Yaakov Viz / Yaakov Vizgordiski (M / Lithuania, 1931), Holocaust survivor

Yaakov Viz / Yaakov Vizgordiski (M / Lithuania, 1931), Holocaust survivor.

• One of the Kovno Boys. Got separated from the rest of group, when he escaped from the death march from Auschwitz.

Kovno Stories

My name is Yaakov Viz (Vizgordiski). I was born in the Slobodka neighborhood of Kovno in 1931, to my parents Yosef and Nesse. We were five children: Mira, David, Leah, Meir and I. With the outbreak of war, we were placed in the ghetto, and in 1944 we were transferred to the camps. I left Auschwitz on the Death March on January 29, 1945, and along with other prisoners fled to the forests, where I encountered the Russian officer, Nikolai Lisonov, who attached me to him. I took part in the fighting and the conquest of Berlin as part of the 167th Division. I traveled with it until 1948. On our wanderings from camp to camp I served as the interpreter for the Russian army. I came to Kiev in 1948, and studied engraving at the ORT school in Kiev. I graduated with honors and then studied auto mechanics. I returned to Kovno in 1950, and there I found my sister. I served in the Russian army from 1951-1954. In 1961 I married Sima, who had just completed her studies at Vilna University.From 1955-1972 I worked as a racecar driver in Vilna and won the Soviet Union and Lithuania championships as a racecar driver. We immigrated to Israel in 1972. I took part in the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War, and served in the reserves until the age of 56. I worked at the Peres Center for Peace and retired at the age of 70. Two children and five grandchildren were born to us in Israel. Today we live in Holon.