Miriam Shumacher had just turned 17 when war broke out in Lithuania in June 1941. A student in Kovno, she was trapped in the Kovno ghetto while her parents Perl and Chaim Shumacher and two younger sisters Ester and Chana Leah remained in Trashkun. She survived the Kovno ghetto with the help of her fellow student and good friend Itzik Konkurovich, also from Trashkun. During a march of forced laborers, Miriam managed to escape and was rescued by Jonas Paulavičius, who was later recognized as Righteous Among The Nations (read the entire story). After the Soviets ousted the Germans in 1944, Miriam and Itzik returned to Trashkun to find out what happened to their families.

Forty-nine years later, Miriam and her husband Moshe (Morris) Krakinowski, a fellow survivor of the Kovno ghetto, brought their grown daughters back to Trashkun. There Miriam recounted what happened to her family and to countless other Jewish families in the terrible summer of 1941.

Miriam Krakinowski tells how her parents were killed in Trashkun in July 1941. [1:25]

Miriam and Moshe (Morris) Krakinowski at the Old Jewish Cemetery in July 1993. Miriam recalls the names of people who were buried in the mass grave after the first wave of atrocities against Jews in Trashkun in July 1941. [0:53]

Miriam Krakinowski tells how the Jews of Ponevezh (Panevėžys) and the surrounding towns, including Trashkun, were taken to Payost (Pajuostė) to be murdered in August 1941. [1:49]

(location of mass graves)   (memorial)

◀  Memories of Trashkun

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• Compiled by Johanna Kovitz
• © 2015 Johanna Kovitz
• Updated October 2015