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Abba Kovner was born in Sebastopol, Crimea, on the Black Sea coast, in 1918. His life would not go on to be normal.

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Imprisonment would be anything but fun. Kovner and sixteen other Ha-Shomer Ha-Tsair members decided to flee the city rather than be imprisoned in the ghetto to escape the Germans.

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Abba Kovners' fate, on the other hand, would be far from ordinary, and the Nazi war machine would ensure that. He made a large difference in the world.

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They would go on to hide in a Dominican nuns' convent a few miles outside of Vilna. In hiding was more enjoyable than the horrific concentration camp.

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Abba Kovner took it upon himself to rally the remaining Ghetto residents to fight from inside the ghetto itself. Kovner was one of the FPO's (Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye) five founding members, dedicated to making a difference.

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Here are a few famous quotes from Abba Kovner. "Jewish youth! Do not trust those who are trying to deceive you. Out of the eighty thousand Jews in the "Jerusalem of Lithuania" only twenty thousand are left. "

"We will not go like sheep to the slaughter"

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Many Jews in the Ghetto realized by December 1941 that the Germans intended to exterminate them all. Despite the fact that not everyone in attendance wanted to stay and fight.

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Abba Kovner was a very talented activist. He had many quotes that inspired people to rise up, to avoid being the anvil.

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These Jews had been killed off by the German Nazis.

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This is the prison that Abba stayed in for a couple days before being released.

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Abba lived in Vilna ghetto.

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Here is a link to another informational website.

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"Jewish youth! Do not trust those who are trying to deceive you. Hitler plans to destroy all the Jews of Europe...We will not be led like sheep to the slaughter! True, we are weak and defenseless, but the only reply to the murderer is revolt! Brothers! Better to fall as free fighters than to live by the mercy of the murderers. Arise! Arise with your last breath!"

With these words on December 31, 1941, Abba Kovner galvanized the divided factions of the Vilna ghetto resistance to join together and fight back against their would-be murderers. Three weeks later, the FPO (United Partisan Organization) was born.

Kovner would go on to command the FPO, lead the famed "Avengers" partisan unit, help found the State of Israel-becoming one of its most honored poets-and reputedly continue to hunt Nazis after the war.

Born in 1918 in Sebastopol, Russia, Kovner spent his high school years in Vilna, Lithuania-the 'Jerusalem of Europe'-where he joined the Ha-Shomer ha-Za'ir youth movement. Hearing rumors of killings and mass graves in nearby Ponar, Kovner and his youth group friends self-organized as partisans. They snuck out of the ghetto to execute sabotage missions, manufactured bombs, trained fighters, and acquired weapons which were smuggled into the ghetto in false-bottomed coffins or through the sewers.

The FPO continually pleaded with the Jews of Vilna to join the partisans in a popular uprising. Realizing Vilna's Jews would not rise up before the final destruction of the ghetto, Kovner sent the majority of the partisans (about 300) into the forest. Those who stayed, including Kovner, took up positions in abandoned buildings and briefly fought the Germans before escaping the destruction.

Kovner led the remaining partisans to the Rudnicki Forest where the "Avengers" earned a distinguished record, destroying over 180 miles of train tracks, 5 bridges, 40 enemy train cars, killing 212 enemy soldiers and rescuing at least 71 Jews. Kovner was convinced that Jews could gain self-respect through fighting, and that Jews must fight as Jews. He refused to be absorbed into Lithuanian or Russian partisan groups.

Kovner and the partisans returned to Vilna with the Red Army on July 7, 1944, recapturing the city from the Germans on July 13, 1944.

Following the war, Abba Kovner helped surviving Jews reach mandate Palestine. He also formed a new organization with 50 other partisans, reportedly attempting to poison thousands of Nazi and SS prisoners in a Nuremberg POW camp. Accounts differ as to how many Germans were injured or killed. Soon after, he and fellow Vilna partisan Vitka Kempner were married and smuggled into mandate Palestine.

In 1961, Kovner testified at the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Kovner continued to inspire people with his writing, and won the "Israel Prize" in literature for his poetry in 1970. Abba Kovner died in 1987.

Primary resources by the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation. © 2018 Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation. All Rights Reserved. For more information, go to www.jewishpartisans.org.

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Read the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation's short biography of Abba Kovner.