The last Aktion in a series of operations in the Vilna Ghetto took place on December 22, 1941. The GermansΓÇÖ method was to murder inmates who did not hold a " Schein ," a German-issued labor permit. For this reason, the Jews in this city termed the murder operations " Schein-aktionen ." By the end of 1941, the Germans had murdered 33,500 of the 57,000 Jews in Vilna, mostly at the massacre site at Ponary.
Several Jews managed to survive Ponary and return to the Vilna Ghetto. A teacher, Rivka Yoselewska, who regained consciousness in the mass grave related: "Suddenly I heard quiet crying next to me in the grave. I listened for a moment and made out the sobbing of a child. I crawled toward the sound. To my astonishment, as I crept, I found the corpse of my husband, from whom I had parted the night before.... The child did not stop crying, and I summoned my last strength and reached her. My eyes made out a 3-year-old girl, alive and intact. I decided to save myself and the little girl. As I clutched her in my arms atop the pile of corpses, I knew I would surviveΓÇöshe had saved me."
