Sima Skurkovich — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Sima Skurkovitz, born in Vilnius, Lithuania in 1924, describes her childhood and attending school; her family and their religious life; incidents of antisemitism; the outbreak of war in 1939 and Lithuania taking over Vilnius; pogroms led by Lithuanians; going to Dobozce with her uncle; returning to Vilnius; the Judenrat and going into the ghetto; ghetto life, including singing and putting on performances; public hangings; the death of her sister in a Ponary massacre at the end of 1943; her activities in the ghetto underground; partisan songs written during the war; her work in Łódź, Poland with the puppet theatre; being taken with her boyfriend by train to Estonia; Sima talks about twenty-five camps; the Vivikoni (Werk IV Sillamäe) camp and her work in the kitchen; the emotional support that singing gave them; aktions in the camps; being taken to camp Narva, Kiviöli, and Stutthof and then taken by train to camp Neuengamme; conditions in the camp and work in the factory; preparing Chanuka celebration in the camp; being transported by train to Bergen-Belsen; being liberated by the British Army; working in a children's camp in Bergen-Belsen after liberation; serving as a witness at war crimes trials; and immigrating to Israel.

From: US Holocaust Memorial Museum