1. By: Shani Litwin Kovno Ghetto

2. Kovno is located in central Lithuania

3. Pre World War II: Jewish Population of 35,00o to 40,000 Major center of Jewish learning Lithuanians developed strong anti-Semitic sentiment during Soviet control of Lithuania (1940) Frequent pogroms Public killings When Germans were in power in Lithuania, anti-Semitism intensified Many Jews fled during Soviet control and beginning of German invasion Kovno; before ghetto establishment

4. July 10, 1941---remaining Jews ordered to move to Vilijampole (Slobodka) The confined Jews were ordered to relocate to Kovno Population of ghetto: Began with 25,000 Jews. By August, 1941 grew to 29,000 To reduce the populations there were series of mass murders. -- The “Great Action” occurred on October 28-29, 1941. 9,2000 Jews (4,200 children) marched to Fort IX where they were shot. Formation of Kovno Ghetto

5. Ältestenrat (Jewish Council) attempted to relieve the dire conditions Active until the ghetto’s conversion to a concentration camp in 1943 Supervised several other offices (seen on next slide) to keep the ghetto in order Main focus was to create secret archives to document and record the German crimes Made yearbooks and collected office reports and records, diaries and artifacts Most of the archives were destroyed after liberation Organization within the ghetto

6. Ältestenrat organization chart

7. Artists: Inmate artists were commissioned by Ältestenrat to create maps, signs, identification and ration cards. In addition, to document key events and street scenes Music: Formed an orchestra and performed within the ghetto Employed by Jewish Ghetto Police Education: Schools were ordered to be closed in 1942. Children were taught “underground” to continue their edication Religion: Febuary, 1942 all religious and secular books were confiscated Despite restriction, religious Jews prayed in makeshift synogogues and hid ceremonial objects and sacred texts and scrolls Life in Ghetto

8. Photo of the ghetto's orchestra

9. Drawing by Esther Luria (main artist recorder) of street scene

10. As conditions worsened between 1943 and 1944 two underground movements joined forces to form the Jewish General Fighting Organization with the intent of defeating the Germans Attempted to damage worksites and destroy German buildings Ältestenrat supplied it with money and protection Jewish Ghetto Police offered weapon training More than 300 were successful in escaping the ghetto to the outside forest surrounding the ghetto Resistance in ghetto

11. Picture of Jewish partisans who were part of the Kovno ghetto resistance

12. When the Kovno ghetto was ordered to become a concentration camp on June 21, 1943, it began steadily deteriorating October 26, 1943 was the first move to destroy the ghetto Many deported to Estonia and Auschwitz More series of mass killings at Fort IX Beginning July 8, 1943 the remaining Jews were being transported to other concentration camps in Germany SS ordered German troops to blow up the ghetto, with the suspicion that Jews were hiding in underground bunkers During the destruction, most of the archives were destroyed Destruction of ghetto

13. Ruins of a building in the ghetto after German detruction

14. By the end of the Holocaust, an estimated 500 Jews survived through escaping the Kovno ghetto or hiding in bunkers 2,500 survived the concentration camps in Germany In Lithuania, only 8,000 to 9,000 Jews survived out of the prewar population of 235,000 Post World War II

15. Klein, Dennis B. Hidden History of the Kovno Ghetto. Boston: Little, Brown and, 1997. Print. "Kovno." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 05 Feb. 2011. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005174>. "Inside the Ghetto -- Jewish Council." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 05 Feb. 2011. <http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/kovno/council/council.htm>. Kovno Ghetto - A Buried History. Perf. Sir Martin Gilbert. 2002. Videocassette. Bibliography