Zenia Malecki

Zenia Malecki was born in Vilna in 1921, the only child of traditional, middle-class parents. She attended secular Jewish schools and studied painting at the university. Her artistic talent was useful during the Russian occupation, when she was assigned to paint murals in public buildings. Although there were refugees from German-occupied Poland in Vilna since 1939, the Jews of Vilna didn't anticipate the fury of German occupation. The Germans occupied Vilna on June 24, 1941, and two ghetto areas were established as of September 6, 1941.¹