Executions of Jewish Partisans in the Lithuanian Forests: The Case of Natan Ring

Abstract

Jews joined the Soviet partisan movement spontaneously, after escaping from various ghettos in Lithuania and Belarus. Most of them had no military background, but they were eager to take part in fighting and revenge. They had to adjust to harsh living conditions in the forests and suffered hostility and antisemitism on the part of locals and non-Jewish fellow partisans. Internal relations amongst different political and ideological groups were often problematic as well. This article focuses on specific violent events which occurred in the Rudniki forests near Vilnius, Lithuania, and specifically on one controversial case study: the execution of the partisan commander Natan Ring in early November 1943, by his brothers in arms. Ring was suspected of collaboration with the Germans while he served as a Jewish policeman in the Vilnius ghetto. Based on the testimonies and memories of former partisans, recorded at different times between the end of the war until the present, the article rethinks morals and behaviour in that unique space and time and how the event has been perceived over the years which followed.