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Kovno had a rich and varied Jewish culture. Learn about the Soviet and German occupations of Kovno, ghettoization, secret archives, and resistance in Kovno during WWII and the Holocaust.
Germany occupied Kovno, Lithuania on June 24, 1941. Within six months, German Einsatzgruppe detachments and Lithuanian collaborations had murdered half of all the Jews in Kovno. Between July and August 15, 1941, German authorities concentrated some 29,000 of Kovno's Jews into a ghetto.
Lithuanian militiamen in Kovno round up Jewish women. Kovno, Lithuania, June-July, 1941.
August 15, 1941. On this date, German authorities sealed approximately 30,000 Jews in the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania.
Jews forced into the Kovno ghetto move their belongings into the ghetto. In the center, a man is pulling a disassembled wardrobe. He was never able to put it together because of the crowded conditions in the ghetto. Clothes were often hung from nails in the wall instead. Lithuania, ca. 1941-1942.
Deportation from the Kovno ghetto to forced-labor camps in Estonia. Kovno, Lithuania, October 1943.
A meeting of the Kovno ghetto Jewish council. Chairman Elchanan Elkes sits at the center. Kovno, Lithuania, 1943.
Family and friends are gathered for a Jewish wedding celebration in Kovno. Among those pictured are Jona and Gita Wisgardisky (standing at the back on the right). In the summer of 1941 soon after the German occupation of Lithuania, the Wisgardisky family was forced into the Kovno ghetto. During a roundup of children in the ghetto in 1942, Henia (Gita and Jona's daughter) was hidden in a secret room that her father built in a pantry in their apartment. Later she was smuggled out of the ghetto and…
Germany occupied Kovno, Lithuania on June 24, 1941. Within six months, German Einsatzgruppe detachments and Lithuanian collaborations had murdered half of the city's Jews. Between July and August 15, 1941, German authorities concentrated some 29,000 of Kovno's Jews into a ghetto. Learn about the experiences of Jews in Kovno after Germany occupied the city.
Jewish families with bundles of belongings during deportation from the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania to Riga in neighboring Latvia. Kovno, Lithuania, 1942.
Employees of the Jewish council in the Kovno ghetto assemble during roll call, which was taken on a daily basis. Kovno, Lithuania, 1941–43.
Scene photographed by George Kadish: Jewish prisoners behind a barred window in the Kovno ghetto jail. The Jewish council administered its own jail in the ghetto. Kovno, Lithuania, 1943.
Ruins of a building in the Kovno ghetto gutted when the Germans attempted to force Jews out of hiding during the final destruction of the ghetto. Photographed by George Kadish. Kovno, Lithuania, August 1944.
Abraham came from a wealthy family that was ordered into the Kovno ghetto after the Germans occupied Lithuania in 1941. Abraham's mother urged his father to flee, but he returned for them. Begging for mercy, he was able to save them from a massacre in the Ninth Fort, one of several forts around Kovno. Abraham and his father survived internment in five camps before they were finally liberated in the Theresienstadt ghetto. Abe's mother perished at the Stutthof camp.
July 10-August 15, 1941. On this date, people confined to the Kovno ghetto created a secret archive to record their experiences.
A group of children in the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania. This photograph was taken by George Kadish between 1941 and 1943.
Crowd views the aftermath of a massacre at Lietukis Garage, where pro-German Lithuanian nationalists killed more than 50 Jewish men. The victims were beaten, hosed, and then murdered with iron bars. Kovno, Lithuania, June 27, 1941.
Deportation of Jews from the Kovno ghetto to a work camp. Lithuania, 1942.
Two young brothers, seated for a family photograph in the Kovno ghetto. One month later, they were deported to the Majdanek camp. Kovno, Lithuania, February 1944. Pictured are Avram (5 years) and Emanuel Rosenthal (2 years). Emanuel was born in the Kovno ghetto. The children, who were deported in the March 1944 "Children's Action," did not survive. Their uncle, Shraga Wainer, who had asked George Kadish to take this photograph, received a copy of it from the photographer after the war in the Landsberg…
Henny was born into an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Kovno, Lithuania. She and her brother attended private schools. In June 1940 the Soviets occupied Lithuania, but little seemed to change until the German invasion in June 1941. The Germans sealed off a ghetto in Kovno in August 1941. Henny and her family were forced to move into the ghetto. Henny married in the ghetto in November 1943; her dowry was a pound of sugar. She survived several roundups during which some of her friends and family were…
Soviet officers preside over the opening and exhumation of a mass grave at the Ninth Fort. Photographed by George Kadish. Kovno, Lithuania, 1944.
A young boy holding his younger brother in the Kovno ghetto. Older children frequently cared for younger siblings in the ghetto. Photographed by George Kadish. Kovno, Lithuania, 1941.
Photograph taken by George Kadish: a member of the Kovno ghetto underground hides supplies in a well used as the entrance to a hiding place in the ghetto. Kovno, Lithuania, 1942.
This clandestine photograph taken by George Kadish captures a scene during the deportation of Jews from the Kovno ghetto in German-occupied Lithuania in 1942.
Jews carrying bundles of possessions who were forced to gather at an assembly point before their deportation from the Kovno ghetto, probably to Estonia. Kovno, Lithuania, October 1943. This photograph was taken by George Kadish.
Two young cousins shortly before they were smuggled out of the Kovno ghetto. A Lithuanian family hid the children and both girls survived the war. Kovno, Lithuania, August 1943.
Henny was born into an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Kovno, Lithuania. She and her brother attended private schools. In June 1940 the Soviets occupied Lithuania, but little seemed to change until the German invasion in June 1941. The Germans sealed off a ghetto in Kovno in August 1941. Henny and her family were forced to move into the ghetto. Henny married in the ghetto in November 1943; her dowry was a pound of sugar. She survived several roundups during which some of her friends and family were…
World War II began in September 1939. Brigitte and her family moved to Kovno, hoping to secure visas and passports for travel to North America. In July 1941, Brigitte and her family were forced to move into the Kovno ghetto after the Germans occupied Lithuania. Brigitte's family survived the "Great Action," but her mother died of illness in the ghetto. After a roundup targeting children in March 1944, Brigitte escaped from the ghetto with the help of a former employee of her father. Soviet forces liberated…
Upon her father's death, Judith and her family moved to Kovno. Soon, they were confined to the ghetto, which the Germans formed in 1941. Judith, her mother and sister were deported to Stutthof, where her mother died. Judith and her sister escaped from a death march out of Stutthof. They posed as non-Jews, found farm work and eventual refuge in Denmark. Their brother survived Dachau.
A pair of shoes left behind after a deportation action in the Kovno ghetto. Photographer George Kadish captioned the photo "The body is gone." Kovno, Lithuania, circa 1943.
David was born to a middle class Jewish family and attended a Jewish school. In August 1941, after the Germans occupied Kovno, he was forced into the Kovno ghetto, where he shared two rooms with his immediate and extended family. Many members of his extended family were killed during the Great Aktion in Kovno in October 1941. David worked in a forced-labor brigade in the ghetto. In March 1944, he witnessed the Kinder Aktion and was able to save his nephew. During the destruction of the Kovno ghetto, David…
Jewish women return to the Kovno ghetto after forced labor on the outside. They line up to be searched by German and Lithuanian guards. Kovno, Lithuania, between 1941 and 1944.
Lucille's father died three months before she was born. Lucille's mother decided to immigrate to the United States with Lucille and her sister, Fejga. They completed all the paperwork, but were unable to get their final papers because of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Volozhin was in the Soviet-occupied zone of Poland. Lucille and her sister feared arrest by the Soviets because they were members of a Jewish Zionist youth group. The girls fled to Vilna, where their mother later joined them. Their…
Artist Esther Lurie documented life in the Kovno ghetto for its secret archives. Learn about her watercolors and sketches, the majority of which have never been found.
Learn about the Kovno ghetto diary and other documents Avraham Tory saved in a secret archive that documented life in the ghetto.
Yiddish writer Chaim Yelin was a leader of the Kovno ghetto underground resistance movement again the Germans.
At great risk, George Kadish secretly documented life in the Kovno ghetto in Lithuania, creating a key photographic record of ghetto life during the Holocaust.
Dutch businessman Jan Zwartendijk aided Jewish refugees by issuing permits for them to enter Curaçao, a Dutch colonial possession in the West Indies.
Japanese diplomat Chiune (Sempo) Sugihara was recognized as a "Righteous Among the Nations" for his aid to refugees in Lithuania during World War II.
Raised in a Jewish family, Feiga lived with her husband, Josef, in Kovno, a city with a large Jewish community of 38,000. Kovno was situated at the confluence of two rivers, and with its opera company, chic stores and lively nightclubs, it was often called "Little Paris." Feiga was a beautician and Josef was a barber, and together they ran a shop in downtown Kovno. 1933-39: Every day Josef and Feiga walk to their shop, which is near their house. It's hard work, being a beautician--Feiga is on her feet…
Abraham was born to a Jewish family in Kovno, a city picturesquely situated at the confluence of two rivers. With an opera company, chic stores and lively nightclubs, it was often called "Little Paris." The city had a large Jewish community of 38,000 and was known for its extensive Hebrew school system. Abraham's father was a barber, and his mother was a beautician. 1933-39: When Abraham was a kid his family used to go to his grandparents' house for Sunday dinner. In the winter they would take a…
From a Jewish family, Chaia lived outside Kovno, a city with a large Jewish population that was renowned for its Hebrew school system. Chaia ran a grocery store with her husband, a retired shoemaker, and their daughter Yenta. 1933-39: Chaia is expecting her daughter Feiga, Feiga's husband, Josef, and her grandson, Abraham, for dinner. Feiga works so hard all week in her beauty shop, Chaia is glad she can help out by preparing the big Sunday meal. She has baked a special cake for Abe. Chaia hopes the…
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