Waldemar (Val) Ginsburg was born in Riga, Lithuania, on September 10, 1922. His family was a group of secular Jews who did not believe or practice an organized religion. Unfortunately, Adolf Hitler decided to target any person of Jewish ancestry. Although the Ginsburgs were not practicing Jews, their Jewish heritage cost many of them their lives.
When he was 18 years old, Val enrolled to study architecture, but plans for his education and future were drastically altered. Everything changed in the summer of 1940. Before the Nazi's invasion of Lithuania, Joseph Stalin's Russian empire was also trying to take control of Lithuania. The Ginsburgs property was confiscated by the Russians and they were put on the list to be deported to a Siberian slave labor camp. The Ginsburg’s 14 member family had a very difficult decision to make. Should they flee to Russia or stay and try to survive the Nazis?
Val’s family decided to stay and hoped that their chances of survival would be better under the rule of the Germans rather than Communist Russia. However, the Nazis started to implement their racial laws against the Jewish population and they were deprived of every basic human right. The Jews were not allowed to walk on pavement, use public transportation, or own a telephone or pets. Eventually the rules started to become harsher and they only were allowed limited amounts of food.
On August 15, 1941, the Jewish population was crammed into a ghetto suburb near Kovno, the capital of Lithuania. They were surrounded by barbed wire and armed sentries. Val was assigned to be a slave laborer and was tattooed with the number 323286. He kept his family alive by scrounging potato peels, which his mother cleaned and cooked for them.
By 1944, only 12,000 Jews in Kovno remained alive. They were ordered onto cattle wagons and taken to Germany to work as laborers. Val was sent to Dachau and forced to do back-breaking work while existing on starvation rations.
Val was liberated on May 5, 1945 by the American armed forces. By that time he looked as if he was a “walking skeleton.” His liberation euphoria soon turned into depression. Out of the 14 members of his immediate family, Val was the only one who survived. Out of the 35,000 Jews of Kovno, only 2,000 survived.
While spending a six month recovery in the hospital, Val met his future wife and fellow survivor, Ibi Dawidowicz. Ibi and Val had a therapeutic relationship at first, but later fell in love and moved to England to start a new life.
Remembering two specific massacres was very upsetting for Val. These were the “Big Action” and “Children’s Action.” The Big Action was when 10,000 people were randomly selected to be taken away and shot. The Children’s Action was when all the ghetto children were forcibly taken and murdered. These horrific memories haunted Val throughout his entire life and he wrote about them in his book, and Kovno Wept, published in 1998.
Waldemar Ginsburg lived a long 89 years. He passed on June 14, 2011, peacefully in Elland, England.
When he was 18 years old, Val enrolled to study architecture, but plans for his education and future were drastically altered. Everything changed in the summer of 1940. Before the Nazi's invasion of Lithuania, Joseph Stalin's Russian empire was also trying to take control of Lithuania. The Ginsburgs property was confiscated by the Russians and they were put on the list to be deported to a Siberian slave labor camp. The Ginsburg’s 14 member family had a very difficult decision to make. Should they flee to Russia or stay and try to survive the Nazis?
Val’s family decided to stay and hoped that their chances of survival would be better under the rule of the Germans rather than Communist Russia. However, the Nazis started to implement their racial laws against the Jewish population and they were deprived of every basic human right. The Jews were not allowed to walk on pavement, use public transportation, or own a telephone or pets. Eventually the rules started to become harsher and they only were allowed limited amounts of food.
On August 15, 1941, the Jewish population was crammed into a ghetto suburb near Kovno, the capital of Lithuania. They were surrounded by barbed wire and armed sentries. Val was assigned to be a slave laborer and was tattooed with the number 323286. He kept his family alive by scrounging potato peels, which his mother cleaned and cooked for them.
By 1944, only 12,000 Jews in Kovno remained alive. They were ordered onto cattle wagons and taken to Germany to work as laborers. Val was sent to Dachau and forced to do back-breaking work while existing on starvation rations.
Val was liberated on May 5, 1945 by the American armed forces. By that time he looked as if he was a “walking skeleton.” His liberation euphoria soon turned into depression. Out of the 14 members of his immediate family, Val was the only one who survived. Out of the 35,000 Jews of Kovno, only 2,000 survived.
While spending a six month recovery in the hospital, Val met his future wife and fellow survivor, Ibi Dawidowicz. Ibi and Val had a therapeutic relationship at first, but later fell in love and moved to England to start a new life.
Remembering two specific massacres was very upsetting for Val. These were the “Big Action” and “Children’s Action.” The Big Action was when 10,000 people were randomly selected to be taken away and shot. The Children’s Action was when all the ghetto children were forcibly taken and murdered. These horrific memories haunted Val throughout his entire life and he wrote about them in his book, and Kovno Wept, published in 1998.
Waldemar Ginsburg lived a long 89 years. He passed on June 14, 2011, peacefully in Elland, England.