Abba Kovner Research Project by ANDREW URBAN

IS

urbanand000 — 2024-05-03 20:23:59 UTC

Abba Kovner has knowledgeable opposition, persistence, strong convictions, and communication skills

IS NOT

urbanand000 — 2024-05-03 20:24:41 UTC

Abba Kovner is not ignorant, isolated, violent, or stubborn

urbanand000 — 2024-05-03 20:28:04 UTC

Kovner testifying at the trial of Adolf Eichman, a Nazi general and one of the main organizers of the holocaust

urbanand000 — 2024-05-03 20:29:41 UTC

Abba Kovner (in the center) with other members of the FPO, a Jewish resistance organization that fought against the Nazis in WWII

urbanand000 — 2024-05-03 20:31:47 UTC

Abba, a captain of the IDF, briefing other members during the 1948 Arab Israeli war

urbanand000 — 2024-05-03 20:34:12 UTC

Abba Kovner (far right) with other survivors of the Holocaust

urbanand000 — 2024-05-03 20:40:21 UTC

A manifesto made my Kovner in 1942, made to convince Jews in the Vilnius area to fight against the German oppresors

urbanand000 — 2024-05-03 20:41:00 UTC

A memorial to Kovner made in modern day

1

urbanand000 — 2024-05-06 20:11:27 UTC

Abba kovner was born on March 14th 1918 in Belarus. He was the youngest of 3 sons.

2

urbanand000 — 2024-05-06 20:18:17 UTC

In 1927, his family moves to Vilnius, a city in then Poland, now Lithuania. Abba Kovner attended Stefan Batory University's Faculty of Arts, and performed incredibly well, taking an interest in poetry, sculpture, philosophy, and writing.

3

urbanand000 — 2024-05-06 20:22:17 UTC

While pursuing his education, Abba became a very active member in the Zionist movement. Specifically, the HaShomer HaTzair.

4

urbanand000 — 2024-05-06 20:24:55 UTC

During the invasion of Poland in 1939, Vilnius was occupied by the Soviet Union. And during 1941, the Nazi party invaded Vilnius and took total control over it.

5

urbanand000 — 2024-05-06 20:27:22 UTC

The Nazis ordered the residents to move into the Vilna Ghetto.

Abba knew that in order to fight back against the Nazis, he needed to assemble a Jewish fighting force.

6

urbanand000 — 2024-05-06 20:29:34 UTC

At the beginning of 1942, Abba released his manifesto in the ghetto, with the title "Let us not go like lambs to the slaughter." Abba was aware of the mass killings of Jews in europe, and informed the remaining Jews that their friends and family were being slaughtered, and argued that it was best to die fighting.

7

urbanand000 — 2024-05-06 20:33:03 UTC

Abba became the founder and leader of the FPO, one of the first underground fighting organizations in the Jewish ghettos. The FPO initially planned to fight directly against the Germans head on, but because they were outnumbered and didn't have the same fighting power as the Germans, they had to flee into forest.

8

urbanand000 — 2024-05-06 20:35:56 UTC

In 1943, Abba commanded a partisan group known as the Avengers, who performed guerrilla attacks against against the Germans whenever they would attempt to attack. After the soviet army occupied Vilnius, Abba became one of the founders of the Berihah movement, helping hundreds of thousands of Jews escape Eastern Europe after the war.