The Zalkind Family — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Aharon Einat (Zalkind), 1934 – 2019, was born in Vilna to Chaim and Ethel (née Katsav), who owned a grocery store. Two years later, his brother Eliezer was born.

During the occupation, his uncle Shalom and cousin Hirsch were murdered by Lithuanians. His father Chaim, his aunt Malka, her husband Leibel and their two children were murdered in the first Aktion in Panieri. When the ghetto was established, Aharon’s family entered the ‘little’ ghetto. Many of his relatives were murdered in the Aktions which took place till the end of 1941.

Aharon was registered as the son of his uncle Abraham Kamenman who was employed at the H.K.P. factory, and so was considered ‘legal’. However, his mother and brother were not. About one week prior to the liquidation of the ghetto, in September 1943, Aharon’s family managed to enter the work camp which the Germans had set up for H.K.P. workers. In March 1944, 200 children and teenagers were murdered during an Aktion. However, Aharon, his brother and cousins were saved by hiding. In July, the camp was liquidated and Aharon and members of his family wandered from village to village until the Red Army arrived.

After their release, his mother made a living in commerce and Aharon and his brother went to a Jewish school. In the summer of 1946, the family moved to Lodz together with their single aunt Zelda, uncle Abraham and his wife. Aharon and his brother lived in the ‘Koordinatzia’ children’s home and went to a Hebrew school.

The family made Aliyah in 1950. Aharon enlisted in the IDF and held positions in: training, headquarters, command and consultancy abroad. In 1976, he was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and started working at the Diaspora Museum. He was certified to guide groups abroad, including guided groups to Poland, and organizing and accompanying the ‘March of Life’ from its inception (1988). From 1997, he guided youth delegations to Poland several times a year, and latterly guided group of Jews from Vilna and the vicinity to Vilna and Lithuania. In 2006, he completed his doctoral dissertation at the Hebrew University on ‘Life inside the Vilna Ghetto’.

Aharon was married to Alma and had three children – Haim, Tomer and Ofer. In 1984, Aharon remarried. His second wife Esther, is mother to Shai, Ori and Anat.

Source: YadVashem.org