March 14, 1918
Abba Kovner Is Born
Historical context
On this day, March 14, 1918, Abba Kovner was born in Sevastopol. He later led resistance in the Vilna ghetto and testified at the Eichmann trial.
Archive record
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- Date
- March 14, 1918
- Verified sources
- 1
- Archive threads
- 7
On this day, Abba Kovner was born in Sevastopol. He grew up in Vilna, studied at a Hebrew high school, and joined Hashomer Hatzair. German forces occupied Lithuania in June 1941, a year after the Soviet annexation. Vilna’s Jews were forced into a ghetto that autumn.
On the night of 31 December 1941 Kovner read a manifesto to youth movements calling for revolt rather than submission. The United Partisan Organization (FPO) was formed on 21 January 1942. After the ghetto’s liquidation in September 1943, Kovner fought with Jewish partisans in the Rudniki Forest. He later testified at the Eichmann trial and wrote poetry in Israel.
Research trail
Sources and further reading
- Abba Kovner · Yad Vashem · Yad Vashem View source
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