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Bob Marley - Get Up, Stand Up (Live at Munich, 1980)

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In 1961, he testified at the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, but he continued to inspire people with his writing and won the “Israel Prize” in literature for his poetry in 1970.

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The Vilna ghetto (where Abba lived during the time of the Holocaust) was occupied by Soviet forces in Poland in late September of 1939. But the Soviet Union transferred it to Lithuania. At this time the population was around 200,00 with 55,000 of those people being Jews. Then Germany attacked on June 24, 1941, and soon took control over Vilna.

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In 1946 during the Independence War, Abba Kovner and his wife would partner together in underground activities with other partisans or kibbutz Ein Hahoresh. Kovner was also an officer who was in charge of cultural activities that happened in the famous “Givati” brigade.

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During the last days of deportation from the Vilna Gherro to the extermination camps, Kovner supervised the escape of the organization fighters in the woods in the Rodniky wood he commanded the Jewish Unit of Ghetto fighters and the Nakam squad room which were all from the same Jewish camp.

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Background

Poland and Lithuania both claimed Vilna (Vilnius) after World War I. Polish forces occupied Vilna in 1920, and before the outbreak of World War II, the city of Vilna was part of northeastern Poland.

Under the terms of the German-Soviet Pact, Vilna, along with the rest of eastern Poland, was occupied by Soviet forces in late September 1939. In October 1939, the Soviet Union transferred the Vilna region to Lithuania. The population of the city was 200,000 at this time, including over 55,000 Jews. In addition, some 12,000-15,000 Jewish refugees from German-occupied Poland found refuge in the city. Soviet forces occupied Lithuania in June 1940 and in August 1940 incorporated Vilna, along with the rest of Lithuania, into the Soviet Union. On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked Soviet forces in eastern Europe. The German army occupied Vilna on June 24, 1941, the third day after the invasion.

Vilna Ghetto

In July 1941, the German military administration issued a series of anti-Jewish decrees. During the same month, German Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing squads) aided by Lithuanian auxiliaries killed 5,000 Jewish men at Ponary forest, eight miles outside Vilna. A German civilian administration took control of Vilna in August 1941. At the end of the month, Germans killed another 3,500 Jews at Ponary.

The Germans established two ghettos -ghetto # 1 and ghetto # 2-in Vilna in early September 1941. Jews considered incapable of work were concentrated in ghetto # 2. In October 1941, German Einsatzgruppe detachments and Lithuanian auxiliaries destroyed ghetto # 2, killing the ghetto population in Ponary. Lukiszki Prison served as a collection center for Jews who were to be taken to Ponary and shot. By the end of 1941, the Einsatzgruppen had killed about 40,000 Jews in Ponary.

The Jews in ghetto # 1 were forced to work in factories or in construction projects outside the ghetto. Some Jews were sent to labor camps in the Vilna region. In periodic killing operations, most of the ghetto's inhabitants were massacred at Ponary. From the spring of 1942 until the spring of 1943, there were no mass killing operations in Vilna. The Germans renewed the killings during the final liquidation of ghetto # 1 in late September 1943. Children, the elderly, and the sick were sent to the Sobibor killing center or were shot at Ponary. The surviving men were sent to labor camps in Estonia, while the women were sent to labor camps in Latvia.

Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto

The Vilna ghetto had a significant Jewish resistance movement. A group of Jewish partisans known as the United Partisan Organization ( Fareynegte Partizaner Organizatsye; FPO) was formed in 1942 and operated within the ghetto. The resistance created hiding places for weapons and prepared to fight the Germans. In early September 1943, realizing that the Germans intended the final destruction of the ghetto, resistance members skirmished with the Germans, who had entered the ghetto to begin the deportations. The Jewish council, however, agreed to cooperate in the deportations of Jews from the ghetto, hoping to minimize bloodshed. Consequently, the FPO decided to flee to the nearby forests to fight the Germans. Some ghetto fighters escaped the final destruction of the ghetto, leaving through the sewers to join partisans in the Rudninkai and Naroch forests outside the city.

In September 1943, in an attempt to destroy the evidence of the killing of Jews at Ponary, the Germans forced detachments of Jewish laborers to open the mass graves and burn the corpses. Jews from nearby labor camps continued to be killed at Ponary.

During the German occupation, tens of thousands of Jews from Vilna and the surrounding area, as well as Soviet prisoners of war and others suspected of opposing the Germans, were massacred at Ponary. Soviet forces liberated Vilna in July 1944.

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

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Poland and Lithuania both claimed Vilna (Vilnius) after World War I. Polish forces occupied Vilna in 1920, and before the outbreak of World War II, the city of Vilna was part of northeastern Poland. Under the terms of the German-Soviet Pact, Vilna, along with the rest of eastern Poland, was occupied by Soviet forces in late September 1939.

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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!

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Abba was in the Fareynegte Partizaner Organizatsye or FPO which was started by Zionist youth members in, January 1942 and it was a Jewish underground organization in the Vilna Ghetto. The leader of the group was a man named, Yitzchak Wittenberg. The group would resist by mining railroad tracks, sabotaging German factories, forging documents, and making Molotov cocktail explosives.

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The first time that Jews called to defend themselves against the Germans with weapons was on January 21, 1942. The "United Organization of Partisans" was made of youth movements, and was also founded in Vilnus. Kovner was a part of the headquarters and once the chief was caught, Kovner soon became the new chief of the organization.

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During the time of 1940-1941, Vilna was the capital of the Soviet Republic of Lithuania, Abba Kovner was a member of the underground organization. Soon after the Germans occupied Vilna, Kovner had to hide with other friends and members in a Dominican convent in the city. Once he returned to the ghetto and found out about the killings of 1,000s of Jews, he expressed the idea to revolt and he began to create a Jewish force to fight and destroy the Nazis.

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Abba Kovner, born on March 14 1918 and died on on 25th of September 1987, was the commander of a partisan underground organization and the founder of the " Breha" or escape. Kovner was also a poet,writer, and activist in Israel's culture. He was born in Sebastopol, Russia. He was educated in a Hebrew high school in Vilna and the school of art.

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Commander of the partisan underground organization, founder of the "Breha" (escape), poet and writer, and activist in Israel's cultural and public life. Born in Sebastopol, Russia, he was educated in the Hebrew high school in Vilna and in the school of arts. At a very young he became trainee in the Hashomer Hatzair Youth Movement.

In 1940-1941, when Vilna was the capital of the Soviet Republic of Lithuania, Kovner was a member of the underground organization. After the German occupation in June 1941, Kovner hid with a few friends temporarily in a Dominican convent in the city suburb. After he returned to the ghetto and became aware of the killing of thousands of Jews, Kovner expressed the idea of revolt and began to build a Jewish force to fight against the Nazis. On the night of December 31, 1941, Kovner read before a meeting of delegates of all Jewish Youth Movements a public announcement:

"Hitler is plotting to destroy all European Jews. Lithuanians Jews will be the first in line. Let us not be led like sheep to the slaughterhouse. It is right, we are weak and without defense, but the only answer to the enemy is resistance!"

It was the first time that the mass killing of Jews was realized as part of a general plan to exterminate all the Jews in Europe. It was also the first time that Jews were called to defend themselves with arms.In January 21, 1942, the "United Organization of Partisans" was founded in Vilnus. The new organization was comprised of all the parties and youth movements from the entire political spectrum in the Vilna Ghetto. Kovner was a member of the headquarters, and after its chief commander, Itzhak Wittenberg, was caught in July 1943, he became the head of the organization (his nickname was "Uri").

In the days of the last deportation from the Ghetto to the extermination camps, Kovner supervised the escape of the organization fighters to the woods. In Rodniky woods he commanded the Jewish Unit composed of Ghetto fighters and the "Nakam" squadron from the Jewish camp.

After the liberation Kovner was active in the "Breha" movement and he was the spirit of the "East Europe Survivors Brigade" — a non-political organization of Zionists spheres, that called to unit forces looking at the Holocaust lesson and the still dangerous situation that was foreseen for the Jewish people.

In July 1945 he arrived to the "Eretz Israel Brigade" base in Italy and made a speech about the destruction of European Jewry and the uprising against the Nazis during the war, in front of all the solders. Shortly after it Kovner arrived in Israel for a short time to get support and means to perform the activities of the "Nakam" (revenge) on the responsible murderers of the Jewish people in the Holocaust. On his way back to Europe, he was arrested and deported back to Israel. After a short time he was released.

In 1946 he joined with his wife and partner in the underground activities — Vitka Kampner — and with a few more partisans to kibbutz Ein Hahoresh. During the Independence War Kovner was an officer in charge of cultural activities in the famous "Givati" brigade. At the end of the war Kovner returned to his kibbutz and dedicated most of his time writing. He published two prose volumes and collections of poems. In 1970 Kovner received the "Israel Prize" for literature. He also was director of the "Israel Society of Writers". Designer of the "Diaspora House" at Tel Aviv University and one of "MORESHET" founders.

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Commander of the partisan underground organization, founder of the "Breha" (escape), poet and writer, and activist in Israel's cultural and public life. Born in Sebastopol, Russia, he was educated in the Hebrew high school in Vilna and in the school of arts. At a very young he became trainee in the Hashomer Hatzair Youth Movement.

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A picture of the Vilna ghetto

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German soldiers surrounding a citizen of the Vilna ghetto.

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Kovner and other members of the Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye.

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One of Abba Kovner's famous poems.

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Abba Kovner, a member of the United Organization of Partisans,and his wife (on the right) Vitka Kempner.

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Kovner in court testifying in the case of for the prosecution during the trial of Adolf Eichmann.