Jewish life in prewar Kovno, Riga, and Lvov

Jewish life in prewar Kovno, Riga, and Lvov 

The cameraman Honon Katz was Dita's uncle (her father's brother). He traveled from Berlin to visit his parents Zemach and Basia Katz in 1929 and shot this film. In 1932, Honon left Berlin for France. At the beginning of the war, he left his belongings, including this film, in his apartment in Paris and traveled south. Dita took the film from Honon in Paris in 1973. Yehudit (Dita) Katz Zupovitz (now Dita Sperling) is the daughter of Itzhak and Liola Katz. She was born in Kovno on April 15, 1922, where her father worked as an economist and her mother as a dentist. Dita has one younger brother, Grisha (also known as Hersch or Zvi). She married Yehuda Zupovitz during her last year of high school, five months before the start of the war. In the Kovno ghetto she and Yehuda lived with her mother, grandfather, brother and aunt. Dita smuggled food while on work details outside of the ghetto in order to keep the family fed. She also smuggled her niece Rina Zupovitz out of the ghetto. Yehuda, deputy chief of the ghetto Jewish police, kept much of his underground activity a secret from Dita, but he did teach her how to shoot a rifle. Shortly after Yehuda's arrest in March 1944 and subsequent murder at Fort IX, Dita was sent to the Sanciai labor camp. From there, she was deported to Stutthof in July. Dita survived along with her mother and brother. Her father was killed in the June 1941 pogroms in Kovno; and her grandmother, Basia, was killed during the March 1944 action that targeted the children and the elderly. Her cousin (the baby) died on a death march to Stutthof. The cameraman Honon Katz was Dita's uncle (her father's brother). He traveled from Berlin to visit his parents Zemach and Basia Katz in 1929 and shot this film. In 1932, Honon left Berlin for France. At the beginning of the war, he left his belongings, including this film, in his apartment in Paris and traveled south. Dita took the film from Honon in Paris in 1973. 

Jewish life in prewar Kovno, Riga, and Lvov