Description

1941(May 11) Plain envelope to M. Mosher, Halifax from N. Moosuriene bearing Russia pair 20k & pair 5k tied bi-lingual Skaudvile cd & with small plain brown label with manuscript C161 /YIDD l3rl overlaid by Examined By /Censor /C.42 label……………..Historic notes:- The Germans arrived in Shkudvil [Skaudvile] on the afternoon of June 22 or 24, 1941. The Russians either surrendered or quickly retreated & Everything was quiet for the next two or three weeks, but on July 16, Lithuanian Auxiliary Police and Einsatzkommandos gathered all people of Shkudvil together at the town center where Jews and non-Jews were separated. The non-Jews were all told to go home but the Jews were harassed and tortured. Some were killed there. The Jewish men were separated from the women and children, many being kicked and beaten. The men were walked a few kilometers south into the Puzai Forest and shot with only a very few able to escape. On July 21, some of the communal leaders were taken to the cemetery of Upyna and brutally murdered with Upyner Jews.A few days after the men were murdered, a long row of empty wagons entered Shkudvil and stopped at every Jewish home for older people & the women and children to take them to the train station in Batakiai (Batok). Germans and Lithuanians Auxiliary continued to hunt the few Jewish escapees with most being caught and taken to the village of Upyna and killed. The elderly, women, and children were kept at Batok where the stronger ones worked for Lithuanian farmers. Guarded by Lithuanian Auxiliary Police and constantly being harassed by Lithuanian gangs, in the middle part of September, some Lithuanian guards told the prisoners that they were to be killed soon. Many woman tried to escape, but only a few succeeded. Most were either captured or shot. On September 15, the remaining 800 Jews were taken to the Gryblaukis forest, 22 km NE of Taurig and murdered in the darkness of a cold night in