Benjamin Cvizon — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

I was born in Kovno on 18 February 1922. I was the firstborn son, with two younger sisters. My parents owned a grocery store on Vilnius Street. We lived in a three-room apartment on the same street, across from the store.

I studied at the “Schwabe” Hebrew School. My sister Frieda attended the “Yavne” Religious Gymnasium for Girls. I had many friends and was a member of a very active youth club. I also took part in a theatrical group. I often went to the opera and the theater, and I led a very happy life.

On 21 June 1941, I came home very late. I had just fallen asleep when I awoke to the sound of explosions. The war had begun. That morning changed my entire life. The coming years were very hard for us Jews. In August 1941, my entire family was sent to the Williampola ghetto, together with the rest of the Kovno Jews. The ghetto was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, and armed guards were stationed all around it. We were left there without food. Suffering and starvation followed. My father and I did forced labor in the area of the airport. Each day we had to walk 10 kilometers there and back. In October, I began forced labor inside the ghetto.

One day, 30,000 Jews were forced into the main square, where a selection took place – left meant death, right meant you were still allowed to live. Ten thousand Jews were sent to the Ninth Fort (of the Kaunas Fortress). That day, I lost my grandmother. We remained in the ghetto until 1943, when another “Aktion” took place. My sister Frieda, I, and another 2,000 Jews were taken to different concentration camps in Estonia.

Almost everyone I knew perished, most of them sick or disabled.

On 23 August 1944, I was sent to the Stutthof concentration camp. After that, I was taken from one camp to another and forced to work until I was completely exhausted. At the very moment I felt I was about to die, the last camp I was in, near Lübeck, was liberated. It was a miracle.

The only ones who remained alive were my sister Frieda and me. She went to Israel, and I returned to Kovno, later moving to Vilna.

I have two sons from my two marriages – Mula (Shmuel) and Boris.

Delivered by the family