09/02/2026
“When the Germans attacked Poland on the morning of Friday, September 1, 1939, few could have guessed how quickly Poland would collapse. But for millions of Polish Jews, that day marked the beginning of a terrible journey that only a lucky few would survive. At the time, the narrators in this episode were all young people in Vilna, a city far from the front lines. Unlike Warsaw, Vilna was not seriously bombed. Its location gave them and their families an 18-month reprieve from the N**i terror.” —Samuel Kassow
Following the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the country was split between the N**i invaders and the Soviet Union. The town of Vilna would end up in the hands of the Soviets, then the Lithuanians, then the Soviets again, who set about seizing property and businesses, and arresting and deporting perceived enemies of the state.
’s audio series “Remembering Vilna” brings to life the story of Vilna’s Jewish community — before, during, and right after World War II — through vivid recorded testimony of Holocaust survivors and excerpts from a diary that was kept by the librarian of the Vilna ghetto.
Listen: https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/podcast/remembering-vilna-part-one/chapter-2-in-the-shadow-of-war/
“Remembering Vilna” is the third season of our podcast “Those Who Were There: Voices From the Holocaust,” produced with YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
📸 Antokolskio Street, Vilna, in the heart of the old Jewish quarter, where mostly poorer Jews lived. This picture was taken in 1940, when the city was under Lithuanian control. Credit: Photo by Mečys Brazaitis
