Kailis
Kailis by Simcha ben Shaul
In 1941, when Vilna was occupied by the German army, and with the setting up of the HKP workshops for the repair of armored vehicles, and the Kailis fur and leather factory which employed forced Jewish labor, a Jew called Oscar Gleuck who had been expelled from Austria arrived in Vilna. Gleuck had come across a German soldier who had been a childhood friend of his in Vienna, and who had arranged for him to work in the Kailis factory. By impersonating a volkesdeutsche (an ethnic German), Oscar Gleuck obtained forged documents. When the Aktions started and hundreds of Jews, including Kailis workers, were sent to Paneriai, and the factory was about to close down, Gleuck approached the German officer in charge of supplying the army in the area, with the suggestion that he run the leather factory for the army. (The factory had been set up on the site of an electrical accessory factory called Elektrit, whose equipment had been taken by the Soviets when retreating from the city).
When the Vilna Ghetto was liquidated, Kailis’s Jewish workers and their families were housed in a special wing of the factory, which became a labor camp. In January 1942, a fire broke out in the factory and during the investigation, the Germans found out that Gleuck was Jewish. As a result, Gleuck and his wife were arrested and executed.
The living conditions of the Jews in Kailis were relatively adequate and many wanted to be there as it was considered safe by the Jews in the ghetto. At first, there were about 800 people in the camp, with the number rising to 1,250, including about 200 children. There was an active cultural life in Kailis, lectures, sports activities, as well as schools for the children and a small library. On 27th March 1944, the SS organized the Children’s Aktion and many were sent to their deaths.
A short time prior to the liberation of Vilna by the Red Army, the camp was liquidated and most of its inhabitants were murdered in Paneriai. In March 1942, there had been 1,016 people from about 348 families in the camp – this was considered a ‘quiet period’ which provided an opportunity to have a cultural life in the camp. The Jews had set up schools, a small library, a Jewish police force and clinic, besides holding sports competitions.
In August 1943, the Vilna Ghetto was liquidated. Only the HKP and Kailis forced labor camps and two other labor camps remained in the city. The population of Kailis swelled. Many Jews took advantage of the camp as a temporary refuge before finding a better hiding place or joining the Jewish partisans in the forests. According to Yitzhak Arad, about 600 Jews moved through the camp. On 15th October, Bruno Kittel made a thorough inspection of the camp and executed about 30 Jews who could not provide a satisfactory explanation of their presence there. Similar inspections were carried out a number of times. In November, a new commander, an SS officer called Richter, was put in charge of Kailis. He instituted greater control over the camp and compiled a list of its inhabitants.
In March 1944, children in the camp under the age of 16, were rounded up in an operation under the command of Martin Weiss. They were taken to the railway station; their fate is unknown. Various rumors abounded but there was no conclusive evidence of their fate. The Black Book published testimonies that the children had been taken to Krakow where they were used as blood and skin donors for wounded German soldiers. On 20th April, 80 workers were taken from Kailis to Paneriai in order to burn bodies. On 3rd July 1944, the remaining workers at Kailis were rounded up, taken to Paneriai and executed. The total number of those executed on that day in Paneriai came to 2,000 – 2,500 Jews from a number of different camps.
Taken from the Testimony of Dr. Moshe Feinberg:
The Children’s Aktion took place on 27th March 1944, the same day as those in the HKP.
This Aktion was carried out in a most devious way. The previous day, the staff sergeant, Richtar, had announced that all the children would undergo a medical test at the school the following day. All the children should be clean, nicely dressed and their mothers may accompany them. In this scheming way, the bully managed to lead all the children, and some of the mothers, to their deaths. The transfer to Kozlowa Ruda and to Kailis took place on the same days as HKP.
The inhabitants of the Kailis camp (1,500 Jews) were fairly secure financially, much better than at HKP. This was due to the fact that order was maintained by the Jewish police as there was no German guard there.
In March 1944, their situation worsened as the SS started guarding the camp. On 2nd July 1944, the Kailis and HKP camps were liquidated.
Previously, 80 Jews who had been working in the military hospital in Antakol Street were brought to Kailis, after which all the Jews there were transferred to Paneriai and murdered.
Only two people managed to save themselves by fleeing – Dr. Leon Burke and Leon Zlatkovich.
Dr. Samuel Margolis, who was one of the most renowned radiologists at that time, also in Europe, and who had the ‘prerogative’ of treating the Germans, was taken with his family by the Gestapo as he had contact with his daughter who was living with the partisans. He was subsequently released but during the liquidation none of his achievements were of any use and he and his family were liquidated with all the others.
The 80 Jews employed by the Gestapo were transferred to Kovno at the beginning of July, and were exterminated at the Ninth Fort.
Zvi Rzewski (Georgik): The Story of the Kailis Bloc.
I was a refugee with my mother in Vilna where we arrived in August 1939, from Cologne in Germany. My mother’s family are the Rzewskis who lived in Vilna, 13 Vanegri Street (today no. 11). As with all the refugees we were linked to the Joint.
The Joint ran a kitchen in Zvolna Street, where most of the refugees in Vilna would meet. We met Oscar and Mina Glueck, who were refugees from Vienna, there. My mother looked for ways to earn some money so, when the Lithuanians entered Vilna, my mother, the Gluecks and another family called Leznik started trading and we would meet at the Glueck’s home at 19 Daitsche Gas (German Street), nearly every day. They lived in an apartment which had once been a store overlooking the courtyard.
As the Germans entered Vilna, Oscar stood at the entrance to the house and watched the German tanks passing by. He heard someone calling his name from one of the tanks – it was one of his friends from Vienna. As far as he could recall, the friend’s name was Walter and he was a feldwebel (deputy company sergeant).
Walter arranged for Oscar to work in his unit. I am not sure how, but Oscar rose to the rank of Treuhaendler (trustee) over the Kailis fur factory in Temansky Street, which had previously been owned by Jews.
On 6th September 1941, when the Vilna Jews were transferred to ghettos, we were living with my mother’s brother Grisha in Pilsudski Street. We had previously lived with my grandmother at 13 Vanegri Street but Her house had been blown up on 23rd June and we had had to move to my uncle’s house.
The day the Jews entered the ghettos we were moved to the Lukishki prison. I am not sure how long we stayed there.
One day, Wermacht personnel came and called out our names, telling us to go with them as we were being transferred to a ghetto. My mother insisted on all members of the Rzewski family, who had been with us in the prison, to stay together. We spent about two or three weeks in the ghetto and lived at 6 Rudnitski Street.
In due course, my mother said that people from the Wermacht were going to come and take us from the ghetto to a fur factory called Kailis which produced winter clothing for the German army. She said that, when we reached this factory, we would meet Mina Glueck but emphasized that we should not ‘recognize’ Oscar who worked as a manager there, as he was impersonating a German and would try to help us. And that’s how it was. People from the Wermacht came and took us to the factory where we met Mina, and after a while, another family called Sheskin also came. Eventually, the factory was moved to the larger premises of the evacuated radio receiver factory Elektrit.
A house in Shpatitshkago Street called Kailis Bloc, was vacated for the Jewish workers who had been transferred from the ghetto. Some time later, another bloc was established in the same road and the blocs were called Bloc 1 and Bloc 2.
While Oscar Glueck was the manager, the Jewish workers were treated the same as the non-Jewish workers. They processed fur to provide clothing for the German army. The supplies provided were equally and fairly divided between all the factory workers.
My mother had a large family in the ghetto and when the Scheins (work certificates) were distributed, my mother made sure to hand some over to them.
Oscar Glueck would go to see his wife Mina in the bloc in the late evening. At that time, we were in Bloc 2, and Mina had a separate room.
I also remember that Oscar’s German friend would go and visit Mina with his Polish girlfriend. This continued until the autumn of 1942. I don’t remember exactly but it was in the autumn or beginning of the winter of 1942, with rumors spreading in the factory that Oscar Glueck had been arrested. At the same time, there was a fire at the factory but I don’t know if it was connected to Oscar or not. There was a rumor that someone had informed on him. Those close to him suspected the Polish girlfriend or the carter who would bring them to the bloc in the evening. A few days later, Weiss or Herring from the Gestapo (I am not sure which one) came and arrested Oscar’s wife Mina (whose maiden name was Dolgizer, from Riga). There was a rumor that they were executed at Paneriai.
After the Vilna Ghetto had been liquidated in 1943, the Wermacht was replaced by the SS. The blocs were renamed ‘konzentrazonlager’ (concentration camp). I remained in Kailis until the end of May 1944, when some of the people in the blocs were sent to Kaiserwald.
I was transported with others to Kazlų Rūda in Lithuania for peat mining. When this camp was liquidated, we were transferred to the Kovno Ghetto which was in the process of being liquidated. En route to Kovno, a few people managed to escape and reach the city. The rest were sent on with people from Kovno. The women were taken off the train at Stuthoff and the men were sent to Germany to the Landsberg Camp.
I have written this as my mother and I were close to Oscar Glueck. We will remember him and all those from the Kailis Bloc who were murdered.
May they rest in Peace.
Afikim – June 2010.
Contact us:
Our Facebook
