Naomi Jacobson - NNN 2026

Mrs. Naomi Jacobson (née Gendler) was born on April 27, 1928, in the small town of Memel (known as Klaipėda by the Lithuanians), located on the shores of the Baltic Sea. She was the daughter of Joseph and Perel Gendler and grew up in a close-knit Jewish family in Lithuania.

When the Germans invaded her hometown in 1939, all of the Jews were expelled. Naomi fled with her family first to Kretinga and later to Kovno. In 1941, as the Germans advanced on Kovno, her family sent her to the resort town of Palanga in an effort to keep her safe. Shortly thereafter, her father was murdered together with Rav Elchanan Wasserman ZT"L, in the infamous Seventh Fort Massacre outside Kovno.

Naomi eventually returned to the Kovno Ghetto. On October 28, 1941, during a massive selection, Naomi and her mother were placed in the line designated for death. At the last moment, Naomi’s sister convinced the Germans that both Naomi and their mother were capable of work, saving their lives and sending them to the labor line instead. Naomi spent the next two years performing forced labor at an airport under harsh conditions. In 1944, she was deported to the Stutthof concentration camp. As the war drew to a close, she endured a brutal death march until liberation in 1945.

After the war, Naomi rebuilt her life and family despite the unimaginable hardships she had endured. Today, her story stands as a testament to courage, perseverance, and the resilience of the Jewish spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity.