Vilna Ghetto: Encyclopedia - Vilna Ghetto

Vilna Ghetto

The Vilna Ghetto was a Jewish ghetto in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Vilna Ghetto - General history

German troops entered the city of Vilnius, Lithuania on June 24, 1941. Over the course of the summer, troops killed more than 35,000 Jews living in Vilnius in a rapid extermination program. On September 6 and 7, 1941, the Nazis herded the remaining 38,000 Jews into the parameters of two ghettos. Converts, "half-Jews" and spouses of Jews were also forced into the ghetto. This occurred directly after "The Great Provocation" on September 2 in which they were evicted from their homes and 3,700 Jews were killed. Moving to the ghetto was a difficult task because Jews were not allowed to use transportation. They could only take what they were physically able to carry. Huge crowds formed to watch the Jews march into the ghetto.

The area designated for the ghetto was the old Jewish quarter in the center of the city. The Nazis split the area into two ghettos. The splintering of the Jewish community into two parts made it easier for the Nazis to control the group and to carry out their plans. Like the other Jewish ghettos that Nazi Germany set up during World War II, the Vilna Ghetto was created to dehumanize the people, as well as to exploit cheap labor from its inhabitants. Conditions were extremely crowded and people were surrounded by unsanitary conditions, disease and death.

By the end of October 1941, the Nazis had murdered the inhabitants of the second ghetto and liquidated the ghetto completely. They declared from that point on only 12,000 Jews would remain in the one ghetto in order to serve the needs of military and economy. In reality, 20,000 remained all together. The ghetto was patrolled by German soldiers and members of the Lithuanian police. Systematically, the Germans would carry out "Aktions", or massive killing sprees, to reduce the number of sick and elderly. These Aktions were conducted on a regular basis from the creation of the ghetto until January 1942. The period between January 1942 and March 1943 was known as ghetto stabilization where German murder in the ghetto decreased. However, from August 6 to September 5, 1943, 7,130 Jews were deported to Estonia based on the orders of Heinrich Himmler. Finally, on September 23, 1943, the ghetto was liquidated and its population was killed or sent to death camps.

Vilna Ghetto - Resistance

The United Partisan Organization was formed on January 21, 1942 in the Vilna Ghetto. It took on the motto: "We will not allow them to take us like beasts to the slaughter." This was one of the first resistance organizations that was established in the ghettos during World War II. Unlike in other ghettos, the resistance movement in the Vilna Ghetto was not run by ghetto officials. Jacob Gens, head of the ghetto, cooperated with German officials in stopping armed struggle. The UPO brought together socialist-Zionists, right-wing conservatives, communists and Bundists. It was headed by Yitzhak Wittenberg, Josef Glazman, and Abba Kovner. The goals of the UPO were to establish self-defense in the ghetto, to sabotage German industrial and military activities and to join the partisan and Red Army’s fight against the Nazis.

However, the UPO did not succeed in its mission. In early 1943, the Germans caught a resistance member in the forest and the Judenrat, in response to German threats, gave Wittenberg over to the Gestapo. The UPO was able to rescue him through an armed struggle and were then able to set up a small militia. The Judenrat did not tolerate this, though, because the Nazis constantly put pressure on them to end the resistance or face liquidation. The Judenrat knew that Jews were smuggling weapons into the ghetto and when a Jew was arrested for the purchase of a revolver, they finally gave the people an ultimatum. The Judenrat turned the people against the resistance members by making them seem like selfish enemies who were provoking the Nazis. Gens emphasized the people’s responsibility for one another. He said that resistance was sacrificing the good of the community. In the end, the people confronted the resistance and demanded their right to live. The resistance would not fire on the other Jews and they were eventually disarmed and arrested.

When the Nazis came to liquidate the ghetto in 1943, the members of the UPO again congregated. Gens took control of the liquidation so as to rid the ghetto of the Germans, but helped fill the quota of Jews with those who would fight but were not necessarily part of the resistance. The UPO fled to the forest, but were eventually killed like the rest of the ghetto’s population.

Vilna Ghetto - Cultural life

The Vilna Ghetto was called "Yerushalayim of the Ghettos" because it was known for its intellectual and cultural spirit. Before the war, Vilna had been known as "Yerushalayim d'Lita" (Yiddish: Jerusalem of Lithuania) for the same reason. The center of cultural life in the ghetto was the Mefitze Haskole Library which was called the "House of Culture". It contained a library, reading hall, archive, statistical bureau, room for scientific work, museum, book kiosk, post office, and the sports ground. Groups were set up, such as the Literary and Artistic Union and the Brit Ivrit Union, that organized events commemorating Yiddish and Hebrew authors and put on plays in these languages. The popular Yiddish magazine Folksgezunt was continued in the ghetto and its essays were presented to the public in the form of lectures. Yitskhok Rudashevski (1927-1943), a young teen who wrote a diary of his life in the ghetto during 1941 to 1943, mentions a number of these events and his participation in them. He was murdered in the liquidation of 1943, probably at Ponary. His diary was discovered in 1944 by his cousin.

Poster, Announcement of the play "The Eternal Jew", June 16, 1943

A scientific institution called the "Ghetto University" was established to study math, physics, chemistry, philosophy and other social sciences. Its intellectuals wrote many papers, hoping to publish them after the war. Many works of poetry and literature were also created by the Jews in the ghetto. Performances and concerts featuring the Symphony Orchestra and the two ghetto choruses were put on in the ghetto. Initially, this matter was controversial because many Jews were offended by the idea of artistic performances in a place where thousands of Jews had been murdered. Gens, who had originated the idea, pushed through on the initiative and it was successful in raising the morale of the people. Art was seen as a source of stimulation and hope to the people. During 1942, over 120 performances were presented in the ghetto.

Vilna Ghetto - Pictures of the Ghetto

J Klaczko Street

The Jewish Library

Vilna Ghetto - Primary documents consulted

• http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Gens3.html - Gens in response to resistance
• http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Gens2.html - Gens in response to the concert
• http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Vilna3.html - partisans on their program

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Vilna Ghetto", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki