Introduction

Kovno, Lithuania, also known as Kaunas or Kauen, was home to a vibrant community of nearly 40,000 Jews when World War II began. In 1940, Kovno was occupied by the Soviet Union, and a year later, in June 1941, the German army took control of the city. Anticipating the arrival of the Germans, the local Lithuanian population murdered thousands of Jews in a pogrom. The Nazis quickly built a ghetto, and over the course of the fall they killed tens of thousands of Jews at the Ninth Fort, a fortress outside the city that was converted into an extermination camp. For two years, the ghetto provided labor for the Nazi war effort, but in 1943, deportations began. In July of 1944, the Germans destroyed the ghetto, killing its remaining residents. 

In this exhibit, I will explore the unique relationship between the Jewish residents of the Kovno ghetto and the non-Jewish residents of Kovno. Specifically, I will analyze how each side’s behavior can be analyzed through the lens of broader trends. The Lithuanian residents of Kovno were not only collaborators with the Germans, but also active participants in the genocide, which was the result of hundreds of years of antisemitism combining with the unique circumstances of the Soviet occupation. On the Jewish side, the responsa of Rabbi Ephraim Oshry, who was a rabbi at the Slobodka Yeshiva in Kovno, offer an interesting perspective on the Jews’ relationship with Christians. During the war, observant ghetto residents asked Rabbi Oshry many ritual questions, and his answers, which he collected and published after the war, shine light on the Jewish theological underpinnings of Jewish martyrdom and the interface between Judaism and Christianity in the ghetto.