How Did the Jews of Vilna Try to Resist the Nazis?
A month and a half later, the Germans decided to liquidate the ghetto. The F.P.O. tried to persuade the ghetto residents not to go for the deportation because they were being sent to their deaths.
But the ghetto residents did not believe this, they believed they were being sent to work camps - and in this case, they were right. Most of these transports were being sent to labor camps in Estonia.
On September 1, the first clash broke out between the F.P.O. and the Germans. As the F.P.O. fighters shot at the Germans, the Germans blew up their buildings. The Germans retreated at nightfall and let the Jewish police round up the remaining ghetto residents for the transports, at the insistence of Gens.
The F.P.O. came to the realization that they would be alone in this fight. The ghetto population was not willing to rise up; instead, they were willing to try their chances at a labor camp rather than certain death in revolt. Thus, the F.P.O. decided to escape to the forests and become partisans.
Since the Germans had the ghetto surrounded, the only way out was through the sewers.
Once in the forests, the fighters created a partisan division and performed many acts of sabotage. They destroyed power and water infrastructures, freed groups of prisoners from the Kalais labor camp, and even blew up some German military trains.
Kovner survived to the end of the war. Though he had been instrumental in establishing a resistance group in Vilna and led a partisan group in the forests, Kovner did not stop his activities at the war's end. Kovner was one of the founders of the underground organization to smuggle Jews out of Europe called Beriha.
Kovner was caught by the British near the end of 1945 and was jailed for a short time. Upon his release he joined Kibbutz Ein ha-Horesh in Israel, with his wife, Vitka Kempner, who had also been a fighter in the F.P.O.
Kovner kept his fighting spirit and was active in Israel's War for Independence.
After his fighting days, Kovner wrote two volumes of poetry for which he won the 1970 Israel Prize in Literature.
Kovner died at age 69 in September 1987.
1. Abba Kovner as quoted in Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985) 192.
2. Abba Kovner, "The Mission of the Survivors," The Catastrophe of European Jewry, Ed. Yisrael Gutman (New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1977) 675.
3. Proclamation of the F.P.O as quoted in Michael Berenbaum, Witness to the Holocaust (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1997) 154.
4. Abba Kovner, "A First Attempt to Tell," The Holocaust as Historical Experience: Essays and a Discussion, Ed. Yehuda Bauer (New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1981) 81-82.
5. Yitzhak Arad, Ghetto in Flames: The Struggle and Destruction of the Jews in Vilna in the Holocaust (Jerusalem: Ahva Cooperative Printing Press, 1980) 236.
6. Kovner, "First Attempt" 84.
7. F.P.O. Manifesto as quoted in Arad, Ghetto 411-412.
8. Kovner, "First Attempt" 90.
Arad, Yitzhak. Ghetto in Flames: The Struggle and Destruction of the Jews in Vilna in the Holocaust. Jerusalem: Ahva Cooperative Printing Press, 1980.
Berenbaum, Michael, ed. Witness to the Holocaust. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1997.
Gilbert, Martin. The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985.
Gutman, Israel, ed. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York: Macmillan Library Reference U.S.A., 1990.
Kovner, Abba. "A First Attempt to Tell." The Holocaust as Historical Experience: Essays and a Discussion. Ed. Yehuda Bauer. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1981.
Kovner, Abba. "The Mission of the Survivors." The Catastrophe of European Jewry. Ed. Yisrael Gutman. New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1977.
Jews! Defend yourselves with arms! The German and Lithuanian hangmen have arrived at the gates of the ghetto. They have come to murder us! . . . But we shall not go! We shall not stretch our necks like sheep for the slaughter! Jews! Defend yourself with arms!7
But the ghetto residents did not believe this, they believed they were being sent to work camps - and in this case, they were right. Most of these transports were being sent to labor camps in Estonia.
On September 1, the first clash broke out between the F.P.O. and the Germans. As the F.P.O. fighters shot at the Germans, the Germans blew up their buildings. The Germans retreated at nightfall and let the Jewish police round up the remaining ghetto residents for the transports, at the insistence of Gens.
The F.P.O. came to the realization that they would be alone in this fight. The ghetto population was not willing to rise up; instead, they were willing to try their chances at a labor camp rather than certain death in revolt. Thus, the F.P.O. decided to escape to the forests and become partisans.
The Forest
Since the Germans had the ghetto surrounded, the only way out was through the sewers.
Once in the forests, the fighters created a partisan division and performed many acts of sabotage. They destroyed power and water infrastructures, freed groups of prisoners from the Kalais labor camp, and even blew up some German military trains.
I remember the first time I blew up a train. I went out with a small group, with Rachel Markevitch as our guest. It was New Year's Eve; we were bringing the Germans a festival gift. The train appeared on the raised railway; a line of large, heavy-laden trucks rolled on toward Vilna. My heart suddenly stopped beating for joy and fear. I pulled the string with all my strength, and in that moment, before the thunder of the explosion echoed through the air, and twenty-one trucks full of troops hurtled down into the abyss, I heard Rachel cry: "For Ponar!" [Ponary]8
The End of the War
Kovner survived to the end of the war. Though he had been instrumental in establishing a resistance group in Vilna and led a partisan group in the forests, Kovner did not stop his activities at the war's end. Kovner was one of the founders of the underground organization to smuggle Jews out of Europe called Beriha.
Kovner was caught by the British near the end of 1945 and was jailed for a short time. Upon his release he joined Kibbutz Ein ha-Horesh in Israel, with his wife, Vitka Kempner, who had also been a fighter in the F.P.O.
Kovner kept his fighting spirit and was active in Israel's War for Independence.
After his fighting days, Kovner wrote two volumes of poetry for which he won the 1970 Israel Prize in Literature.
Kovner died at age 69 in September 1987.
Notes
1. Abba Kovner as quoted in Martin Gilbert, The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985) 192.
2. Abba Kovner, "The Mission of the Survivors," The Catastrophe of European Jewry, Ed. Yisrael Gutman (New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1977) 675.
3. Proclamation of the F.P.O as quoted in Michael Berenbaum, Witness to the Holocaust (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1997) 154.
4. Abba Kovner, "A First Attempt to Tell," The Holocaust as Historical Experience: Essays and a Discussion, Ed. Yehuda Bauer (New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1981) 81-82.
5. Yitzhak Arad, Ghetto in Flames: The Struggle and Destruction of the Jews in Vilna in the Holocaust (Jerusalem: Ahva Cooperative Printing Press, 1980) 236.
6. Kovner, "First Attempt" 84.
7. F.P.O. Manifesto as quoted in Arad, Ghetto 411-412.
8. Kovner, "First Attempt" 90.
Bibliography
Arad, Yitzhak. Ghetto in Flames: The Struggle and Destruction of the Jews in Vilna in the Holocaust. Jerusalem: Ahva Cooperative Printing Press, 1980.
Berenbaum, Michael, ed. Witness to the Holocaust. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc., 1997.
Gilbert, Martin. The Holocaust: A History of the Jews of Europe During the Second World War. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1985.
Gutman, Israel, ed. Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. New York: Macmillan Library Reference U.S.A., 1990.
Kovner, Abba. "A First Attempt to Tell." The Holocaust as Historical Experience: Essays and a Discussion. Ed. Yehuda Bauer. New York: Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1981.
Kovner, Abba. "The Mission of the Survivors." The Catastrophe of European Jewry. Ed. Yisrael Gutman. New York: Ktav Publishing House, Inc., 1977.
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