Gunskirchen

Gunskirchen

The Liberation of the camp

In the days before liberation, the situation at Gunskirchen went completely out of control. There was no food, fresh water, sheltering for the thousands of prisoners who arrived at the camp.

The Kovno Boys

Among the numerous children who were liberated at Gunskirchen were 37 Kovno Boy.

In July 1944, at the liquidation of the Kovno Ghetto, 131 boys were separated from the parents and sent to Auschwitz. At Auschwitz two main selections progressively reduced their number. On January 18, 1945, the remaining 39 boys were forced into a death march to Mauthausen and then in mid-April to Gunskirchen, where 37 boys were liberated by American soldiers.

The group of 37 survivors at Gunskirchen included:

• Leib Braverman (1929)
• Daniel Chanoch (1933)
• Yehuda Feigin (1931)
• Shlomo Galperin (1931)
• Meir Gecht (1929-2011)
• Zundel Gordon (1929)
• Dan Labanovski (1933)
• Shlomo Levin (1931?)
• Moshe Shoham (1929-2013)
• + Kalman Arieli (1928), who had joined the group only later at Auschwitz.

Other children

Numerous other children were liberated at Gunskirchen, coming from other camps.