Originally, Slabodka boasted the famous Knesses Yisrael yeshiva, founded by Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel in 1882.[1]: p.

However, war was rampant in Kremenchug also, with fighting between Ukrainian nationalists and the Russians, as well as between the Red and White armies, and in the yeshiva moved again in 1921, this time to Vilna, a bustling city in Lithuania with a large Jewish population, where they remained for five years.

They told the local residents that they did not plan to stay for long, as they had signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, which stated that the Soviet Union would get the eastern half of Poland, and treated them decently.

The yeshiva stayed in Kaminetz during the German occupation, and had prayed regularly during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana.

However, the Russians didn't come right away, and local gentile anti-Semites took advantage of the anarchy to attack Jews and loot their properties.

Ironically, the Jews went to the local Nazi headquarters and requested that their soldiers return to protect them until the Soviets arrived.

In Vilna, local Jews arranged for the yeshiva to study in the Lokishok Bais Medrash[9] and families offered to take in refugees for lodging[5] The Lithuanian prime minister, who treated the Jews well, decided that having fifteen thousand refugees crowded into the capital city was unsustainable and he therefore ordered the yeshivos to disperse to the nearby towns.

About a year and half later, the Russians reassumed control of Lithuania; when they discovered that the yeshiva students in the countryside were attempting to leave for America, they made plans to send the yeshivos to Siberian labor camps, farther away from the border, as they were worried about anti-communists being so close to the front, lest they join forces with the Nazis and fight against the Soviet Union.

Russian soldiers had seized Jewish homes, and the hosts warned the yeshiva students of their plan of relocation.