The Biography of Towia Grilliches, Vilnius
Short biography and stations of his persecution
- Born on 26 January 1906, in Vilnius
- Elementary school
- Apprenticeship as a hairdresser, hairdressing salon
- 1932 Marriage
- Opening of a delicatessen
- July 1941 to June 1943 Vilna ghetto,
- Murder of his wife and two children
- June 1943 - 1 July 1944 “illegal,”
- 12 July 1944 Liberation,
- in early 1946, marriage to Gitel Nison in Lodz
- 3 August 1946 Heidenheim Displaced Persons Camp
- 3 January 1947 Heidenheim Displaced Persons Camp
- June 1947 Driver's license
- July/August 1947 Heidenheim Displaced Persons Camp (Voith settlement)
- 29 November 1948 Emigration to Israel
Towia Grilliches lost his wife and two children, Towa and Simon, during the persecution.
Towia Grilliches was not a client of Konrad Kittl, but a witness for one of his clients.
Before the persecution began
My name is Towia Grilliches. I was born on January 26, 1906, in Vilnius, the son of Rinchas and Sima, who were both Jewish. [...]
After completing elementary school, I learned the hairdressing trade for about three years. After learning this trade, I opened a hairdressing salon in Vilnius, which I believe was around 1924, although I admit that I may be off by a year. I worked in this profession the entire time and got married in 1932. My wife's father had a delicatessen and gourmet food shop in Vilnius. About a year after my wedding, in 1933, my wife and I opened a delicatessen with the help of my father-in-law, although I should mention that my father-in-law's help in setting up the business was my dowry. My wife ran and managed the delicatessen, and I helped her as much as my time allowed. I continued to run my hairdressing business in Vilnius until the outbreak of the Second World War.
Source: Towia Grilliches file, Baden-Württemberg State Archives, Ludwigsburg State Archives, EL 350 I Bü 18036, affidavit dated January 8, 1958.
Two children were born during my first marriage:
- Towa, born in 1933 in Wilno
- Simon, born in 1935 in Wilno
Both children from my first marriage were taken away with many other Jews to PANAR by SS men during an operation before the liquidation of the Wilno ghetto and shot there.
I am prepared to repeat this statement before any authority and any court.
Source: File of Towia Grilliches, State Archives of Baden-Württemberg, State Archives Department Ludwigsburg, EL 350 I Bü 18036, affidavit dated November 4, 1974
Vilnius Ghetto
I was confined to the Vilnius ghetto from July 1941 to June 1943. Before that, I lived on Dünaburgerstrasse. In the ghetto, I lived on Savelskistrasse for about 6-8 months and later on Rudnickastrasse. No. 8 until I escaped.
[...] I was employed in all kinds of illegal work in the ghetto. I worked at the train station, loading and unloading wagons, I did earthworks at the airfield, etc. I cannot remember the names of my superiors. I only remember that the commander-in-chief was called Hurer [?]. He was an SS man.
Source: Towia Grillches file, affidavit dated 14 September 1955, Baden-Württemberg State Archives, Ludwigsburg State Archives, EL 350 I Bü 18036
I had to perform hard labour in the Vilnius ghetto, loading and unloading at the railway station. We had to carry heavy sacks, some of which weighed up to 100 kg or more and were almost impossible to lift. After doing this work for over a year, I collapsed one day with severe heart pains. This was in the autumn of 1942. My comrades brought me back to the ghetto, as the railway station was outside the ghetto, to the Jewish ghetto hospital. There I was treated by the Jewish doctor Dr. Gerschowitz, but at that time there were no nursing facilities and there was a severe shortage of medicines, so that they could hardly help me. I lay there for about 10 days, then I had to go back to forced labour, even though I had heart attacks with every effort, but I had to report myself as fit for work so as not to be exterminated. I then managed to get assigned to earthworks at the airport, so that at least I no longer had to carry heavy loads.
Source: Towia Grillches file, affidavit dated 11 September 1956, Baden-Württemberg State Archives, Ludwigsburg State Archives, file number EL 350 I Bü 18036
In May 1943, I left the ghetto to find a hiding place for myself and my family. When I returned to the ghetto, my family was gone. They had been taken from the ghetto and deported by the SS to Panar, where they were shot.
Source: File of Towia Grilliches, State Archives of Baden-Württemberg, Department of State Archives Ludwigsburg, EL 350 I Bü 18036, affidavit dated 4 November 1974.
Escape and life in hiding
In the spring of 1943, while working at the railway station in Vilnius, I managed to get in touch with Christians I had known before and prepare my escape from the Vilnius ghetto. My acquaintances established contact with Christians who worked as garbage collectors in the ghetto so that they could smuggle me out of the ghetto in a garbage truck. This plan succeeded in the summer of 1943 when, one day, I was smuggled out of the Wilna ghetto in a garbage truck, protected by garbage. My Christian acquaintances had arranged a hiding place for me with a caretaker named Ivan at 18 Pilsudskiego Street, whom I also knew from earlier, and I was taken there after my successful escape from the ghetto. The caretaker, Ivan, was a single, elderly Christian who hid me in the cellar belonging to his flat. Here I had to spend my time without light or air, among potato sacks and other household junk, fearing for my life. Sometimes, when I could no longer breathe because I had developed a heart condition during my imprisonment in the ghetto, Ivan allowed me to sneak into his apartment at night so that I could get some fresh air. My benefactor provided me with meagre food, as he himself was suffering from a lack of food, and so I was always hungry. I couldn't seek medical help and had to bear my fate. I was constantly plagued by the fear of being discovered during house searches and couldn't sleep properly at night, startled by the slightest noise, because I was always afraid that I would be caught. I lived in fear and terror until I was liberated in the summer of 1944 when the Russians occupied Vilnius.
Source: File of Towia Grilliches, Landesarchiv-Baden-Württemberg (State Archives of Baden-Württemberg), Department of State Archives Ludwigsburg, file number EL 350 I Bü 18036, affidavit dated 26 March 1957
After the Liberation
I am married. I married my wife Gitel, née Nison, in Lodz in early 1946.
Source: File of Towia Grilliches, Landesarchiv-Baden-Württemberg (State Archives of Baden-Württemberg), Department of State Archives Ludwigsburg, file number EL 350 I Bü 18036, affidavit dated 14 September 1955.
When I arrived at the Displaced Persons camp Heidenheim after liberation, I learned the profession of chauffeur and received a driving licence from the Heidenheim/Brenz District Office dated 24 June 1947, which authorised me to drive class I and III combustion engines. When I immigrated to Israel towards the end of 1948, I looked for work as a chauffeur and have been working in this profession ever since, as far as my health permits. I am currently unable to work due to my poor health.
Source: File of Towia Grilliches, State Archives of Baden-Württemberg, Department of State Archives Ludwigsburg, file number EL 350 I Bü 18036, EL 350 I Bü 18036, affidavit dated 8 January 1958
After my release from illegality, in which I had lived since my escape in June 1943, I came to the DPL Heidenheim in 1946. From there I was sent to the Heidenheim hospital, where I spent approximately 109 days due to my heart condition and was treated by Dr. Yenj. In 1947, I spent about four weeks in Bad Wörishofen in the spring for treatment, also for my heart condition, and stayed at the local spa hotel. I was treated there by Dr. Springer, the local spa doctor.
Source: File of Towia Grilliches, Landesarchiv-Baden-Württemberg (State Archives of Baden-Württemberg), Department of State Archives Ludwigsburg, file number EL 350 I Bü 18036, affidavit dated 11 September 1956
Notes
Further Sources
- File of Towia Grilliches, State Archives of Baden-Württemberg, Ludwigsburg State Archives, file number EL 350 I Bü 18036
Compensation Office
Stuttgart
Notes
Towa Grilliches married the widow Gittel Nison, née Grünberg, in 1946. Her case is being heard in Stuttgart under the name ‘Gittel Grilches’; various spellings are used in the file itself: ‘Gitel-Gitla Grilches’, ‘Gitl Griliches’, ‘Gitel Grilches’, ‘Gittl Grilliches’.
Image Credits
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