The first eye-witness story of Jewish destruction by the Nazis in Kaunas, Bialystok and Grodno is published today in the Aftonbladet, a Swedish newspaper, written by its correspondent who just returned from a trip to these cities.
All Jews in Kaunas, the correspondent reports, were given four days to move into the ghetto there. A ghetto has also been established for the Jews in Bialystok, while the city of Grodno is completely destroyed.
Nazi officials, the Swedish journalist relates, claim that the introduction of a ghetto in Kaunas became necessary “in order to protect the Jews from pogroms planned by Lithuanian anti-Semites.” In addition to driving the Jews into ghettos, all able bodied Jews in Lithuania are being taken for forced labor to repair roads and other public utilities damaged during the fighting between the Russian and German armies, the correspondent writes.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
