Israel Mourns Passing of Vilna Ghetto Uprising Organizer Baruch Shub

Baruch and his late wife Nelly had two children, both of them Israeli Air Force pilots, and eight grandchildren.

By TPS

Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, issued a statement on mourning the passing of Baruch Shub, a Holocaust survivor and partisan during WWII.

Shub passed away over the weekend at the age of 96.

Shub served as a member of the Yad Vashem Directorate and of the Commission for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nations, gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust.

Shub was born in 1924 in Vilnius, Lithuania, to a Hassidic family, the second child of a family of six. During the Holocaust, he used his degree in mechanical engineering to work for the Germans in various locations.

In March 1941, his sister Zipporah was murdered in an aktion together with 840 other Jews, many of whom were children.

Shub, together with other young Jews, established an underground resistance movement in the ghetto, but were forced to abandon their activities due to pressure from their frightened families.

Later on, he enlisted in the Russian Army as a paratrooper. He was part of the Russian forces that liberated Vilnius in 1944, where he learned that his entire family had been murdered during the Shoah.

After recovering from his wartime injuries, Shub decided to immigrate to Eretz Israel, which he finally reached in October 1945 after traveling through Hungary, Romania and Italy.

He was recruited to the Haganah, serving as an airplane technician during Israel’s War of Independence. Two years later he transferred to El Al, rising through company ranks to Chief Flight Engineer before his retirement 33 years later.

Throughout his life, Shub dedicated himself to Holocaust remembrance and education. He served as Chairman of the Organization of Partisans, Underground Fighters and Ghetto Rebels in Israel, as well as a member of the Center Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel and the Claims Conference Board of Directors. He lectured widely on antisemitism and Holocaust denial.

In 2010, Shub was selected as one of the six torch lighters for the State Opening Ceremony of Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem.

“Baruch was a partisan and a fighter who, throughout his life, embodied the survivors’ rebirth and commitment to build a new life for himself, his family, his nation and his country,” said Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. “He worked tirelessly until the end for the sake of Holocaust remembrance for generations to come. He will be greatly missed.”

Baruch and his wife late wife Nelly had two children, both of them Israeli Air Force pilots, and eight grandchildren.

“Yad Vashem extends its deepest sympathies to the entire family. May his memory be blessed,” the Holocaust memorial stated.