International Holocaust Day 2013 — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

International Holocaust Memorial 2013 in Beit Vilna, together with Navy soldiers. The connection, on the 45th anniversary of its sinking, between the INS Dakar submarine, and Jews from Vilna and the surrounding area : The submarine's doctor, the late Dr. Shabi, who was born in Kovno.

Sitting with us here today are: Shabi Maor's closest family member, his cousin Gabi Tamir Zelik (who was like a brother to him) and a close family member, Rosa Ben Zvi Litay (daughter of Nechama Lipschitz, symbol of the "Jews of Silence," - the Nightingale of Lithuania).

Nechama sang songs and other underground songs written at great risk in the forests in times of darkness by Pularevitch, Dr. Maor's father.

Three songs were played during the commemoration:

1. "The Prisoners of Zion" hymn composed by Yehezkel Pularevitch while in Siberia. After making aliyah to Israel, Nechama sang the song with the IDF Orchestra, conducted by Yitzhak Graziani.
2. "A White Swan" sung by Gabi Tamir, Shabi's cousin.
3. The Partisan Song, the anthem of the partisans, adopted by persecuted Zion prisoners, and sung in darkness and shadow. This song was also sung by Nechama, and she was the first to sing it on stage with the approval of the authorities. We also sing the song during our annual Ponar March of the Living. The story of the Pularevitch family, father and son, symbolizes the victory of spirit, courage and determination over oppression, darkness and pain.

Shabi's father, Yehezkel Pularevitch, was born in 1914 in the town of Yanishik, Lithuania. He received a Jewish education and was a graduate of the "Tarbut" School where the language of instruction was Hebrew. From 1928, he was active in the Betar movement in the Betar Youth Organization. With the occupation of Lithuania by the Soviets in 1941, he was arrested on charges of taking part in Zionist activity and sentenced to ten years in prison and was exiled to Siberia for life. With him were exiled his family members: his wife, his two-year-old son, his wife's mother and her sister. Gabi Tamir Zelik, his cousin, was born in Siberia. Who knows what would have happened to the family if they had not been exiled ... Despite unbearable conditions of cold, hunger and hard work, and the Soviets' attempts to isolate them, the family managed to lead a warm and pleasant family life, a spiritual life, full of culture, writing and creativity, despite the prohibitions, together with other Prisoners of Zion.

In 1954 Pularevitch was released from prison, and in 1957 the family returned to Lithuania. In 1965, through the intervention of a family friend, Menachem Begin, he made aliyah to Israel. Pularevitch became a writer and was involved in public activities in Israel. He was chairman of the Prisoners of Zion organization.

Shabi Ya'akov Pularevitch was born in Kovno in 1939. His name consists of two parts: Shlomo Ben Yosef after

 the Etzel commander hanged by the British, and Yaakov as his first name, after Yaakov Raz, one of the Etzel's heroes. Throughout his life, Shabi learned to sing Hebrew songs, mainly Betar songs. Hebrew and Zionism were his guiding lights. He was deported to Siberia (the gulag) when he was two years old, along with his father, mother and grandmother. The boy grew up and became a clever youth successful in all his endeavors. He was an outstanding student and an extremely gifted musician who was expected to have a bright future as an artist.

Due to his father's 'crimes', and despite his skills, he was deprived of this bright future. When he turned 15, he had to travel alone to Lithuania, and stay there for about a year to be able to obtain a regular identity card, otherwise he would have had to stay in Siberia all his life. A year later, he returned to Siberia, graduated from high school with honors and chose to continue his medical studies in Krasnoyarsk, a city thousands of kilometers away from his place of residence. In 1957, the family left Siberia, but Shabi remained to complete his studies. During all that time, the family made efforts to obtain a visa to make aliyah to Israel.

A story told by Shabi's cousin, Gabi Tamir Zelik: When Shabi was an intern in Krai in Lithuania, his cousin came to visit him and during this visit, they found an abandoned puppy and wanted to take him home but were afraid of parental opposition. They decided to call him "Kelev" ('dog', in Hebrew), because they were sure that in this special house, a dog bearing a Hebrew name would not be thrown out into the street. And indeed thus it was.

Upon graduation, Shabi was drafted into the Russian army and released in 1964 with the rank of lieutenant. In 1965, the family received permission to make aliyah to Israel.

His good friend Rosa describes how charged and sensitive was the situation: a great amount of written material by Pularevitch and other writers was secretly transferred to Israel, with Nechama Lipschitz's invaluable help attended with risk of imprisonment, and a close personal friend named Mark Brodner. It is said that on the day Shabi came to say goodbye to Rosa's family, an umbrella was forgotten in the house. The family thought the umbrella belonged to Shabi and called him about it. He was sure it was a code and must go back and get the material. When he heard it was really an umbrella, he was very relieved. This is how people lived - vigilant and anxious - with existential danger lurking in every corner. A stranger will never understand this.

Upon arriving in Israel, Shabi studied at the Etzion Ulpan in Jerusalem and later worked at the Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot. In 1966, he enlisted in the IDF's regular standing army. He graduated from officers' school and continued his military service as a doctor in the Negev Battalion. With rumors of the Syrian front warming up, he volunteered to join the navy, after hearing they had a shortage of doctors. He was appointed doctor to the submarine fleet, went to England to complete a submarine course, and specialized in this field of medicine. During the Six Day War, Shabi served with the INS Noga, and later joined the INS Dakar.

Shabi Maor was enchanting, possessing a sense of humor and charm. Girls loved him and he replicated. He was a man of great learning, able to hold a conversation on every subject; he was a faithful and loyal friend and a devoted son to his parents.

His last journey was a voyage he undertook when he replaced another doctor. He was supposed to come home where his girlfriend Batsheva waited for him, with everything ready for their upcoming wedding. Fate decreed otherwise, and all plans were swallowed up in the abyss when the INS Dakar disappeared on January 25, 1968. The military rabbinate set the sailors' date of death as January 30, 1968.

The deep connection and great love that existed and still exists between Rosa's family and the Pularevitch family, is evidenced by the fact that shortly after the disaster, while Rosa was still in Vilna, she gave birth to a son she named "Dakar" – May he be granted long life. Rosa added that this name is in memory of all those of the family whose burial place is unknown.