Childsize violin and case that belonged to 13 year old Boruch Golden, who was killed in the massacres at Ponary in September 1943. Baruch began playing the violin when he was 6 years old. It was saved by his sister, Niusia (Anna), who survived the war in hiding. Following the invasion of Soviet territory by Germany in spring 1941, the Golden family, the parents, Moshe and Basia, and 4 children: Niusia, Riva, Boruch, and Tevya, were forced into the Swieciany (Svencionys) ghetto in Lithuania. When it was liquidated by the Germans in April 1943, the family was separated. Niusia refused to get in the cattle cars and went into hiding. The rest were deported to the Vilna ghetto. Moshe was sent to Klooga concentration camp; he did not survive. When Vilna was liquidated, Basia and the two boys were taken to Ponary and murdered. Rywa was sent to Kaiserwald, the first of several concentration camps where she would be imprisoned until she was liberated in Laenburg, Germany, by the Soviet Army in 1945. Niusia remained in hiding in Swieciany. After the war ended in May 1945, she learned that her sister was alive. They began corresponding and Niusia told her sister to stay in Germany, since emigration was not possible from Swieciany. In 1948, Rywa emigrated to Canada. In the fall of 1958, she made arrangements for Niusia and her family to come to Canada and the sisters were finally reunited.
Childsize violin and case that belonged to 13 year old Boruch Golden, who was killed in the massacres at Ponary in September 1943. Baruch began playing the violin when he was 6 years old. It was saved by his sister, Niusia (Anna), who survived the war in hiding. Following the invasion of Soviet territory by Germany in spring 1941, the Golden family, the parents, Moshe and Basia, and 4 children: Niusia, Riva, Boruch, and Tevya, were forced into the Swieciany (Svencionys) ghetto in Lithuania. When it was liquidated by the Germans in April 1943, the family was separated. Niusia refused to get in the cattle cars and went into hiding. The rest were deported to the Vilna ghetto. Moshe was sent to Klooga concentration camp; he did not survive. When Vilna was liquidated, Basia and the two boys were taken to Ponary and murdered. Rywa was sent to Kaiserwald, the first of several concentration camps where she would be imprisoned until she was liberated in Laenburg, Germany, by the Soviet Army in 1945. Niusia remained in hiding in Swieciany. After the war ended in May 1945, she learned that her sister was alive. They began corresponding and Niusia told her sister to stay in Germany, since emigration was not possible from Swieciany. In 1948, Rywa emigrated to Canada. In the fall of 1958, she made arrangements for Niusia and her family to come to Canada and the sisters were finally reunited.