Kaunas, Lithuania

Kovno Ghetto Diary
(Kaunas, Lithuania)

54°54' / 23°54'

Written by: Dmitri Gelpernus

Published in Moscow, 1948

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).

This material is made available by JewishGen, Inc. and the Yizkor Book Project for the purpose of
fulfilling our mission of disseminating information about the Holocaust and destroyed Jewish communities.
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Biography of the Author

Robin O'Neil

The Author: Honorary
Research Fellow UCL,
Salisbury UK Dr Robin O'Neil
Dr. Robin O'Neil is a former police major crimes investigator who worked at the cutting edge of major criminal investigations in the United Kingdom and Central Europe. Formerly of Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan and Home Counties Police. service, he then took up the challenge of academia. After obtaining his Master’s and Doctorate with University College London, he now specializes in the investigation of Nazi war crimes and the destruction of the European Jewish communities 1933-1945. He is a regular lecturer at Universities in the United Kingdom, United States, Israel and Eastern Europe

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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