25044 WakeUpSzyjek Clip

Additional clip from Russell Kaback's "25044", May 7, 2024, Jewish Community Alliance, Portland, Maine.

My grandfather's family tries to escape to their Grandpa's village, but get overtaken by the Blitzkreig of September 1, 1939. They are forced to return home where they find their town occupied by the Nazis and swept up in chaos and confusion. Within the first week they hear news that Grandpa has been burned alive with other Jews rounded up in the village synagogue.

In this clip, my grandfather witnesses the burning of people alive in their own hometown synagogue, and his older brother Abo runs away to join the resistance among the Russian army.