Avraham Tory

Avraham Tory (; 1909–2002) was a Jewish Lithuanian Holocaust survivor, diarist, and lawyer. His detailed diary and secret archive were used as evidence in war crimes trials. He also served as a trial witness.

Tory's diary was published in Hebrew in 1988 and English in 1990. He attended law school at the University of Pittsburgh, but returned to Lithuania to finish his studies at the University of Kovno after the death of his father. While in the ghetto, Tory, with help from Pnina Oshpitz Sheinzon, kept a detailed diary and managed a secret archive made up of reports, armbands, and orders as well as clandestine photographs and artwork of ghetto prisoners. With the Soviets now in control of Lithuania, Tory was again facing deportation to Siberia. He left Lithuania in 1945 for Poland and was joined by Pnina and Shulamit three weeks later.

Tory and his family settled in Tel Aviv in 1947. He changed his surname from Golub to Tory while in Israel. Tory established a law firm in Israel and was secretary general of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurors.

The Israeli ambassador to Romania helped Tory recover most of the remaining archive from Kovno.

Legacy

Trials Tory's meticulous records were used as evidence in the war crime trials of Lithuanian and German perpetrators including the mayor of Kovno and an SS officer that ordered the murder of 9,200 Jewish men, women, and children. Tory also served as a trial witness.

Diary and archive Tory's diary, written in Yiddish, was published in Hebrew in 1988 and English in 1990. It was used as the central theme of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's exhibition, "Surviving the Holocaust: The Kovno Ghetto Diary".

The diary and archive are in the collection of Yad Vashem.

Family Tory and Pnina remained married until his death. In addition to Shulamit, they had two daughters together.

Tory died of natural causes at the age of 92 at his home in Tel Aviv.