Vitka Kempner ( he, ויטקה קובנר; 14 March 1920,

Kalisz (The oldest city of Poland) , image_skyline = , image_caption = ''Top:'' Town Hall, Former "Calisia" Piano Factory''Middle:'' Courthouse, "Gołębnik" tenement''Bottom:'' Aerial view of the Kalisz Old Town , image_flag = POL Kalisz flag.svg ...

– 2012) was a

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * ''Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also know ...

leader during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She served in the

United Partisan Organization The Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye ( yi, ; "United Partisan Organization"; referred to as FPO by its Yiddish initials) was a Jewish resistance organization based in the Vilna Ghetto that organized armed resistance against the Nazis during ...

(Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye) and, alongside Rozka Korczak and founder

Abba Kovner Abba Kovner ( he, אבא קובנר; 14 March 1918 – 25 September 1987) was a Polish Israeli poet, writer and partisan leader. In the Vilna Ghetto, his manifesto was the first time that a target of the Holocaust identified the German plan to ...

, assumed a leadership role in its successor group, the

Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of ...

(Nokmim).

Early career

Kempner was 19 when the Germans invaded Poland, and she fled to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Lithuania. When Lithuania fell to the Germans eight months later, Kempner and tens of thousands of other Jews were forced into a ghetto, where she met Korczak and Kovner. During World War II, their United Partisan Organization, or the FPO, was one of the most famous and successful Jewish partisan groups during the war, responsible for acts of sabotage against the Nazis. Kempner played an integral leading role in the organization, and is famous for blowing up a Nazi train line with a homemade bomb. She and her compatriots smuggled weapons through the city's sewer system, Kempner eventually becoming one of Kovner's closest lieutenants.

The Avengers

After a failed ghetto revolt drove them out of Vilnius, the United Partisan Organization became the Avengers. This militia was based in Rudniki Forest, and from there, they continued to sabotage Nazi operations. They destroyed Vilnius's power and water systems, operating in secret and looting peasant homes to stay alive. They lived in the forest for nine months, until Vilnius was occupied by Soviet forces, aided by the partisans.

Post-War

After the war ended in 1945, Kempner and Kovner continued to fight against the Nazis. They helped evacuate hundreds of European Jews to

British Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

. Kovner also formed a new resistance group known as

Nakam Nakam ( he, נקם, 'Revenge') was a paramilitary organization of about fifty Holocaust survivors who, after 1945, sought genocidal revenge for the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. Led by Abba Kovner, the group sought to kill si ...

, or Revenge. Their goal was to take revenge on the Germans by poisoning the waterworks of important cities, but Kovner was arrested before they could put their plans to action. On April 13, 1946, Kempner and others infiltrated a bakery that supplied bread for Nazi POWs in Nuremberg. They coated 2,300 loaves of bread with arsenic before a guard was alerted and they were forced to flee. Many of the POWs fell ill, but none were reported dead.

Family life

Kempner and Kovner married in 1946.The Avengers: Rich Cohen: 9780375705298: Amazon.com: Books
/ref> In the same year, they moved to British Palestine, where they had two children. Kovner became a poet, and Kempner a clinical psychologist. They had forty years together before Kovner died in 1987. Kempner died in her home in Israel in 2012. Kempner is remembered in the song '' Shtil, di nakht iz oysgeshternt'' by

Hirsh Glick Hirsch Glick (1922 in Wilno, Poland – 1944 in Estonia) was a Jewish poet and partisan. Glick was born in Wilno in 1922 (at the time a part of inter-war Poland). He began to write Yiddish poetry in his teens and became co-founder of '' Yungvald ...

, which celebrates her heroic attack on a German convoy in the Vilnius sector in 1942.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kempner, Vitka 1920 births 2012 deaths People from Kalisz Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Jewish partisans Nakam Female resistance members of World War II Vilna Ghetto inmates