Testimony of Sheina (Shachar) Gertner, born in Vabalnikas, Lithuania, 1918, regarding her experiences in the Vabalnikas Ghetto, Panevezys Ghetto, villages and using a false identity

Testimony of Sheina (Shachar) Gertner, born in Vabalninkas, Lithuania, 1918, regarding her experiences in the Vabalninkas Ghetto, the Panevezys Ghetto, villages and using a false identity From a family with limited means; attends school in Vabalninkas; attends high school in Panevezys. Outbreak of the war; hostile attitude of the Lithuanians towards the Jews; German occupation; establishment of the Vabalninkas Ghetto, July 1941; deportation to Pasvalys; escape with 40 Jews with help from a Lithuanian teacher during the liquidation of the ghetto; hides in a cowshed with her husband; murder of all the other escapees by the Germans; wanderings among the surrounding villages; life hidden by various Lithuanian farmers; work in a cowshed and fields; work as a teacher for the farmers' children; help from a Lithuanian priest; life in a village using a false identity; liberation by the Red Army. Witness's husband is drafted into the Red Army; move to Panevezys; life in Panevezys including working as a private teacher; move to Kaunas; work in a school for Jewish children; closure of the school by the Soviet authorities; attempts to make aliya to Israel via Poland; repeated refusals of the authorities to permit aliya; aliya to Israel with her son and his family, 1972.