Category:Kovno Boys (subject)

Kovno Boys (see Holocaust Children Studies)

• See Death Marches to Gunskirchen

Overview

In July 8, 1944 the Kovno Ghetto was liquidated. All remaining inhabitants, including children were sent by train to Stutthof, near Gdansk in Poland. There the women, girls and smaller boys were taken off. Some of them were immediately sent to their deaths, and some of them were sent to be exterminated in Birkenau several days later. Others were forced to work until they were murdered or died because of the harsh conditions.

Stutthof was the place in which the boys from Kovno were separated from their mothers, sisters and little brothers. They remained on the train with their fathers and were transported to Landsberg camp in Germany.

Landsberg was a labor camp that was set up beside Dachau in 1944, for the underground airplane construction factory that was located there. A group of 130 boys (age 8 to 16) from Kovno arrived in Landsberg from Stutthof. The boys spent about a week in the camp. Separated from the adults, they were joined by Shlomo Galperin's older brother, the 17-year-old Wolf Galperin, who managed to smuggle into the group. He became their leader.

The 131 boys were sent to Dachau. They were placed in one large, clean wooden hut and took a shower. Dachau, however, was only a stopover on the train trip from Landsberg to Birkenau. Throughout the entire trip to there the children consolidated into an orderly group, under the leadership of Wolf Galperin.

After 10 days at Dachau, the group left for Auschwitz. Two boy escaped from the transport; one of them, Daniel Inbar, managed to survive under false identity as a street child until liberation; the other was apparently killed.

129 boys arrived at Auschwitz in the night between July 31 and August 1, 1944. Presenting themselves as an organized group, they passed the selection. They were not immediately sent to the gas chambers, but had a number tattooed on their arms with sequential numbers B-2774 to B-2902. Then they were taken to Lager [camp] A, the transit camp at Birkenau. They were used as “human horses” hitched to wagons carrying items from place to place. The children formed a cohesive group and gave each other vital support.

Luigi Ferri talks about them in his memoirs fromAuschwitz:

Un giorno di fine estate [1944] ... venni a sapere che nel settore BIId, poco distante dal mio, era stato costituito un Kommando Rollwagen. Bambini come me e ragazzi un po' piu' grandi venivano costretti, a gruppi di quindici o venti, a tirare carretti molto pesanti, carichi di cadaveri destinati al crematorio, al posto dei cavalli. Mi dissero che i poveretti spesso venivano picchiati se non lavoravano abbastanza. La loro giornata cominciava alle quattro del mattino e finiva al calar del sole." (p.55).

Two main selections progressively reduced their number in September 1944, one on the eve of Rosh Hashanah and the second on Yom Kippur. Around 70-80 members of the original group were sent to the gas chambers. The surviving boys were sent to forced labor in Lager D, another section of Birkenau. At least one boy (Kalman Arieli) who was not originally selected as part of the 131 boys joined them from Dachau.

With the liquidation of the Auschwitz camp in January 1945, those who remained were dispersed. Several, including Wolf Galperin, got separated from the rest of the group and were sent to Buchenwald or other camps. (Galperin survived in forced labor and death marches until he was liberated on May 2, 1945.)

The majority (39? boys) were transferred with a death march to Mauthausen on January 18, 1945. Two died in the journey, 37? of them arrived in Mauthausen. In contrast to the other camp inmates, the boys were not put to work. One of them was deported to Melk and died there. The remaining 36? were sent in mid-April 1945 to Gunskirchen, where on May 5, 1945, they were liberated by American soldiers.

What is impressive about the “group of 131 boys” is the close contact they have with each other was held. The mutual help and care, the perseverance and the common resistance is an example of solidarity among children in concentration camps that saved the lives of some of the group.

Survivors

Escaped from the train to Auschwitz

1. Daniel Inbar -- survived as a street child.

Sent to Buchenwald or other camps

1. Wolf Galperin
2. Yaakov Viz (Visgorditzki), escaped during the death march from Auschwitz in January 1945 and joined the Russian Army.
3. Moshe Ben-Ozer (Grudski), liberated at Buchenwald (April 11, 1945).
4. Ralph Codikow, liberated at Buchenwald (April 11, 1945).
5. Moshe Kravitz (Moshe Kravec), liberated at Buchenwald (April 11, 1945).
6. Sol Lurie, liberated at Buchenwald (April 11, 1945).
7. Ivar Segalowitz, liberated at Buchenwald (April 11, 1945).

Sent to Mauthausen & Gunskirchen

<The name of 24 of them are in the Mauthausen records>

1. Mejer Abramovic / Meir Abramovitz (May 3, 1929) <YES>
2. Kalman Abramovic / Kalman Arieli (Nov 10, 1928) <YES>Kalman Arieli (1928), who had joined the group only later at Auschwitz.
3. Frumke Birman (?) – gestorben
4. Leib Braverman (1929) / Leo Brawermanas (Jan 16, 1929) <YES>
5. Daniel Chanoch Danilos Chenochas (Feb 2, 1929) <YES> (1933)
6. Yehuda Feigin / Yehuda Feigyn / Judelis Feiginas) (Oct 31, 1929) <YES> (1931) =? Yehuda Fein (?) – gestorben
7. Eliezer Finkelstein (?)
8. Shlomo Galperin / Slioma Galpernas (Dec 15, 1929) <YES> (1931)
9. Aharon Garon (?)
10. Meir Gecht (1929-2011) gestorben / Mejer Hecht (Aug 21, 1929) <OK> <YES>
11. Shmuel Gefen / Smueils Gefenas (June 4, 1930) <YES>
12. Mordchai Gilinsky (?)
13. Zundel Gordon (Sept 30, 1929) <YES>
14. Elizier Greiss / Lejzer Grejs> (Jan 20, 1929) <OK> <YES>
15. Yehuda Gurvith / Jehuda Gurvic (Mar 20, 1929) <YES>
16. Shmuel Gutner (Oct 8, 1929) <YES>
17. Abraham Klavansky / Abraham Klavanskis / Arnold Clevs (Klivansky) (Mar 25, 1933 [1929]) <YES>
18. Dan Labanovski (1933)
19. Shlomo Levin (1931?) / Sloma Levin (Jan 14, 1929) - gestorben <YES>
20. Jacob Levine / Jakobas Levinas) (Jan 3, 1930) <YES> =? Jacob Lewin (1932)
21. Mordechai Levitan / Motel Levitanas (Apr 11 or 21, 1930) <OK> <YES>
22. Leib Miller (Sep 5, 1929) <YES>
23. Wolf Morchick – 1948 als Soldat in Israel gestorben
24. Yosef Paplisky / Jozef Popilski (Mar 3, 1929) <YES>
25. Solm Pelicas (Aug 3, 1928) <YES>
26. Yitzhak Raz – gestorben
27. Chuna Sher / Chone Seras (Nov 27, 1929) – gestorben <YES>
28. Moshe Shoham (Moshe) (1929-2013) - gestorben
29. Hausa Sohamas (Sept 29, 1929) <YES>
30. Kalman Tsechenowski / Kalman Ciechanowski (from Bialystok, Poland) (Nov 1, 1929) <YES>
31. Leib Zieman / Leib Zusman / Leibe Zismanas (Jun 3, 1928) - gestorben <OK> <YES>

Pictured in the center is Max Wolfson, an American Jewish liberator. He poses with six "Kovno Boys" in the Gunskirchen concentration camp after Liberation. The six children are (from the right to the left): Leib Zieman, Kalman Tsechenowski, Meir Gecht, Elizier Greiss, Mordechai Levitan, and Daniel Lebanovski. (@USHMM)

History

• The 131 Boys from Kovno

• See USHMM picture

Report (in German)

In the summer of 1941, the SS established the Kauen ghetto in Kaunas (Lithuania). September 1943 was converted into a concentration camp. On July 14, 1944 it was Kauen concentration camp was dissolved and the prisoners who were still alive moved to it Deported to the Stutthof concentration camp. Women and small children stayed in Stutthof concentration camp, while men and older boys in the concentration camp Landsberg, a satellite camp of the Dachau concentration camp (Landsberg / Kaufering warehouse complex). During a “morning roll call” in the concentration camp Landsberg, the SS selected a group of 131 boys between the ages of 11 and 15 who were separated from other concentration camp inmates and guarded. This group was ins Dachau concentration camp transferred to where the boys found their cohesion and mutual Developed solidarity. Wolf Galperin, who was in the Landsberg subcamp with the goal When he came to help his younger brother, he became the coordinator of the group Solidarity. The group was deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Two boys managed to escape during the transport, one of the two (Daniel Inbar) survived the war. In On the night of August 31st to September 1st, 1944, the group of now 129 boys joined one organized, joint entry into the extermination camp, which the SS surprisingly was allowed. So organized cohesion saved them younger among them before selection and assassination. During their imprisonment in Extermination camp Auschwitz / Birkenau, two thirds of the group were murdered. In the course of the death marches due to the dissolution of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp the group was separated. Most of the group was sent to a concentration camp Mauthausen and a small part of the group were deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp and the rest were separated from the groups. The group that went to Mauthausen concentration camp was deported, was driven to Althamer and from there by train to Mauthausen. Two were killed during the transport. In the concentration camp Mauthausen, the surviving concentration camp prisoners continued to show their solidarity was an essential factor in their will to survive. The commander of the Mauthausen concentration camp decided on April 14, 1945 that the prisoners who were im Tent camps were interned in Mauthausen, in the Gunskirchen concentration camp - one of the 49 satellite camps of the Mauthausen concentration camp - should be transferred. The The group of boys who had been interned in the tent camp was thus transferred to another Death march driven. The Gunskirchen satellite camp served as a reception camp for Jews Inmates conceived. A few days before the liberation, prisoners were sent to the satellite camp Gunskirchen transferred with the order to bury the corpses in a makeshift manner. Still was the liberation camp littered with dead prisoners. The US 71st Infantry Division occupied Gunskirchen on May 4, 1945, on May 5, 1945 there were more than 1,300 US soldiers quartered in the school and the prisoner detachment there was liberated. The warehouse in Forest was only discovered these days. During the liberation, the US soldiers 5,419 survivors, approx. 3,000 had left the camp before the arrival of the US troops, registered. Between 2,700 and 5,000 prisoners in the Gunskirchen subcamp have her Lost life. With regard to transport lists and change reports, that is Gunskirchen satellite camp is a special case because, in contrast to the other satellite camps of the Mauthausen concentration camp these did not exist and were therefore reconstructed. Transports from Mauthausen concentration camp to Gunskirchen concentration camp can be obtained from records of the gendarmerie services as well Contemporary witness reports of the local population can be proven. In the sub-camp Gunskirchen may have been interned between 12,000 and 15,000 prisoners. After the liberation of the Gunskirchen concentration camp, the survivors were the "131 boys" in the area around Wels supplied by the "US Army" or in DP camps (DP = Displaced Person) accommodated. The majority of the surviving boys faced the "Jewish Brigade" and so managed to come to Israel after the liberation. One of these 131 boys is Daniel Chanoch. He survived six concentration camps. His Parents and his sister were murdered by the National Socialists. At the end of the war he was discovered by a Jewish brigade that brought him to Israel. On the way after Israel he met his brother Uri in Italy, who also survived. His brother Uri saw Daniel for the last time in the Landsberg concentration camp. His brother Uri died in the night of September 1st to 2nd, 2015. It's a big one for Daniel Chanoch Concern to pass on his testimony about the Holocaust and for a "never again" to appeal.

Kovno Boys, Victims of the Holocaust

Perished on the trip to Auschwitz

1. Name unknown - jumped from the train and was apparently killed.

Perished at Auschwitz

< Birthdates are according to Nazi records. The children often declared to be older in an effort to save their lives. Many were actually much younger. >

1. Alperowitz Avraham (b. March 31, 1931)
2. Astajek Yaakov
3. Astrodomov Y. L.
4. Atlas Ami (b. July 5, 1932)
5. Berman David (b. May 28, 1930)
6. Birman Efraim (b. March 1, 1929)
7. Bloch Yitzhak
8. Blumberg Yoel (b. May 1, 1930)
9. Braun Yitzhak (b. November 29, 1931)
10. Burek Yosef (b. February 17, 1928)
11. Chait Feliks
12. Disler Yakel (b. August 13, 1930)
13. Eidelman Yaakov (b. July 16, 1930)
14. Feivuš Abba
15. Fiš Hirsh
16. Fort Zalman (b. March 13, 1930)
17. Fridenberg Menachem (b. July 12, 1931)
18. Fridman Pavel
19. Fridman Yaakov (b. June 14, 1932)
20. Gavronski Naftali
21. Gempel Bezalel (b. July 25, 1930)
22. Gempel Shimon (b. January 15, 1930)
23. Gerber Motel (b. March 8, 1930)
24. Gerson Yehoshua (b. January 10, 1930)
25. Geselson Kushel (b. July 9, 1932)
26. Gilinski Melech (b. April 13, 1930)
27. Goldšmit Leib (b. May 8, 1930)
28. Golub Avraham (b. December 2, 1930)
29. Greišpul Marius (b. September 8, 1929)
30. Grinstein Hune (b. May 5, 1931)
31. Gutner Wolf
32. Gu?anski Gershon (b. November 14, 1930)
33. Hof Shlomo (b. January 22, 1930)
34. Janovitz Meir (b. December 28, 1932)
35. Kagan Moshe (b. September 16, 1930)
36. Kagan Reuven (Henrik) (b. November 5, 1931)
37. Kamber Moshe (b. December 1, 1930)
38. Kamen?ik Nahme
39. Kanovitz Haim (b. June 6, 1928)
40. Kaplan Shlomo (b. March 12, 1931)
41. Karokin Leib (b. May 1, 1930)
42. Katz David (b. December 4, 1931)
43. Kaufman Eliezer
44. Klikovitz Shimon (b. February 26, 1930)
45. Kobel Yosef (b. June 15, 1928)
46. Kopelman Shmuel (b. December 16, 1936)
47. Kopelov Hune
48. Krasienišok Leib (b. July 2, 1934)
49. Kremer Aharon
50. Kubilkovski Yaakov
51. Kurtzer Yosef (b. November 29, 1929)
52. Lanzman Haim (b. June 10, 1930)
53. Lekert David (b. May 21, 1928)
54. Lipkovitz Yitzhak (b. December 10, 1930)
55. Luria Heinrich (b. February 17, 1931)
56. Luria Leo (b. April 27, 1929)
57. Marijaš Yisrael (b. September 15, 1932)
58. Marshak Motel
59. Mašianski Daniel (b. September 15, 1929)
60. Mator Yisrael (b. July 17, 1931)
61. Melnik Leib
62. Melnik Pesach
63. Milner Shmuel
64. Ozoras Abba (b. February 13, 1930)
65. Paimau Moshe (b. July 18, 1930)
66. Pavrovski Elia (b. July 23, 1930)
67. Prova Nahum
68. Reznicki Shmerl
69. Rochelson Boris (b. October 9, 1930) (In reality, Oct 19, 1934)
70. Rozenblat Meir (b. March 24, 1932)
71. Rozenblum Ivsai (b. July 7, 1929)
72. Sanovski Yosef (b. February 2, 1931)
73. Schuster Yitzhak
74. Schwartz Reuven (b. January 3, 1930)
75. Schwartz Shmuel (b. January 19, 1932)
76. Shapira Moshe
77. Škliar Yaakov
78. Sneider Yehoshua (b. September 9, 1929)
79. Spitz Haim (b. September 26, 1930)
80. Steinbek Michael (b. December 28, 1932)
81. Šverin Yaakov
82. Tarshish Haim (b. April 1, 1929)
83. Valet Zosia
84. Zeidel Lapid (b. February 11, 1932)
85. Zitel Leib (b. January 16, 1929)

Died during the Death March to Mauthausen

1. Haim Urka – murdered while being transported to Mauthausen concentration camp
2. Yaakov Shoham (b. September 29, 1929) – murdered while being transported to Mauthausen concentration camp

Died at Melk

1. Mozes Kagan / Moshe Kagan (Sep 16, 1929) <YES> – deported to Melk concentration camp and presumably murdered there

Died at Mels, Austria after Liberation

1. Moshe Miller (?)