Baruch Shub was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1924, the second child
in a Hassidic family of six. In 1939 the Soviets conquered Vilnius,
and in June 1940 the city was annexed and Communist rule instituted.
Consequently, the universities were opened to Jews, and Baruch went to
study mechanical engineering.
In June 1941, the Germans conquered Vilnius and began murdering Jews
in Ponary. Baruch found work at a German garage repairing military
vehicles. In September the Jews of Vilnius were confined to a ghetto.
Baruch and his older sister, Zipporah, hid in a truck travelling to
Radoszkovice, where Baruch found work again in a German garage.
On 11 March 1942, the Jews were ordered to gather in the town square.
From his hiding place in the garage, Baruch saw a huge line of people,
including children, moving slowly towards a barn. The sound of
shooting could be heard. At night, the barn caught fire and a thick
stench filled the skies. Zipporah was among the 840 Jews murdered
there that day.
After the ghetto was set up, the Jewish youth established an
underground movement in the ghetto, bought weapons and prepared to
escape to the forests to join the partisans. However, the Germans
threatened death should anyone be found missing from the ghetto, and
their activities ceased.
After hearing from his mother in Vilnius, Baruch returned to his
hometown, where he worked in German manufacturing plants. He
established an underground movement with his friend Yaakov (Kuba)
Koshkin, and later joined the FPO (United Partisans Organization). In
September 1943, the Germans carried out a number of aktionen (roundups
of Jews in preparation for their deportation to concentration, forced
labor or death camps). Following an armed clash with the Germans,
Baruch and some friends joined a group of partisans in the Rudnicki
Forest. Two weeks later, the Vilnius ghetto was liquidated.
Baruch enlisted in a Russian paratrooper unit, participating in
various military operations. In July 1944, the Red Army conquered
Vilnius, and Baruch discovered that his entire family had been
murdered. After his army discharge, he decided to emigrate to Eretz
Israel, finally arriving in October 1945. He was recruited to the
Haganah, serving as an airplane technician during the War of
Independence. Two years later he transferred to El Al, rising through
company ranks to Chief Flight Engineer. After 33 years, he retired.
Baruch has been active in Holocaust commemoration for many years. He
serves as Chairman of the Israel Organization of Partisans,
Underground Fighters and Ghetto Rebels, and is a member of the Yad
Vashem Directorate, the Commission for the Designation of the
Righteous Among the Nations, and the Claims Conference Board of
Directors. He lectures on antisemitism and Holocaust denial.
Baruch and his wife Nelly have two children and eight grandchildren.