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Against the Nazi and their leader.(image 1)

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Against the Nazi and their leader.(image 1)

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Abba kovner speaking as a prosecutor at the enichman trial.

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Abba Kovener and others joined the FPO to resist the Nazi's actions. The FPO was a resistance group founded at the Vilna ghetto, Lithuania .They sabotaged and fought the Nazi soldiers.

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Map of sevastopol

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▶️ Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial - Hitler And The Nazis: Evil On Trial

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Abba kovener was born on march 17 th, 1918 in sevastopol. Abbba kovener was a Jewish partisan group leader, and a poet. The FPO ( the resistance group he was in) Resisted in Vilna ghetto.

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Abba kovner as an adult.

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Abba Kovner in Vilna, 1944

Abba Kovner
"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.

Abba 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, Abba 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, Abba 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 that 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, Abba sent the majority of the partisans (about 300) into the forest. Those who stayed, including Abba, took up positions in abandoned buildings and briefly fought the Germans before escaping the destruction.

Abba 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. Abba 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.

Abba and the surviving Avengers 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 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.

Their story is chronicled in Rich Cohn's book The Avengers, which was also made into an audio book, narrated by Larry King.

In 1961, Abba testified at the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. He continued to inspire people with his writing, and won the "Israel Prize" in literature for his poetry in 1970. Abba Kovner passed away in 1987, Vitka Kempner in 2012. They are survived by two children and several grandchildren.

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In 1941, Abba Kovner galvanized the divided factions of the Vilna ghetto resistance to join together and fight back against their would-be murderers, creating the FPO (United Partisan Organization). Kovner would go on to command the FPO, lead the famed Avengers unit, and help found the state of Israel -- becoming one of its most renowned poets.

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Get a small glimpse into the unimaginable experiences that shaped Holocaust survivors and witnesses-and shaped our world. Personal accounts drawn from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University.

Get a small glimpse into the unimaginable experiences that shaped Holocaust survivors and witnesses-and shaped our world. Personal accounts drawn from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University.

Mind Expanding and Inspiring

To hear the testimonies of those who lived through and survived the Holocaust gives me reason to appreciate freedom and motivates me to be compassionate toward others in todays world ✝️🙏🏻👤🌵🐕🏌️🌅🇺🇸

Heartbreaking and interesting

The voices of these people tell a traumatic story that I just can't believe they were able to live through. They are all so strong and tell their story that just amazes me. How they survived the conditions and abuse is astonishing. How they found family afterwards is such a miracle. We must never forget. I am constantly learning.

Life affirming interviews

Moving heart breaking descriptions of the horrors of the Holocaust are not expected to be life affirming. But that is the feeling I get after listening. Strength, perseverance, faith and hope are the traits each of the people interviewed convey.

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those who were there: voices from the holocaust

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fortunoff video archive for holocaust testimonies

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‎Those Who Were There: Voices from the Holocaust on Apple Podcasts

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Get a small glimpse into the unimaginable experiences that shaped Holocaust survivors and witnesses-and shaped our world. Personal accounts drawn from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University. Get a small glimpse into the unimaginable experiences that shaped Holocaust survivors and witnesses-and shaped our world.

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“No more willful silences.

No more verbal contact, he who loved to listen to so many will never again hear his own voice among them.He will sit with his friends over talk from now on under constraint.

The talk. The thoughts. The friends.And as he listens through the secret door he will turn his inner ear to the dark mumur: Son of man,all this and all this never was and never will be

as good as one living word.”

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“We will not go like sheep to the slaughter”. Once kovener realized the Nazi's plan was to eliminate all Jews he tried to tell the others what they were going to do. But some people still had hope and believed that the Nazi wouldn't have the audacity to do something so terrible. A group of people started working together after that to sabotaged the Nazi.

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Jewish partisans near Vilna ghetto

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Vilna ghetto

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Thank you for supporting our work

We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.

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Thank you for supporting our work We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.

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Abba kovener sabatoged and fought against the nazi. And before the leader of the resistance group he fought in decided to turn himself in he appointed Abba as the new leader.

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In April 11 1961 Hitler was taken to trial and Abba spoke on the Jews side. Hitler was found guilty of treason. Hitler and his crew were finally put to an end. But on the thirtieth of April Hitler chose death to escape surrendering.

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Vilna ghetto gate

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The Rudnicki Street entrance to the Vilna ghetto

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As an adult Kovener saw how the Nazi really treated people in the ghettos. Kovener saw how low they were willing to go to get what they wanted. To hurt a baby with the mother right beside her low.

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Abba and other Jews escaped the ghetto through the city sewers. This was only after they urged people to resist deportation but they chose not to. Even after escaping the ghetto they still continued to resist.

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When kovener got old he stopped resisting. Kovener started writing poems about the Holocaust. One of his most famous poems " One Living Word" was about Jews fighting against who ever is holding them back.