Vilneus, the Capital of the Republic of Lithuania

Vilneus, known as vilna in yiddish, was taken by german soldiers in june 19 forty one after several massacres at the nearby forest of ponar. The nartes forced the city's remaining jews into two ghettos that there could be a son contest orchestras, theatre, cabaret and literary events. In neghettos, opposed to camps, there were periods of relative calm between actions or deportations. They thought it was important to try and maintain some sense of normalcy. N person at the heart of wilner's cultural life was the giddish writer, singer and partisan fighter, schmerke kacherginski.