Hello Capstoners! Ashley Witt here, back again with more super exciting
details about people being brutally murdered.
Isn’t it disturbing how detached one becomes after pouring over a
certain topic for as long as we’ve been researching these papers? I have to
constantly remind myself that the stories I’m reading resulted in the end of
the lives of real, ordinary, innocent people like any of us. It’s definitely
something to keep in mind as we all push forward with the beginnings of our
papers.
Regardless, this week’s testimony comes from Yakov Zak, who was the
last male Jewish survivor of the massacre in Kelmé. His testimony recounts a
party that occurred on July 29, 1941, soon after the murder of the Kelmé Jews.
The citation and analysis follow.
Zak,
Yakov. “Testimonies.” In Holocaust
Testimonials from Provincial Lithuania, edited by David Bankier, 167-168.
Jerusalem: Yad Vashem, 2012.
In his testimony about the murder of the Jews of his town, Yakov Zak
described the attitude of the Lithuanian murderers. According to his statement,
“Lithuanian peasants stood on the highway with Lithuanian national flags
trimmed with swastikas.” He further noted that these men “greeted the Jews by
calling out, ‘Cursed Jews, the day has arrived when we will slaughter all of
you!’” These details took place as the German soldiers were moving through
Lithuania; this suggests that the volunteers were willing and excited to kill
their neighbors even before the Germans had arrived in Kelmé.
Zak went on, stating that on the evening after this occurred, the
Lithuanians “had organized a ball in honor of the shooting of the Jews.” His
testimony describes this ball:
In the hall, long
tables were set decoratively, with the best of everything, in the style of a
lavish wedding. At the table the drunken killers sat with their families,
dressed in the clothes of those who had been shot to death. The entire Lithuanian
intelligentsia of the town arrived at the ball, led by the mayor… the stench in
the hall was foul and thick with smoke. Everyone sang Lithuanian songs and kept
on drinking and gorging.
Similar parties have been described in other areas in provincial
Lithuania. If you will all recall, I mentioned in class a few weeks ago that
another of the sources described a similar party, organized in the home of a
dead Jew. Whether this pattern is a result of a motif invoked by more than one
survivor cannot be known, so I will continue to regard these statements as a
biased but nevertheless mostly truthful account.
Interestingly, Zak concluded this section of his testimony by
describing how he, a Jew, came to know about this ball. He stated: “The Jews
were required to bring beer to the murderers and shooters of those who were
near and dear to them. One of the drunken partisans, upon seeing the Jews
coming… grabbed his revolver. His friend calmed him down and forced the local
Jews to drink a big glass of beer. Tears poured from the eyes of the eight
Jews. At this the drunken crew rolled with laughter.” This is a particularly
fascinating detail, especially keeping in mind my thesis. Rather than forcing a
separation between themselves and the Jews, the Lithuanians instead dehumanized
them and humiliated them for their own entertainment. Had they viewed the Jews
as an ethnic scourge, it is unlikely that they would have allowed the Jews to
drink from their glasses. These details suggest that their motives were based
more upon a personal vendetta toward the Kelmé Jewry.
I hope you all have a lovely week and stay warm! The next time I see
everybody in class I’ll be 21 and it will be Halloween!
Ashley, depressing post as ever, but that is due to the topic. One question, I know you've talked about these various balls and parties, but how were they organized? Did they happen after a particularly large killing, or was it more spur of the moment planned?
ReplyDeleteThe few that I've found seem to be occurring after a particularly large killing spree, yes. It's a celebration of the achievements of the murderers.
ReplyDeleteAshley, you are continually unearthing more important knowledge for your research and I find your discoveries interesting. I like what you stated at the beginning of your blog about being sensitive to the lives and memories of the people who we are writing about. I agree that it is hard to do sometimes after reading so many accounts of both death and survival. Your topic seems to be much more brutal than the Titanic, but I can relate because it is easy to overgeneralize the experiences of the people I am researching. It continues to be necessary throughout the research process to treat every individual as new, unique, and give them your full attention.
ReplyDelete