Kaunas, Lithuania

Kovno Ghetto Diary
(Lithuania)

54°54' / 23°54'

Written by: Dmitri Gelpernus

Published in Moscow, 1948

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Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

Translations

Chaim Bargman
Robin O'Neil

This is a translation from: Kovno Ghetto Diary,
Moscow, State Publishing House, "Der Emes", 1948 (Yiddish, 214 pages).

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JewishGen, Inc. makes no representations regarding the accuracy of the translation. The reader may wish to refer to the original material for verification. JewishGen is not responsible for inaccuracies or omissions in the original work and cannot rewrite or edit the text to correct inaccuracies and/or omissions. Our mission is to produce a translation of the original work and we cannot verify the accuracy of statements or alter facts cited.

Biography of the Author

Robin O'Neil: of Irish descent but very much an Englishman by nature. A former police major crimes investigator who worked at the sharp end of major criminal investigations in the United Kingdom and Central Europe. Formerly of Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan and Home Counties Police service until taking up the challenge of Academia.

Robin O'Neil obtained his Masters degree at the University of London under Sir Martin Gilbert, another well-known writer and researcher into the Holocaust. His academic work continues with a Doctoral thesis on Belzec extermination camp. A Russian speaker his work also takes him to the Baltic States and USSR. He has launched a number of major investigations into the perpetrators of the Holocaust, particularly those individuals who carried out and engineered the destruction of European Jewry in Lithuania and Poland. His past police service and rank enabled him to look closely into the characters of the SS and death camp commandants of Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka.

Robin O'Neil is universally acknowledged as the central research source for the Schindler story. A historical consultant to several TV documentaries and radio broadcasts in the UK and abroad, he is an honoured guest of Schindler's home town, Svitavy in the Czech Republic, and is a regular lecturer at universities in the United Kingdom, United States, Israel and Eastern Europe.

In his spare time and to counteract the intensity of holocaust research he diversifies his interests into the Habsburg dynasty of 19^th century Vienna and Shakespeare's England. He is currently engaged researching the Paston family correspondence from Norfolk 1420-1510 and associated English texts of that time.

'Yidn, shreibt un farschreibt! (“Write and Record!”)

Translator's Note

While working on the translation of the book, the translator also used the book by M.Yelin and D.Ghelpern, "Kovno ghetto and its fighters" (Kauno getas ir jo kovotojai, Mintis, Vilnius,1969), and numerous recollections of the events by the participants. This allowed the translator to enlarge the original text. The added commentary is marked with "*".

On the other hand, it was considered acceptable to omit a number of more difficult and less significant passages (song lyrics, etc.).

Preface	2 - 3
In the Ghetto Grip
1. Among the ruins	4 - 10
2. In the Turmoil	11 - 21
3. In the Ghetto	21 - 27
4. Behind the Barbed Wire	27 - 34
5. Resistance	34 - 47
6. We are partisans	47 - 50
Underground Struggle
1. The formation of the Military Organization	51 - 54
2. Sabotage	54 - 60
3. Preparation for Struggle	61 - 68
4. Bolshevik's Word	68 - 74
5. Class Contradictions in the Ghetto	74 - 79
6. Defence Plan for the Ghetto	79 - 86
To Partisans' Forests
1. Communication	86 - 95
2. Break-out through the Gate	95 - 110
3. Bases	110 - 113
4. Towards the group "Death to Invaders	113 - 117
5. To partisans by vehicles	117 - 125
6. 9th Fort	125 - 139
Overcoming Fences
1. With one's own Guides and Guns	139 - 144
2. Action of 27-28 March 1944	145 - 156
3. Death of Chaim Yelin	156 - 162
4. Jewish Camps	163 - 165
5. In a Concentration Camp	165 - 171
6. Liquidation	172 - 176
In the Open Battle
1. In the Forest	176 - 181
2. The explosion of Echelons and the Railway	181 - 185
3. At the Base	186 - 192
4. Important Tasks	192 - 195
5. Military Operations	195 - 203
6. In Different Directions	203 - 210
7. Liberating Soviet Lithuania	210 - 213
Epilogue	214

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