The testimony of a partisan.

“Never again, and in no place, will be speak serenely. During nights of solid darkness, we crawled like ravenous wolves towards the woods, through the barriers of the ghetto and the concentration camp… the life of Jewish partisans was hellish. So the reader will have to take the same journey, a difficult journey, sometimes grievous, which starts in hell.”
from the preface of Shmerke Kaczerginsky’s diary (Vilna/Vilnius 1908 – Argentina 1954)

The fascinating story of the Paper Brigade, whose members risked their lives to save from the brutality of the Nazis the immense cultural patrimony of the most important Jewish library in Europe.

…Every morning, dozens of Jews left the ghetto for those offices. In the ghetto they were called the intellectuals or the Paper Brigade. The group was made up of the ghetto’s scholars, renowned scientists, writers, teachers, and artists…
…Sutzkever and I were devoted to putting the most important books aside, rarities and manuscripts that I wrapped up in order to get them into the ghetto secretly…
Many volumes were already hidden in the large tin boxes…our riches were growing… We were happy… In the dark hiding place, our future seemed even darker, but that treasure cast a light on the future…Will at least one testimony remain to recount our lives? Will our books and hidden treasures be saved? Who will find them? Will they fall into the right hands? Will anyone remember us?
from the diary of Shmerke Kaczerginsky

The music composed in the ghetto: songs of humanity and resistance, so as not to forget.

…”The songs of the Jews from the ghetto cried out from the depths of their suffering hearts. They will give another meaning to the war stories and to the memory of the Jewish martyrs and partisans. A song, the right word, a sharp tone, accompanied the Jews at all times and in every place: when they went to work, when they were in line for a bowl of soup, when they fought, and when they were sent to be slaughtered. Sometimes, when death seemed like the only way out, the words of our poet-partisan Hirsh Glik “never say never,” vibrated in our minds. We sang! The songs united our minds, they lifted our thoughts and strengthened our muscles”
from the preface of “Lider fun getos un lagern” by Shmerke Kacwerginsky, Paris 1948