Kovner was responsible for writing a call to revolt. In front of the 150 attendees gathered together at 2 Straszuna Street in a public soup kitchen, Kovner read aloud:
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. . . . Ponar [Ponary] is not a concentration camp. They have all been shot there. Hitler plans to destroy all the Jews of Europe, and the Jews of Lithuania have been chosen as the first in line.
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!3
At first there was silence. Then the group broke out in spirited song.4
The Creation of the F.P.O.
Now that the youth in the ghetto were enthused, the next problem was how to organize the resistance. A meeting was scheduled for three weeks later, January 21, 1942. At the home of Joseph Glazman, representatives from the major youth groups met together:
- Abba Kovner of Ha-Shomer ha-Za'ir
- Joseph Glazman of Betar
- Yitzhak Wittenberg of the Communists
- Chyena Borowska of the Communists
- Nissan Reznik of Ha-No'ar ha-Ziyyoni
At this meeting something important happened - these groups agreed to work together. In other ghettos, this was a major stumbling block for many would-be resisters. Yitzhak Arad, in Ghetto in Flames, attributes the "parleys" by Kovner to the ability to hold a meeting with representatives of the four youth movements.5
It was at this meeting that these representatives decided to form a united fighting group called the Fareinikte Partisaner Organizatzie - F.P.O. ("United Partisans Organization). The organization was formed to unite all the groups in the ghetto, prepare for mass armed resistance, perform acts of sabotage, fight with partisans, and try to get other ghettos to also fight.
It was agreed at this meeting that the F.P.O. would be lead by a "staff command" made up of Kovner, Glazman, and Wittenberg with the "chief commander" being Wittenberg.
Later, two more members were added to staff command - Abraham Chwojnik of the Bund and Nissan Reznik of the Ha-No'ar ha-Ziyyoni - expanding the leadership to five.
Now that they were organized it was time to prepare for the fight.
The Preparation
Having the idea to fight is one thing, but being prepared to fight is quite another. Shovels and hammers are no match to machine guns - weapons needed to be found. Weapons were an extremely hard item to attain in the ghetto. And, even harder to acquire was ammunition.
There were two main sources from which the ghetto inhabitants could obtain guns and ammunition - partisans and the Germans. And neither wanted the Jews to be armed.
Slowly collecting by buying or stealing, risking their lives every day for carrying or hiding, the members of the F.P.O. were able to collect a small stash of weapons. They were hidden all over the ghetto - in walls, under ground, even under a false bottom of a water bucket.
The resistance fighters were preparing to fight during the final liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto. No one knew when that was going to happen - it could be days, weeks, perhaps even months. So every day, the members of the F.P.O. practiced.
One knock on a door - then two - then another single knock. That was the F.P.O.s secret password.6 They would take out the hidden weapons and learn how to hold it, how to shoot it, and how not to waste the precious ammunition.
Everyone was to fight - no one was to head for the forest until all was lost.
Preparation was ongoing. The ghetto had been peaceful - no Aktionen since December 1941. But then, in July 1943, disaster struck the F.P.O.
Resistance!
At a meeting with the head of Vilna's Jewish council, Jacob Gens, on the night of July 15, 1943, Wittenberg was arrested. As he was taken out of the meeting, other F.P.O. members were alerted, attacked the police men, and freed Wittenberg. Wittenberg then went into hiding.
By the next morning, it was announced that if Wittenberg were not apprehended, the Germans would liquidate the entire ghetto - consisting of approximately 20,000 people. The ghetto residents were angry and began attacking F.P.O. member with stones. Wittenberg, knowing he was going to sure torture and death, turned himself in. Before he left, he appointed Kovner (photo) as his successor.
