Interview & Synopsis by: Zieva Konvisser
Videographer: Daniel Cooper

 Reuven Blium was born in Kaunas (Kovno in Yiddish), Lithuania, on December 11, 1930, the eighth light of Hanukkah. His older sister Chana was born around Shavuot in 1924. Their father Zundel died when he was three-years-old, and because they were very poor, their mother Libe placed them in foster homes, belonging to the Jewish Community of Kaunas. Reuven went to the Yiddisher Kinder Haus for younger children, located in the Grinebergl/Green Hill area (Žaliakalnis in Lithuanian). When he was ready for school, he was transferred to the Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor Orphanage, at J. Gruodžio g. 25, which prepared them for an independent life. “When I grew older, I very much appreciated how the Jewish community at that time created such nice facilities.”

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany occupied the Lithuanian Socialist Republic, a part of the Soviet Union. Unlike in previous summers when the orphanage boys older than six were sent to a summer camp in Lampedziai, 8-10 km away from the Kaunas city center, for some reason the children from newborns up to age six were sent to the summer camp and the older boys remained in the city. Due to the foresight of one of their teachers, Zundel [Warkola?}, who had been preparing the children for possible evacuation for months, and his quick action, he was able to get the 100 or so older boys out of the city just before the Nazis entered.