Surviving the Holocaust

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This remarkable chronicle details life and death in the Jewish Ghetto of Kovno, Lithuania, from June 1941 to January 1944, written under extreme danger by a Ghetto inmate and Jewish Council secretary. After the war, to escape Lithuania, the author entrusted his diary to leaders of the Escape movement, which eventually reached his new home in Israel. The diary includes collections of official documents, Jewish Council reports, and original photographs and drawings from the Ghetto, depicting the struggle for survival under Nazi rule. Jews faced random deportations and murders, exploitation as slave labor, and severe deprivation of food, housing, and medical care. Tory's main purpose was to document these unimaginable events and memorialize the Jews' determination to sustain their community amid terror. As one of the longest surviving diaries from European Ghettos, it serves as a dramatic and horrifying testament to history. Tory also provides an insider’s perspective on the desperate efforts of Ghetto leaders to protect their people. Martin Gilbert’s introduction affirms the diary's authenticity, contextualizes its events within the broader European war, and addresses critical issues of collaboration and resistance.