Nitzotz: the Spark of resistance in Kovno ghetto & Dachau-Kaufering Concentration Camp

ENNitzotz was the Hebrew-language publication of Irgun Brith Zion, a middle-of-the-road Zionist youth organization founded in 1940 under Soviet rule.11 Kovno's sizable Jewish population - 35,000 among 160,000 - made it a major European center of Jewish scholarship and culture. In June 1940, Lithuania was annexed by the Soviet Union, and Jewish institutions fell under heavy attack. In Kovno, Hebrew schools were closed and Hebrew publications outlawed. Jewish national literature was cleared from the libraries, and antiassimilationist literature was forbidden.12 In response, a group of students and alumni from the local Hebrew high schools founded the resistance group Irgun Brith Zion, or IBZ (literally, "Organization of the Covenant of Zion"). The youth who established Irgun Brith Zion watched helplessly as their teachers and leaders were removed from schools and other public institutions. In the last weeks of Soviet rule, many of them were arrested and deported to Siberia. At the same time, emigration to Palestine and other countries was prohibited.13 The Soviet suppression of Jewish culture and identity made IBZ appealing to young Jews who had shown little interest in political organizing before the Soviet occupation. To be sure, many of IBZ's members had formerly belonged to other Zionist youth movements, and a few had even held leadership positions. But for many, Zionist activity before the Soviets was a youth pastime like any other. The underground activity invested them with the deep and abiding passion for Zionism that would inspire them during the murderous years of the Holocaust.14.