Yitzhak Wittenberg

Yitzhak Wittenberg (1907 – 16 July 1943) (Yiddish: איציק װיטנבערג‎, Hebrew: יצחק ויטנברג‎) was a Jewish resistance fighter[1] in Vilnius during World War II. He was a member of the Communist Party.[2] He was the commander of the Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye (FPO), a resistance group in the Vilna Ghetto which was preparing an uprising should the final moments of the Ghetto come. When the Germans learned about the existence of a Communist, Wittenberg, in the Ghetto, they made a request to the head of the Jewish council, Jacob Gens, that Wittenberg should be surrendered to them.[3] Gens betrayed Wittenberg to the police who arrested him, but he was freed by young FPO fighters. Subsequently Gens insisted Wittenberg surrender, which feeling he did not have the support of the Ghetto for an uprising, rather than risk a massacre, he did.[4][5]

Some accounts say that he was later found dead in his prison cell having swallowed poison; others say that his mutilated body was found the next day.[6][7] It has been speculated that Gens slipped the poison to Wittenberg. The Wittenberg affair was discussed in the Eichmann trial.[8]

References
  1. Bartrop, Paul R.; Dickerman, Michael (2017-09-15). The Holocaust: An Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781440840845.
  2. "United States Holocaust Memorial Museum".
  3. "Yad Vashem".
  4. Halik, Kochanski. The eagle unbowed : Poland and the Poles in the Second World War. ISBN 9781846143588. OCLC 849065604.
  5. "RESISTANCE IN THE VILNA GHETTO". Archived from the original on 2012-09-01. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  6. Lester, David (2005). Suicide and the Holocaust. Nova Publishers. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-59454-427-9.
  7. 1926-2007, Hilberg, Raul (1985). The destruction of the European Jews (Student ed.). New York. ISBN 0841909105. OCLC 12421088.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. "Eichmann trial - The District Court Sessions". 2011-07-17. Archived from the original on 2011-07-17. Retrieved 2020-04-24.

Sources
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