The director of the library, Herman Kruk, was a literary critic, an active and a long-time member of the Bund, who was originally from Płock in Poland and, before escaping to Vilnius at the beginning of the Second World War, resided in Warsaw. In Warsaw Kruk was the director of its Jewish Library. Apart from the routine of the library, together with other members of Vilna Ghetto cultural elite Kruk was forced to undertake the particularly painful task of selecting the most valuable materials – out of millions of books, manuscripts, newspapers and other treasured written sources accumulated or composed in Vilnius – to be transported to Germany, while the rest of the materials were to be destroyed. Kruk and others did everything to find a third option – for this invaluable treasure to escape destruction and remain in Vilnius. One of the hiding-places for the written word was here, in the library. You will find out more about this scarcely imaginable “rescue of papers” at the St. George Church.