The Bird of the Ghetto chronicles the attempted Vilna Ghetto uprising and the tragic story of Jewish resistance leader Itsik Vitenberg, commander of the United Partisan Organization (FPO). The presentation coincides with the 78th anniversary of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on April 19, 1943.
In July 1943, the Nazi occupiers of the Vilna Ghetto demanded that leader Itsik Vitenberg be turned over. Yakov Gens, the head of the Vilna Jewish Council (Judenrat), turned Vitenberg over to the Gestapo, but he was rescued by his fellow partisans. The Gestapo again demanded that Vitenberg be turned over, threatening the complete liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto and its remaining 20,000 inhabitants.
The FPO wanted the crisis to serve as the spark to ignite an uprising, but without the popular support of the community, Vitenberg was forced to sacrifice himself, and he surrendered to the Nazis. He died within days in Gestapo custody. The Vilna Ghetto was liquidated three months later.