I was a medical student in Berne, Switzerland until the Soviets came in and took over the family business in Kovno. Without a business to support the cost of medical school, I came back to Kovno in the mid 1930’s.  I was moved to the Kovno Ghetto in 1941 and remained there until my escape in 1944 just before the ghetto was liquidated.  I escaped with Sylvia Perlman and a group of others. 

 

We escaped because a guard thought Sylvia was quite beautiful and told her the Russians were coming and that the ghetto would be burned to the ground with all those remaining in it.  If Sylvia would meet him at the Café Konrad in Kovno he would allow her to escape.  While her family had already perished, she told him she would meet him, but would only escape with her family members and then passed off a number of people as her mother, father, brothers and sisters.  

 

I was passed off as Sylvia’a deaf mute brother since my accent was slightly different from hers.  The guard allowed us to escape before the ghetto was liquidated but of course, Sylvia never met him at the Café.  Instead Sylvia, the others, and I hid in the fields and stables until the Russians liberated the area.