How Dark the Heavens is a memoir written by Sidney Iwens, in which the author recounts the harrowing story of surviving the Holocaust as a Jewish teen pursuant to the German occupation of Lithuania. The book is reminiscent of Night by Elie Wiesel, 'A Lucky Child' by Thomas Buergenthal or of My Brother's Voice (2003) by Stephen Nasser.
Background
Sidney Iwens (né Shaya (Shaike) Iwensky) was born on May 21, 1924, in Jonava, Lithuania to Jewish parents. His father, Moshe Iwensky had been head of the Folksbank, the nonprofit Jewish community bank in Jonava. The family also included Shaike's mother Mina and younger brother Ruvke, fifteen and sister Nehamah, thirteen.
The book
The book chronicles the author's carefree life as a typical 17 year old Jewish boy in the small town of Jonava, Lithuania, a town of about 4500 inhabitants, with Jews. However, on Sunday, June 22, 1941, a radio address by V. M. Molotov confirmed that the Soviet Union had been attacked by Germany. Soon it became apparent that much of the Jewish population of Lithuania was in full-fledged flight and the Iwensky family joined the exodus to Daugavpils, Latvia a city mistakenly thought to be beyond the immediate reach of the Nazi war machine.
After the refugees were overrun by the German army, the author's dance with death in the Daugavpils Prison, the Daugavpils Ghetto, the Citadel, amongst partisans of White Russia and Dachau Concentration Camp are chronicled in a calm, dispassionate narrative. 'How Dark the Heavens' won the 1991 August Derleth Non-Fiction book award.
Daugavpils Prison
The German occupation authority decreed that Jewish men were to report to the big marketplace in Daugavpils. All 16,000 men who reported, including Shaike were imprisoned in the Daugavpils prison, then taken to the killing ground in groups in a small park behind an iron gate. After some 15800 Jews were executed, it was Shaike's turn in the little garden. He and some companions were given shovels and ordered to dig graves, while other members of his group stomped on graves containing freshly killed bodies.
Miraculously, the executioners called a halt to the proceedings at sunset and led the remaining 200 men back to prison. The executions continued unabated the next morning, however, Shaike had found a hiding place in an empty cell and escaped execution by mixing with Jewish artisans spared in the initial slaughter.
Daugavpils Ghetto
Eventually Shaike found himself in the Daugavpils Ghetto. Here survival in the dreaded selections for death depended on obtaining a "Schein" or work permit. If one family member had a Schein, immediate family members, real or alleged, might be saved. In this fashion Shaike saved a young woman, by claiming she was his wife, and was himself saved on more than one occasion.
When new red Scheines were introduced they invalidated all previous Scheines. Lacking a red Schein, Shaike hid under a tin roof in the ghetto in an Aktion where the population of the ghetto was reduced from 5000 to a little over 1000. Emerging after two days from his molina (hiding place) Shaike volunteered as a skilled craftsman (painter) for the German army construction unit (Heeresbaudienststelle). This resulted in Shaike being kaserniert (barracked) in the Citadell and escaping the eventual liquidation of the last 600 souls remaining in the ghetto on May 1, 1942.
The Citadel
Not counting almost continuous hunger, life in the Citadell was relatively normal. There were no Aktions, SS guards or Latvian auxiliaries. Shaike and other Jews performed skilled labor under the supervision of regular German military, some of whom sympathized with the plight of "their" Jews and occasionally brought extra food to supplement the bread ration provided by the ghetto administration.
White Russian Partisans
Shaike and two companions took the opportunity to escape the Citadel when they were successful in securing guns, ammunition, map and compass and finally a Latvian guide who was in contact with the partisans of Bobily in White Russia. However, the stay with the partisans was short-lived because of a large scale operation of the German army whereby the forest hiding place of the partisans was surrounded. Shaike and his friend Max barely escaped the dragnet. Shaike and Max realized that without the protection of the partisans, life for a Jew in the world outside the ghetto was untenable. They were successful in hitching a ride on a freight train to the remote Siauliai Ghetto in Lithuania, which had not yet been liquidated and where conditions were rumored to be less harsh.