The Fall of a Sparrow

The Fall of a Sparrow is the only full biography in English of the partisan, poet, and patriot Abba Kovner (1918-1987). An unsung and largely unknown hero of the Second World War and Israel's War of Independence, Kovner was born in Vilna, "the Jerusalem of Lithuania." Long before the rest of the world suspected, he was the first person to state that Hitler was planning to kill the Jews of Europe. Kovner and other defenders of the Vilna ghetto, only hours before its destruction, escaped to the forest to join the partisans fighting the Nazis. Returning after the Liberation to find Vilna empty of Jews, he immigrated to Israel, where he devised a fruitless plot to take revenge on the Germans. He then joined the Israeli army and served as the Givati Brigade's Information Officer, writing "Battle Notes," newsletters that inspired the troops defending Tel Aviv. After the war, Kovner settled on a kibbutz and dedicated his life to working the land, writing poetry, and raising a family. He was also the moving force behind such projects as the Diaspora Museum and the Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature. The Fall of a Sparrow is based on countless interviews with people who knew Kovner, and letters and archival material that have never been translated before.

Auteur

Dina Porat Translated and Edited by Elizabeth Yuval

Contenu

Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I
CONCEPTION AND PREPARATION

1. Lublin, January-March 1945 The Idea of Vengeance
2. Bucharest, March-June 1945 From Conception to Preparation
3. Italy, July-August 1945 The Jewish Brigade
   PART II
   ATTEMPTED VENGEANCE
4. Palestine and Europe, August 1945-March 1946 Kovner and the Yishuv
5. Paris, February-June 1946 The Haganah and the Avengers
6. Germany, August 1945-June 1946 Life Apart from Life
   Conclusion
   APPENDIXES
   Chronology
   List of the Avengers
   Notes
   Sources
   Index