Book Description

"So We Died (Azoy zaynen mir geshtorbn) is a translation from the Yiddish of a powerful eyewitness account of life in the Shavl (Šiauliai, Lithuania) ghetto from 1941 to 1944. For two-and-a-half years, 5,000 Jews were confined in the ghetto in Shavl/Šiauliai, Lithuania's third biggest city, which is located between Kovno/Kaunas to the south and Riga, Latvia, to the north. In contrast to other key European ghettos, few documents survive from the Shavl ghetto. Three accounts of the Shavl ghetto years exist, yet to date none has been published in English. Among these accounts, Levi Shalit's stands out for its power, beauty, and vision. Shalit was a true literary stylist who sought to convey the story of the ghetto with nuance and vibrancy. He was an acute psychological observer who wrestled with profound questions about the human condition. His work offers unique insights into the motivations, the inner and outer conflicts, and the desperate challenges facing his community. His unflinching honesty takes us to the heart of issues that matter deeply for our understanding of the Holocaust, and of ourselves. Composed shortly after the war, Shalit's account proceeds not day by day but through a carefully constructed set of themes and a series of stories. Shalit's intention was not simply to document the events he lived through, but to present them in compelling story form. His work is a model of remembrance and witnessing. Section One, "Oh, Israel, People of Faith," begins with the German invasion in June of 1941 and describes the start of the occupation, with its executions, restrictions, prohibitions, and humiliations, and the massacre carried out by Germans and Lithuanians throughout the country during July and August. The section concludes with the transfer of Shavl's 5,000 surviving Jews into the ghetto. Section Two, "So We Lived," describes ghetto life in all its facets: the overarching German command, the Lithuanian administration, and the Jewish council that oversaw food distribution, housing, labor, education, a synagogue, a police force, and other social structures. Internal discipline, quarrels, and contact with authorities and Lithuanian neighbors are also described. This section contains a series of stories featuring individual characters. Section Three, "The 'Masada' Book," describes the attempts to organize an underground resistance group, in which Shalit was an active participant. Section Four, "The Community Dies," begins with the transformation of the ghetto into a concentration camp and includes the seizure and deportation of the ghetto's children. The section ends with the ghetto's liquidation and the journey to the Stutthof concentration camp, from which most of the Jewish men were taken to Dachau"--