Shreibt un farshreibt!

The story is told that Simon Dubnow, the well-respected Jewish historian, shot in the Riga ghetto on 8th December 1941, warned his fellow Jews: "Yidn, shreibt un farshreibt!" ("Jews, write and record!")

This phrase was written on walls and scraps of paper in a last desperate act of defiance when the victims saw their immediate demise. These "last gasps" can be found in many locations, including the IX Fort in Kovno and in the last transport bringing the Jewish workers of the "death brigade" from Belzec to Sobibor in June 1943, where they were all shot on arrival.