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Under the supervision of a Soviet policeman, the charred remains of Jews from the Kovno ghetto are carried on a makeshift stretcher to a mass grave. The man in the foreground appears to be a German POW. Behind him is Moshe Volbershteyn, a member of the Zionist underground who is working for the Chevre Kaddisha, Jewish burial society.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 81123
Under the supervision of a Soviet policeman, the charred remains of Jews from the Kovno ghetto are carried on a makeshift stretcher to a mass grave. The man in the foreground appears to be a German POW. Behind him is Moshe Volbershteyn, a member of the Zionist underground who is working for the Chevre Kaddisha, Jewish burial society.

Under the supervision of a Soviet policeman, the charred remains of Jews from the Kovno ghetto are carried on a makeshift stretcher to a mass grave. The man in the foreground appears to be a German POW. Behind him is Moshe Volbershteyn, a member of the Zionist underground who is working for the Chevre Kaddisha, Jewish burial society.

Photographer
George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
Date
August 1944
Locale
Kaunas, Lithuania
Variant Locale
Kauen
Kovno
Kowno
Photo Designation
GHETTOS (MAJOR) -- KOVNO (Lithuania) -- Destruction/Aftermath -- Victims/Burial
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin

About This Photograph

Event History
The liquidation of the Kovno ghetto/concentration camp began on Saturday, July 8, 1944, three weeks before the Soviet liberation of the city. Approximately 6,100 Jews were transported over a six-day period to concentration camps: the women to Stutthof and the men to Dachau. Knowing that thousands failed to appear for the round-ups and likely remained hidden in bunkers, the SS ordered German troops to raze the former ghetto. Every house was blown up and the ruins doused with gasoline and incinerated. Thousands were either burned to death or shot trying to flee. The fires burned for a week, leaving a charred landscape of rubble and stone chimneys. Only approximately 100 Jews survived the liquidation.

See https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005174
See Also "Kauen Main Camp" in Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos Volume 1 Part A.
See Also https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005162.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
USHMM (Restricted)
Copyright: Exclusively with provenance
Provenance: George Kadish/Zvi Kadushin
 
Record last modified: 1998-05-27 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa11897