# data[].attributes.headline
Leaders of the Anti-Fascist partisan group in the Kovno ghetto.

# data[].attributes.subject
Leaders of the Anti-Fascist partisan group in the Kovno ghetto.

# data[].attributes.body
Chaim Yelin, born in 1912, grew up in an intellectually stimulating environment in Vilkija, Lithuania, with both of his parents being specialists in Hebrew studies. In 1932, he completed his studies at Kovno's Reali Hebrew Gymnasium and later earned a degree in economics from the University of Lithuania. During his time as a student, he developed an interest in drama and established a literary reputation through various publications. In 1937, he represented Lithuania at an international conference in Paris on Jewish culture.

# data[].attributes.body
Initially a Zionist, Yelin later embraced communism. When Lithuania was annexed to the USSR in June 1940, Yelin was appointed to a senior position in a state ministry. He supported the Soviet regime and was active in Communist Party councils. However, when the Germans occupied Lithuania and ghettoized Jews in the summer of 1941, Yelin, as a Jew and a Communist sympathizer, became a double target. He was captured and forced into the Kovno ghetto.

# data[].attributes.headline
Resistance of the Anti Fascist partisan.

# data[].attributes.subject
Resistance of the Anti Fascist partisan.

# data[].attributes.body
Resistance is measured in ohms and symbolized by the Greek letter omega

# data[].attributes.body
In the ghetto, Yelin wrote ironic and semi-humorous vignettes about ghetto life and became the leader of the ghetto's Communist resistance movement under the identity "Kadison." After the mass executions of Jews in 1941, Yelin and friends formed the Activists Union (Aktivistn Farband), also known as the Anti-Fascist Organization. Yelin believed that the ghetto's survival depended on Germany's defeat by the Soviet army and partisans. He worked with the Communist underground and the Rudniki Forest partisans, collaborating with sympathetic Lithuanians like Dr. Elena Kutorgiene to smuggle arms and gather information. Kutorgiene also offered sanctuary for his writings.

# data[].attributes.headline
Holocust survivor that joined an underground anti-fascist organization

# data[].attributes.subject
Holocust survivor that joined an underground anti-fascist organization

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Sara Ginaite-Rubinson: Joining a Lithuanian Anti-Fascist Group | #VHMlistens to Sara Ginaite-Rubinson, a Holocaust Survivor from Lithuania, as she discusses how and why she joined an underground anti-fascist... | By Virginia Holocaust Museum | Facebook

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
752 views, 11 likes, 2 loves, 0 comments, 4 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Virginia Holocaust Museum: #VHMlistens to Sara Ginaite-Rubinson, a Holocaust Survivor from Lithuania, as she discusses...

# data[].attributes.headline
Jewish partisans who operated in forests in Lithuania

# data[].attributes.subject
Jewish partisans who operated in forests in Lithuania

# data[].attributes.headline
 William W. Mishell, Kaddish for Kovno: Life and Death in a Lithuanian Ghetto 1941-1945

# data[].attributes.subject
 William W. Mishell, Kaddish for Kovno: Life and Death in a Lithuanian Ghetto 1941-1945

# data[].attributes.body
“Another letter complained about the soldiers suffering in Stalingrad, asking God why He let things like this happen to the brave German people. This letter was a classic. The godless barbarians who had forgotten the image of God in the hour of their victories, the murderers who were shooting tens of thousands of Jews and Russian prisons of without blinking an eye, suddenly now remembered that there was a God somewhere after all. Where was God when they were massacring innocent women and children in the forts of Lithuania, piling them on top of the other in huge mass graves? Why didn't they look up to Him at that hour? But at that time they were playing God themselves, with the lives of millions of "subhumans." Oh, how good it felt to hear a German Nazi clamour of God! God! This was our revenge. God was no in Stalingrad. This was the Ninth Fort for the Germans.”

# data[].attributes.body
“ You don't play the piano with your fingers, but with your heart and brain !”

# data[].attributes.body
In 1977, Yelin's brother Meir submitted a Page of Testimony in his memory. The featured photograph was taken by Chaim David Ratner, who was killed in the partisans' ranks in July 1944. His brother Yaakov submitted a Page of Testimony in 1973. Avraham Tory, a Kovno ghetto inmate and Jewish Council secretary, preserved the photograph and maintained a diary, parts of which were published in 1988. Tory survived the war and immigrated to Israel in 1947.

# data[].attributes.headline
Check Encyclopedia.ushmm.org for more information on Chaim Yelin

# data[].attributes.subject
Check Encyclopedia.ushmm.org for more information on Chaim Yelin

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Early Years

Chaim Yelin was born in 1912 in Vilkija, a small Lithuanian town near Kovno. He grew up in a home filled with intellectual discussion. His father Eliezer (Lazar) was a specialist in Hebrew studies, as was his mother, Esther-Riebel. Eliezer founded in 1921 and directed a library in Kovno for the Culture League, which was later called "Lovers of Knowledge." Chaim and his brother Meir helped run the library and participated in discussions about Jewish and secular literature and politics.

in 1932 Yelin completed his studies at Kovno's Reali Hebrew Gymnasium. A few years later he received a degree in economics at the city's University of Lithuania. As a student he became interested in drama and participated in student theatricals. He alo established a literary reputation as a result of stories, articles, and dramas he published in the daily Folksblat and in other Yiddish journals. He represented Lithuania in 1937 at an international conference in Paris on Jewish culture.

Occupation of Lithuania

Exhibiting left-wing tendencies, Yelin was eager to support the Soviet regime when it occupied Lithuania in 1940-41. But his employment in the new government's printing office and his activity in the Communist Party councils and institutions exposed him as a double target, as a Jews and a Communist sympathizer, when the Germans occupied Lithuania and ghettoized Jews in the summer of 1941. Eventually the Germans captured him and forced him into the Kovno ghetto.
Kovno: Maps
Resistance in the Kovno Ghetto

Yelin continued to write in the ghetto, mainly during 1941. He developed ironic and semi-humorous vignettes about work brigades, German plunder, and other aspects of ghetto life. His main concern, however, was political. He assumed a new identity, complete with a mustache and pseudonym (Kadison). He became the leader of the ghetto's Communist resistance movement. Shortly after the mass executions of Jews in the summer and fall of 1941, Yelin and some close friends formed the Activists Union ( Aktivistn Farband in Yiddish), also known as the Anti-Fascist Organization.

Believing that the ghetto's survival was dependent on the defeat of Germany by the Soviet army and partisans outside the ghetto's perimeter, Yelin found ways to evade gate guards to meet with members of the Communist underground in the city and in the Rudniki (Rudninkai) Forest, the closest partisan base to Kovno. He also met with sympathetic Lithuanians, including the physician Elena Kutorgiene. Yelin used these contacts to smuggle ammunition and arms into the ghetto and gather information. Kutorgiene also offered sanctuary for Yelin's ghetto writings.

Resistance Increases

With the conversion of the ghetto into a concentration camp and the news of the liquidation of the Vilna ghetto in September and October 1932, membership in resistance groups increased. Already during the summer, members of Matzok, the ghetto's largest Zionist resistance organization, approached Yelin about the possibilities of joining forces. Accelerating underground activity led to the consolidation of Zionist, who were committed to Jewish self-defense, and Communists into one group called "The Organization" or the "Jewish General Fighting Organization" (Yidishe Algemeyne Kamfs Organizatsie").

Yelin's charisma, organizational skills, and outside contacts with the non-Jewish underground movements earned him widespread support and popularity across ideological lines as the de facto leader of "The Organization." The Zionists concentrated on getting help from ghetto authorities; the Communists concentrated on getting help from outside the ghetto, contacting partisans and obtaining arms for fighting both inside and outside the ghetto.

In early fall 1943, Yelin received a mysterious note addressed to "the Jewish author Chaim Yelin" and signed "G." The note came from Gessia Glezer, alias Albina. Glezer was a Soviet Jewish paratrooper who often visited Kovno and stayed with Kutorgiene. She came this time with a proposal to send Jewish partisans to join Soviet partisan units in the Augustow (Augustavas) Forest south of Kovno.

The Augustow Plan proved to be a disaster. Traveling by foot, almost all of the 100-plus Jewish fighters were captured. The two who arrived safely learned that there had been no partisan activity there. Yelin quickly established new contacts and sent more than 300 Jewish youths, many by truck, to the Soviet partisan bases of the Rudniki Forest.

Capture

On April 6, 1944, while Yelin was in central Kovno trying to arrange another transport of Jewish partisans, the Gestapo captured him following an exchange of gunfire on the city's main road. He was confined, interrogated, and tortured.

Concerned about the ghetto's possible collective punishment on his account, Yelin insisted that he was a Russian paratrooper named Garmen. Yelin was killed sometime in early May. With the loss of his leadership after his arrest and disappearance, armed resistance in the Kovno ghetto eventually fell apart.

Last Edited: Jul 5, 2018

Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Chaim Yelin was born in 1912 in Vilkija, a small Lithuanian town near Kovno. He grew up in a home filled with intellectual discussion. His father Eliezer (Lazar) was a specialist in Hebrew studies, as was his mother, Esther-Riebel. Eliezer founded in 1921 and directed a library in Kovno for the Culture League, which was later called "Lovers of Knowledge."

# data[].attributes.headline
While explaining the order someone in the Anti Fascist Partisan

# data[].attributes.subject
While explaining the order someone in the Anti Fascist Partisan

# data[].attributes.body
"We shall not abandon the ghetto. Our major aim is the open struggle against the Nazis within partisan ranks."

# data[].attributes.body
Increased Resistance Efforts With the ghetto’s conversion to a concentration camp and news of the Vilna ghetto's liquidation in 1942, resistance membership grew. Yelin's charisma and organizational skills united various resistance groups into the Jewish General Fighting Organization (Yidishe Algemeyne Kamfs Organizatsie). While the Zionists focused on gaining help from ghetto authorities, the Communists, led by Yelin, sought external assistance and arms. In early fall 1943, Yelin received a proposal from Gessia Glezer, a Soviet Jewish paratrooper, to send Jewish partisans to the Augustow Forest. The plan failed disastrously, with nearly all fighters captured. Yelin then redirected efforts to sending fighters to the Rudniki Forest.

# data[].attributes.body
On April 6, 1944, the Gestapo captured Yelin in central Kovno after a battle. After being tortured, Yelin still claimed to be a Russian paratrooper named Garmen to protect the ghetto from collective punishment. He was executed in early May 1944. The Soviet government posthumously decorated him for his partisan activities. His arrest and disappearance led to the collapse of armed resistance in the Kovno ghetto.

# data[].attributes.headline
Portrait of Chaim Yelin, commander of the "Antifascist Struggle Organization"

# data[].attributes.subject
Portrait of Chaim Yelin, commander of the "Antifascist Struggle Organization"

# data[].attributes.body
In 1939, approximately 40,000 Jews lived in Kovno. By the time Kovno was liberated on August 1, 1944, fewer than 2,000 had survived the war.

# data[].attributes.body
Chaim Yelin's story is a testament to his intellectual prowess, his shift from Zionism to communism, his resilience and leadership in the face of adversity, and his ultimate sacrifice for the resistance movement during one of history's darkest periods.

# data[].attributes.body
"Visiones" is a song that explores a series of catastrophic events and situations, both historical and imaginary, offering a bleak commentary on the future and the direction of humanity. Through its lyrics, the Canserbero highlights issues such as war, natural disasters, terrorism, disease, violence, and social decay. Despite its apocalyptic tone, the song connects with the idea of resistance in several profound and meaningful ways: Awareness and Awakening, Critique of Power and Corruption. The main one Im focusing on Resistance to Moral and Cultural Decay, The lyrics address the loss of values and moral decay, criticizing drug use, violence in my generation, and ignorance in schools. This resistance to moral and cultural degradation seeks to preserve integrity and fundamental social values in venezuela.