b'BC_5782_2021final_cmyk_Layout 18/8/219:47 AMPage 22Born in 1920 in the central Polish city of Kalisz, Vitka Kempnerhad strongviews on Zionism, Jewish progress and independence from a very young age.Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, she fled to Vilna, Lithuania,where she immediately became involved in the resistance, joining a group ledby the man who would become her husband after the war, Abba Kovner. JewishJewish partisans back groups in Vilna soon united to form the FPO, the United Partisan Organization.in Vilna after liberation.Vitka Kempner is on the After the Germans occupied Vilna in 1941 and the killing of Jews began on afar right, and Abba large scale, Vitka received the assignment of blowing up a Nazi train. She didKovner is standing inthe center. her research carefully, sneaking out of the ghetto at night to find the optimalplace to plant the explosivesa spot that did not have Jews living nearby whocould be blamed, but which still offered access and nearby shelter in the forest to the partisans. In July 1942they succeeded: their homemade pipe bomb detonated, the train derailed spectacularly, and more than 200German soldiers were reported killed. During the war, Vitka carried out acts of sabotage too numerous to list, including blacking out Vilna, blowingup bridges and destroying more trains. She led many Jews out of the ghetto, and after the ghetto was liquidated,ended up living in a partisan camp of 600 people in the forest. Throughout, Vitka insisted that women beallowed to do everything that men did, and not be relegated to cooking and taking care of male fighters. After the fighting ended, Abba and Vitka poisoned loaves of bread eaten by German POWs, but althoughmany fell ill, none died as a result. The story is chronicled in Rich Cohens book The Avengers.After the region was liberated by the Soviets, Vitka and Abba helped surviving Jews escape to Palestine, andfollowed themselves in 1946. They lived in Israel the rest of their lives; Abba died in 1987 and Vitka in 2012.'