The Einsatzgruppen, assisted by Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Latvian auxiliary units and some locals, dragged 1,040 Jews, including Selim's parents, from their homes, hideouts and the synagogue, then systematically murdered and burned them.
[2] Only a few, including Selim and his older brother Musio, managed to hide in a barn of a sympathetic peasant Ignalia Biruk and later escape to the forest.
These are the words that guided me through that dark period, what gave me strength to fight, and what inspires me to share my story today.
Without previous experience in construction, they built based on what they could remember from books such as Robinson Crusoe and common sense.
In the spring they returned to find that fewer than 50 Jews from the original group survived Nazi round ups.
A commander of another unit offered them a condition to join: they had to blow up a Nazi gunstock factory in Kurzeniec.
[5] Shalom Yoran was a founding board member of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City and a governor of Tel Aviv University.