Last Will and Testament

Elhanan Elkes

1943

October 19, 1943

Document: Last Testament, Letter from Dr. Elkes to his Son and Daughter in London

My beloved son and daughter!

I am writing these lines, my dear children, in the vale of tears of Vilijampolé, Kovno Ghetto, where we have been for over two years. We have now heard that in a few days our fate is to be sealed. The Ghetto is to be…
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Creator Bio

Elhanan Elkes

1879–1944

Elhanan Elkes was in born in Kalvarija, Lithuania, and studied medicine in Königsberg. He was elected chair of the Kovno (Kaunas) Aeltestenrat (Council of Elders) and led the Jewish community there under the Nazis from 1943 to 1944, when the ghetto was liquidated. He was deported, like many men from the Kovno ghetto, to Kaufering in the Dachau camp system.

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