This September 26th marks the 79th anniversary of the remarkable escape by 230 Jewish prisoners from the Novogrudok Labor Camp in Poland – a story and escape I describe in my book and on this site.
Among those who worked round clock to dig a tunnel for the escape was fourteen-year-old Jack [Idel] Kagan, who had tried to escape the previous winter. On that night he had been forced back because of heavy snow and his frostbitten toes, which when he returned to the camp had to be amputated without the benefit of anesthesia.
But, that did not deter Jack from a second try at freedom.
And, on the moonless, windy and rainy night of September 26, 1943, he and the others made their escape. Of the 230 Jews from that escape, one hundred and seventy survived the war. In August of this year, Jack, his wife Barbara, their two sons Michael and Jeffrey, and their ten grandchildren went to the site of the labor camp, now in Belarus. Their group included other survivors, Riva Kaganovitz and Israel Kulachek and their families.
All in all there were 40 people from the USA, Israel and the UK.
Dror Shwartz, an Israeli documentary filmmaker and Jack’s son, Michael, decided to uncover part of the tunnel and find the exit. They traced it on a topographical map as a remembrance of the escape and their return journey.
This amazing gathering is a tribute to courage and a celebration of survival!