Tag #116396 - Interview #78774 (Fania Brantsovskaya)

A few days later pogroms took place in our town. Fascists tortured religious Jews making them shave their beards and forcing them to dance. Every day new orders were issued. The first one was for communists and Komsomol members to get registered. Fortunately, nobody in Vilnius knew I was a Komsomol member. My father was forced to work for the Reich. I was also taken to do odd jobs: we gathered lime blossoms and other herbs. Later we were sent to clean the streets and public toilets. All Jews were to wear a big white quadrate with a yellow circle and the letter 'J' in it on our chest and back. We obeyed and immediately felt ourselves outcasts. Later these were replaced with white armbands with a yellow star and then just a yellow star. Germans shot people if they caught them without the bands. Jews were killed for not following German orders.