Gitel was born in Kedainiai, Lithuania on March 12, 1939 and she died on Aug. 28, 1941 (5 Elul 5701), at the age of 12.  On that date, Nazis killed nearly every one of the 2,000 residents of the Kedainiai ghetto.  Most of those who were martyred were buried in a mass grave on a bluff over the Smilga River, about a mile outside the town.

Kedainiai is the ancestral town of the Kreiger family. Abby’s 5^th great-grandfather (and Eric’s 4th), Lieb Krieger, was born in Kedainiai in 1778. The town was the home to Abby’s ancestors for over a century until most successfully fled to New York in the late-18th and early-19th centuries.

זכר צדיק לברכה – Zekher tzadik livrakha – May the memory of the righteous be a blessing.

Sept. 5, 2021

Sources:

• https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/seta/pages/massgrave.htm
• https://keidaner.com/mass-grave-children/
• https://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&itemId=6880490&ind=1