Commitment to Remember

               Spiritual Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto
                   by Rachel Kostanian-Danzig.
                   Vilnius: The Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, 2002.
                   134 pages, ISBN9986-9387-2-4 .

To paraphrase historian Sir Martin Gilbert in his Foreword to Spiritual Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto, Rachel Kostanian-Danzig has a deep devotion to the true history of the Vilna Ghetto. Her meticulous research, using first-hand sources such as diaries written during and immediately after the Holocaust, was inspired in part by her love for Vilna itself, its rich Jewish history, its old houses and narrow streets, where for generations Jews worked and lived, studied and dreamed, until the tidal wave of the Shoah swept them away in a vast sea of blood.

The facts are well known: 95% of Lithuanian Jewry perished at the hands of the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators. From the first weeks of the occupation, the Jewish population of Vilna was decimated by the abduction of Jewish men and mass shootings in the nearby forest of Ponar (Paneriai). The ghetto itself existed for barely two years before being liquidated, and its remaining inhabitants deported to Estonia, the gas chambers of Poland and the death pits at Ponar.

Spiritual Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto reminds us that the Jews did not give up their devotion to Jewish culture, their thirst for learning, or their love of life. "Live. Do not give up. Survive." was the motto of Zelik Kalmanovitsh, and it caught on with the general ghetto population, as well as with the ghetto administration.

The book is divided into sections, to illustrate the different forms of spiritual resistance. "Culture in the Ghetto" discusses childcare (including an orphanage) and education, a ghetto music school, the various teachers, and school festivals. As the quote at the beginning of the section says, "songs were written in hide-outs, books were assembled in cellars, children were taught among the ruins."

Mendel Balberyszki, a physician in the Ghetto is quoted as saying, "The medical personnel in the Vilna Ghetto developed an activity of real military resistance, which fought not with guns and grenades, but with knowledge and dedication." Thus begins the section on "Healthcare in the Ghetto" in which we learn about the Ghetto Hospital, scientific work, folksgezunt (folks' health, a subject often discussed during various lectures), the School Medical Center, the Ambulatorie or Outpatient Clinic, and the Sanitary-Epidemiological Departments.

The Ghetto House of Culture presents one of the most remarkable accomplishments by the prisoners in the Vilna Ghetto. Within this house were the Reading Hall and the Library, through which more than 100,000 books were checked out by Ghetto residents, as well as a Museum, and Archives. Thirteen year-old Itsik Rudashevski, who perished in the Ghetto, wrote in his diary about the celebration of 100,000th book read: "The reading of books in the Ghetto is the greatest pleasure for me. A book unites us with the world. The circulation of the 100,000th book is a great achievement for the Ghetto and the Ghetto has a right to be proud of this." Various Associations in the Ghetto are discussed: the Literary and Artistic Union, with the goal of inspiring people's creativity, such as the Art Exhibition, and the Workers' Auditorium, organized by the Ghetto Brigades' Council to make it possible for workers who otherwise would have no opportunities to attend the Ghetto's cultural events.

Even Jewish scientists locked inside the Ghetto were determined to continue their work, "expressing the endurance of the Jewish intellectual tradition and repulsing vile reality." The "Ghetto University" made its debut in the Ghetto Library, where Zelik Kalmanovitsh presented their aims as the collection and documentation of "material relating to events in the Ghetto, and to put scientific knowledge into practice."

The work that took place "In the Former YIVO" is truly amazing. To quote Z. Kalmanovitsh, "Books do not grow on trees!" This section has recorded the exploits of di papirene brigade, or the "Paper Brigade." Selected by the Nazis, this brigade included such intellectuals as Herman Kruk, Zelik Kalmanovitsh, Avrom Sutzkever, Shmerke Kaczerginski, Daniel Fainshteyn, Naomi Markeles, Roska Korczak, and Rokhl Pupko. Each day these dedicated men and women put their lives in danger to smuggle out of the YIVO thousands of invaluable artifacts, books and documents that would otherwise have been destroyed, as were most of Vilna's Jews, by the Nazi murderers.

In "Creative Work in the Ghetto" are Dr. Mark Dworzecki's recorded remembrances of some of the creative works born in the Ghetto. Among the examples are works in Yiddish and Hebrew by Zelik Kalmanovitsh, along with his diary. Cultural leaders Herman Kruk, Tsemkh Feldshteyn, Khaykl Lunski, Leyb Sheftel also kept diaries, as did the lawyer Abel Froymtshik, Dr. Lazar Epshteyn, Dr. Mark Dsorzecki, Grigori Shur, Leo Bernshteyn. Dr. Feldshteyn wrote literary essays; Avrom Sutzkever created poetry and songs; Shmerke Kaczerginski and Leyb Opeskin composed songs. Actor Shabse Bliakher wrote a book of memoirs about all the Ghetto actors who perished, "Eyn-un-tsvantsik un eyner" (Twenty-One and One).

At the beginning of the section "Performances, Concerts, and the Theatre," there is a quote which says, "Every lecture, every concert, every joke weighted on this 'life and death' scale."

Although the first reaction to this kind of entertainment was to reject it, the concerts, plays, lectures and revue programs in the end gave the lives of the Ghetto inmates a sense of normalcy, and provided hope to face each day, not knowing if it would be their last.

Another section talks specifically about Music. The Vilna Ghetto boasted a Symphony Orchestra, a Yiddish and a Hebrew chorus, and a smaller of chorus of fifteen singers who were led by Shloyme Sharf, former bass in the Great Vilna Synagogue.

The Youth Club offered the Ghetto children the opportunity to study and learn under such teachers as Leo Bernshteyn, Avrom Sutzkever, and Shmerke Kaczerginski, among others. One exhibition created by the club members was devoted to Yehoash, the famous Yiddish poet and translator of the Tanakh. They performed works by notables such as Sholem Aleichem, I.L. Peretz. Their enthusiasm and spirit provided Ghetto inmates with smiles and a spark of hope.

"A Healthy Spirit in a Healthy Body" is a slogan that was written in the Ghetto sports yard. The number of athletes who participated in sporting events that ranged between gymnastics to boxing exceeded 1000. With sporting events, as with all cultural activities in the Ghetto, the over-riding question was whether or not the activities had meaning for a population already doomed to extermination. The answer must be yes, for as the author points out, the colorful and varied activities provided "enough ground to speak of the Cultural Phenomenon in the Vilna Ghetto."

The section on "Social Assistance" includes information on The Public Committee, whose slogan was "No hungry people in the Ghetto!" and The Social Aid Department, which subsidized institutions for children, homes for the elderly, and provided assistance in the labor camps located around Vilna.

As for "Religion and Tradition" the Religious leaders in the Ghetto placed the value of spiritual survival over that of physical survival. Even though religion was not obligatory in the regular school program, there were two religious schools and yeshivas. Approximately 200 students were enrolled in the institutions. The Ghetto had three kloyzn, or synagogues. Elderly people and people employed inside the Ghetto attended them daily. Jews in the Ghetto tried to keep all the Jewish holidays, including the Sabbath. Although not everyone was religious, nearly everyone kept Jewish traditions. This was one more way of refusing to surrender.

The last section of Spiritual Resistance in the Vilna Ghetto is devoted to "The Unavoidable Issue." This section pertains to the role played by the Judenrat or Jewish Council. The Judenrat was made up of Jews, often-times prominent in their pre-war communities, and most often chosen by the Nazi occupiers. They were faced with the terrible choice of whether or not to collaborate with the Nazis in the annihilation of their fellow Jews. This meant choosing which Jews would receive work permits (being without a permit represented certain death), then preparing lists for the Nazis of those condemned to extermination. Members of the Judenrat were further charged with finding Jews who had gone into hiding, denounce them, and deliver them to the murderers according to the prepared lists. This unbearable burden is unprecedented in Jewish history. Still, to this day, and most likely for years to come, the issue of the Judenrat will remain a source for great debate.

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