PREFACE 1

Ruth Shapiro Igdal

part 1
	Ruth Igdal is the former Rivka Shapiro of Pakruojis.
She completed gymnasium and became a book-keeper till the German Occupation of Lithuania, starting on 21 June 1941. This occupation destroyed forever the life she had known till June 1941. Rivka was an active member of Shomer Ha-Zair and a fervent Zionist. Shomer Ha-Zair ( guards of the youth) was a Zionist organisation for boys and girls , preparing them for a life in the kibbutz in Palestine . Rivka was a member from her 9^th year till her 18^th. She was engaged to Josef Friedman of Vilna , but the German Occupation destroyed their happiness: Josef Friedman was murdered at Ponar, the murder site of the Jews from Vilnius
	Rivka in 1939
The names of Rivka’s parents were Moishe Shapiro and Frada Katz. Moishe was the son of Chaya and Yitzhak Shapiro of Rozalimas. Frada was the daughter of Raiza and Leib Katz of Pakruojis.
*Moishe Sha*piro, early 1920’s	Frada Katz Shapiro, 1906
	(Bobbeh) Chaya Shapiro, Rivka's grandmother, Rozalimas late 1920
	Raiza and Leib Katz with grandchildren Chanka and Berka Shapiro, Pakruojis 1912.
Moishe Shapiro traded in horses, flax, lumber and real estate. He had business dealings with the German Baron Von Rop. ( in Lithuanian he was called Roppas). Rivka’s father, Moishe Shapiro, died in the mid-twenties in Pakruojis and was buried at the new Jewish cemetery of Pakruojis .
to part2