My father, Leizer Bart, was born on June 15, 1915 in Hrubieshov Poland, a small town near Lublin. The town had about 30,000 inhabitants; one third of the population was Jewish. Most of the town's people were very poor and Anti-Semitism was high amongst the Polish residents. At the age of thirteen, my father joined the HaShomer Hatzair, a left wing Zionist group. A few years later, he left his hometown for a Haksharah that was a Kibbutz operated by the HaShomer Hatzair in Czestochowa, Poland where he eventually became one of its leaders who trained younger members farming skills in preparation to go to Palestine. Shortly after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, at the age of 24, he fled from Czestochowa back to his hometown of Hrubieshov and then to Vilna with members of his Zionist group. Vilna had just been occupied by the Soviet Union as part of the Non-Aggression Pact. Back home, he begged his younger brother Michael to leave with him to Vilna, but Michael decided to stay with their parents and younger sister Munia. His family's home was located next to the Bug River, which under the Non-Aggression Pact was the German-Soviet border. My father felt that his family could flee across the river into Soviet territory if needed to escape the German occupation.

After the German invasion of Poland in September of 1939, Vilna was considered a safe zone since it was under Soviet control. As a refugee in Vilna, my father lived with his Zionist group in a building at 37 Subocz occupied by refugees who had fled Poland. On June 22nd 1941, the Germans broke the Non-Aggression Pact and invaded the Soviet Union. On June 24th the Germans occupied Vilna. My father was forced into the Vilna ghetto on September 6th. Several months after the formation of the ghetto, he joined the F.P.O. underground along with other members of his HaShomer Hatzair Zionist group. In 1942, He met my mother Zenia Lewinson, while attending a Zionist meeting in the ghetto. My parents fell in love, and were married on May 23rd 1943, ninety days before the ghetto was liquidated. On September 15th 1943, eight days before the ghetto's liquidation, a member of the underground Leon Bernstein bribed a Lithuanian guard for the use of a truck to get to the outskirts of town. Fourteen members of the underground including my parents escaped through a side gate in the ghetto. The group, led by Shlomo Brand from my father's hometown, made it to the Rudnicki forest about 25 miles south of the city. In the forest my parents became members of the Avengers partisan Battalion commanded by Abba Kovner. My father was a main line fighter who participated in many battles and took part in the mining of enemy railway lines and trains. My father died at the age of 81. But, before he died he told me that he was very proud of his accomplishments as a partisan fighter against the Nazis and of his Zionist membership. Many times he told me with much pride in his voice, "Abba Kovner was our commander," and when my mom was in the room she would nod with a big smile.

No one in my father's family survived. His mother Ida Bayla Gal, father Israel David Bart, brother Michael and sister Munia were all killed. After the war, my father looked for his mom's brother who left for America before the war. He never found him.

My mother was born on June 05, 1922 at 7 Sadowa Street in the city of Vilna (Wilno), Poland--now Vilnius, Lithuania. She was raised at 29 Zawalna Street in a building owned by her grandmother Bluma where she lived with her mother Rose, step father Hillel Botwinik, and her younger brother Michael. Her aunt Lizzie Balcwinik lived in another apartment in the same building with her husband Wolf Skolnicki and their three sons - Shashka, Avraham and Nachum. My mom's other aunt Sonia Balcwinik and her husband Avraham Bulkin lived close by with their two daughters - Fania & Sima. The oldest Fania, was my mother's age. Both of my mom's grandparents, Bluma Rosaler - Balcwinik and Shmuel Balcwinik had lived in the Vilna - Eishyshok regions for generations. Her grandmother Bluma was a shrewd business woman who sold hay and grain as far back as to the Calvary of Czarist Russia. She ran her business on the first floor of her family's home and was successful. My mom had three uncles - Aaron, Barney and Norman who lived in Springfield, Mass. My mother had never met them, although they wrote often. Her uncles fled Vilna to America prior to World War II. My mother's aunt Lizzie had lived in Springfield for a year and worked as a seamstress. Lizzie considered staying in America, but with Rose's urging, she returned to Vilna where all three girls were soon married. My grandmother Rose Balcwinik married Boruch Lewinson, however, he died of a sun stroke when my mother was still young. Rose remarried a prominent wood merchant, Hillel Botwinik. Rose had a stationary store that she operated on 7 Sadowa Street. During the summers, the family spent time at Hillel's farm called the Boulders. My mother was a member of Betar, a right wing Zionist group and attended the Epstein-Szpeizer Gymnasium--a Jewish high school for Vilna's upper class. After the German invasion of Vilna in June of 1941, my mother was imprisoned in the ghetto in one small room with 25 others including her grandmother, mother, and younger brother. My mom's step father Hillel Botwinik had already been taken away on July 13th for one day's labor, supposedly, but never returned. Their apartment was occupied by about one hundred people that they divided into four living spaces which included only one bathroom and one kitchen. My mom met my dad, Leizer Bart in the ghetto at a HaShomer Hatzair Zionist meeting that was held in her cousin Fania's apartment. Fania introduced them. My parents were married ninety days before the ghetto was liquidated. Eight days before the ghetto's liquidation, they escaped with a group of fourteen members of the underground led by Shlomo Brand to the Rudnicki forest where they joined the Avenger's partisan battalion commanded by Abba Kovner. In the forest, my mother was a camp cook and was also a courier of needed supplies between partisan camps.

The only member of the Balcwinik family in Europe to survive the Holocaust was her cousin Fania Bulkin who settled in Israel.