Ilya Ehrenburg wrote a series of articles about the Jewish partisans in Pravda and Red Star, official newspapers of the Soviet Union, in the summer of 1944. Leizer Bart is pictured in the top right photo, in the very back (middle) with the cap.

Youths had a role in the partisan movement. This pictured female partisan (R. Sakir) is in liberated Vilna.

From the first days of German occupation, the Jewish partisans of Lithuania organized themselves to fight the occupiers. The bloody German campaign of terror, executions and repressions did not break down the will of the resistance. Day by day the partisan resistance movement gained momentum. The Germans became afraid of the partisans, so they created special systems of fortification in the occupied territory.

Pictured is a former German forification, the German soldier is named "Fritz". The Germans had used this as protection from the partisans. In the end, the Red Army forced them out.

1. The Jewish partisan unit called "Avengers" bravely carried out their operations in the region of Vilna. Here in this picture, the partisans are shown returning with their commanding officer to help liberate Vilna, the capital of Lithuania.

2. The town of Swenciany now free after the liberation by the Red Army, had an electrical generating station twice blown up by the partisans. After the first explosion, the Germans succeeded in restoring the production of electricity, but for little gain because the partisans "Avengers" unit organized the second explosion and completely destroyed the station for good. In the middle of the photograph, the commanding officer of the partisan team Commander Krupauskas tells the story of how the last mission was accomplished.

3. Several families came from German occupied Vilna, and joined the partisans. The Peneusov family took care of the weapons for the "Avengers" partisan unit. They kept the weapons clean, repaired & ready for use. In the photo Samuel with his sons Baruch and Abraham are doing their job as weapons caretakers.