Darya Silman

“One of the men in Plagge’s HKP 562 who was remembered by many of the Jews for his kindness was a Feldwebel (sergeant) from the city of Chemnitz in Saxony, named Berger – unfortunately, his first name is not known and it has proved impossible to discover his fate. He was standing with a group of Plagge’s Jewish workers when another group of Jews was marched past, on their way to Ponary. Berger exclaimed while watching the Jews being driven to their deaths: ‘What these scum perpetrate here in the name of the German people – centuries will not suffice for us to cleanse ourselves!’49”
― Prit Buttar, Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust

“Isn’t a novel just a bunch of short stories tied together?” “Ah, how I wish it were so, George. Think of it this way. A novel is a marriage. A series of short stories is a bunch of one-night stands. The latter might always keep you active, but you wouldn’t call the sum total of all that bedhopping a relationship.”
― Jo Boyle, The Space She Made for Me: A Collection of Sapphic Short Stories

“In the Vilnius ghetto, the news of German setbacks in the Soviet Union in the opening weeks of 1943 resulted in an upsurge of grim humour, as Herman Kruk recorded in his diary: A German asks a Jew to lend him 20 roubles. The Jew immediately takes the sum out of his pocket and gives it to him. The German wonders: ‘How can this be? You don’t know me at all, and you trust me with such a sum?’ I have the fullest trust in the Germans,’ answers the Jew. ‘You took Stalingrad and gave it back; you took Kharkov and gave it back. I’m sure that you will give me back my 20 roubles.’ What is the difference between General Rommel and a watch? A watch goes tick-tock and goes forward; Rommel goes tock-tick and goes backward … What city is the largest in the world? Stalingrad, because it took the Germans months to get from the outskirts to the centre.6”
― Prit Buttar, Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust

“Zwartendijk issued over 2,000 passports, and between 4,500 and 6,000 Jews were able to travel to Japan using Sugihara’s visas – some accounts give numbers as high as 10,000. At a time when most of the other diplomats in the region did little to help the Jews, these two men took it upon themselves to do all they could to help the refugees escape. But despite the humanitarian efforts of these two men – in the case of Sugihara, acting in direct contravention of the orders he had received from Tokyo – the great majority of Jews were unable to leave, including many who had obtained documentation from either or both men. The Jewish community now comprised the original substantial population of Lithuanian Jews swollen by refugees who arrived from Germany before 1939 and Poland thereafter. They had little choice but to trust that the Red Army would be able to defend the region if war with Germany were to come.”
― Prit Buttar, Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust