Zvi Rizewski — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Zvi Rizewski (Georgick): The Story of Block Kailis

I was a refugee with my mother in Vilna. We arrived in Vilna in August 1939 from   Cologne, Germany. My mother's family was the Rizewski family who lived in Vilna. Like all the other refugees, we were connected to the JDC (Joint Distribution Committee).

The JDC had a soup kitchen on Zavalna Street.  Most of the refugees residing in Vilna used to meet up there. That was where we met Oscar and Mina Glueck. They were refugees from Vienna. My mother, like others, was looking for a way to make a living. When the Lithuanians arrived in Vilna, my mother and the Glueck family and another family named Laznik started to trade, so we would meet almost every day at the Glueck's apartment, which had formerly been a shop.

As the Germans entered Vilna, Oscar stood at the gate of the house and watched a German tank pass through the street. He heard a voice calling his name from one of the tanks. It was a friend of his from Vienna.  As far as I remember his name was Walter and his rank was Feldwebel. Walter arranged a job for Oscar in his unit. I do not know exactly how Oscar reached the rank of custodian (Treuhaendler) to the Kailis fur factory on Tamansky Street, which had formerly been owned by Jews.

On September 6, 1941, when the Jews of Vilna had to move to the ghettos, we lived with my uncle Grisha, my mother's brother. We had been living at my grandmother's home but the house was bombed on the morning of June 23 and we had to move to my uncle's home.

On the day the Jews entered the ghettos, we were transferred to the "Lukishki" prison. We were there for a while, I don't remember exactly how long.

One day, the soldiers of the Wehrmacht came, called us, and told us to accompany them to the ghetto. But my mother insisted that the entire Rizewski family who were with us in the prison stay together. We were in the ghetto for about two or three weeks. 

One day my mother told me that soldiers from the Wehrmacht were coming to take us from the ghetto and move us to a fur factory called Kailis who supplied the German army. She explained to me that when we got to this factory, we would meet Mina Glueck, but Oscar, who was the factory manager, was not allowed to "recognize" us because he was pretending to be a German and wanted to help us. And so it came about. The Wehrmacht came and took us to the factory. There we met Mina. After a while the Sheskin family arrived. Subsequently, the factory was moved to another factory site that had previously been called Radio Electric.

The Jewish workers in the factory, who had been transferred from the ghetto, were housed in a building block on Shtickitekego Street, which has since been called the "Kailis Block". After a while another block was erected on the same street, and they were called Block 1 and Block 2.

All the time that Oscar Glueck was the manager of the fur factory, Jewish workers were treated the same as all the other non-Jewish workers.  All the factory workers received equal quantities of food and produce.

My mother had a large family in the ghetto and when they handed out supplies, my mother made sure to transfer some to her family in the ghetto.

Oscar Glueck would come late in the evening to visit his wife Mina on the block. We were in Block 2; Mina had her own room.

I also remember Oscar's German friend had a Polish girlfriend, who used to come to visit Mina.

This continued until the fall of 1942.

I do not remember exactly when but sometime in the fall or early winter of 1942, there was a rumor in the factory that Oscar Glueck had been arrested.

At the time there was also a fire at the factory, I don't remember if Oscar's name was connected to the fire. There was a rumor that someone had informed on him.

Those close to him suspected that either a Polish woman or a wagon driver who would bring them to the block in the evenings was the informer.

A few days later, "Weiss" or Herring came from the Gestapo, I do not remember exactly which one of them, and arrested Oscar Glueck's wife Mina née Dulgitzer Mariga. It was rumored that they were executed in Ponary.

After the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto in 1943, the soldiers of the Wehrmacht were replaced by SS men. The blocks were then called Konzentrationslager (concentration camps).

I was in Kailis until the end of May 1944. Then some of the residents of the blocks were sent to Kaiserwald .I was transported to a camp at a place called Kazla Rhoda in Lithuania to mine peat. With the liquidation of this camp, we were transferred to the Kaunas Ghetto, which was in the process of liquidation. On the way to Kovno, a few people managed to escape to the forest. The rest were deported with the people of Kovno. The women were taken to Stutthof, the men were sent to Germany to the Landsberg camp.

I'm writing this because my mother and I were close to Oscar Glueck. We will always remember him and remember the others who perished from the Kailis block.

 May their memory be blessed.

Written by Zvi Rizewski Afikim, June 2010