Tag Archives: Ronder

Yudel Ronder

I first heard of him in 1994, from Laurence Salzmann, a Philadelphia photojournalist who was documenting Jewish survivors of the Holocaust in Lithuania. At the time all I knew about Keidan came from my grandfather’s articles, which predated World War … Continue reading

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Yudel Ronder’s Story

Yehuda “Yudel” Ronder (1923-2016) was among the small number of Keidaner Jews who remained in Lithuania after the Holocaust. His story is both singular – a heroic tale of survival and persistence – and representative of the lives and experiences … Continue reading

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From ‘The Annihilation of Lithuanian Jewry’

Keidan by Efraim Oshry The following is an entry from Oshry, Efraim, “The Annhilation of Lithuanian Jewry” (New York, 1995) Originally published in Yiddish as  “Khurbn Lita”. New York, 1951. LITHUANIAN NAME: Kėdainiai RUSSIAN NAME: Keidany LOCATION: A district capital … Continue reading

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From Darkness to Light

By Rivka Shlapobersky-Strichman (Haifa, Israel)[1] In 1996, representatives of the Spielberg fund, who initiated the archiving of Holocaust survivor’s stories, asked to interview me. I wondered what I could share about my childhood and to my amazement I could gather … Continue reading

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In Pursuit of the Murderers

Excerpts of letters from Yehuda Ronder, Kaunas After surviving the war as a soldier in the Red Army’s 16th Lithuanian Division, Yudel Ronder returned home to Lithuania and spent the rest of his life there. Throughout the post-war years and … Continue reading

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Among the Ruins

By Chaim Ronder The text of a letter sent to the Keidaner Society of Johannesburg by Chaim Ronder, a partisan during the German occupation. POGEGEN (Pagėgiai, Lithuania) 7 November, 1946 Warm brotherly greetings to you, Jews of Johannesburg – born … Continue reading

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After the Slaughter

By Mordechai Karnovsky Spring. Early morning. Only our footsteps can be heard in the street. Here, in front of Rabinovich’s store, is the haberdashery. Above it the Friedlands’ apartment. Looking left – Gurvich’s pharmacy and Wolpert’s shop. Another turn and … Continue reading

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Ghetto, Resistance and Murder

By Yehuda Ronder (Kaunas) Immediately after Hitler’s forces entered Keidan in June 1941, math teacher Nissan Zaltzburg hung himself. Meir Berger was brutally beaten in the street and died in the hospital. On July 23, 125 people — 95 of … Continue reading

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The Destruction of Keidan

By David Wolpe (Johannesburg) Originally published in the Yiddish journal, “Fun Letstn Khurbn” in Munich, 1948; and in English in 1950 by the Keidaner Sick Benefit and Benevolent Society of Johannesburg. By June 24, within days after Germany launched its … Continue reading

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