIES, we’re going to hear from three Centropa interviewees—all of whom remember the 22nd of June—when they were just children.

Introduction: 22 June, 1941

narrated by

Edward Serotta

The German invasion of the Baltics and the Soviet Union.

Audio

Go to Episode

Introduction: 22 June, 1941

Edward Serotta

Samuel Birger, Jonava, Lithuania

narrated by

Allan Corduner

Samuel Birger tells the harrowing story of what it was like for his family to flee from their shtetl of Jonava as the Germans sped through the country, and more than a few Lithuanians joined in what would become an orgy of killing. The Birger family fled by horse and wagon, by foot, and then by train—until weeks later, they arrived in Tatarstan. Living in wretched poverty, Samuel’s grandmother starved to death while he and his three younger brothers foraged for jobs and food on collective farms.

You can read Samuel’s Centropa biography and see his family pictures here.

Audio

Go to Episode

Samuel Birger, Jonava, Lithuania

Allan Corduner

Feiga Kil’, Riga, Latvia

narrated by

Sara Kestelman

Isaac Aizman was a neurosurgeon in Riga. His wife Tobe-Leya remained at home raising four children. When war came, Dr Aizman was conscriopted into the Soviet Army. He told his wife to flee eastward. She hesitated. And that would cost them all.

Read Feiga Kil’s Centropa biography and see her pictures here.