The Second World War and The Holocaust
For more details on this topic, see Holocaust in Lithuania.The Lithuanian Republic was occupied by Soviet Union in June 1940, and one year later, in June 1941, occupied by the Germans. During World War II, 91% of Lithuanian Jews were killed – almost all the Jews who had not managed to leave Lithuania and its environs. This was one of the highest casualty rates in the Holocaust.
The only European yeshiva to survive the Holocaust was the Mir yeshiva. With help of the Japanese consul in Kaunas, Chiune Sugihara, its leaders and students managed to escape to the Shanghai ghetto.
See also: Vilna Ghetto, Kaunas Ghetto, Paneriai massacre, and Jewish partisansRead more about this topic: Judaism In Lithuania
Famous quotes containing the words world and/or war:
“The world there was the flat world of the ancients; to the east, a cornfield that stretched to daybreak; to the west, a corral that reached to the sunset; between, the conquests of peace, dearer-bought than those of war.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“Our lives laid down in war and peace may not
Be found acceptable in Heaven’s sight.
And that they may be is the only prayer
Worth praying. May my sacrifice
Be found acceptable in Heaven’s sight.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)