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The public hanging of Nahum Meck in the Kovno ghetto.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 70798

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    The public hanging of Nahum Meck in the Kovno ghetto.
    The public hanging of Nahum Meck in the Kovno ghetto.

    Overview

    Caption
    The public hanging of Nahum Meck in the Kovno ghetto.
    Date
    1942 November 18
    Locale
    Kaunas, Lithuania
    Variant Locale
    Kauen
    Kovno
    Kowno
    Photo Credit
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Eliezer Zilberis
    Event History
    Nahum Meck, the only Jew hanged in the Kovno ghetto, was publicly executed after having fired a gun into the air when caught trying to escape from the ghetto. According to Leib Garfunkel, deputy chairman of the Jewish Council, Meck was en route to a meeting with a group of Lithuanians interested in smuggling Jews to Sweden in exchange for large sums of money. His accomplice, Shimon Katz, evaded capture. Though no one was injured, the Germans detained twenty additional Jews and the leadership of the Jewish Council, all of whom were eventually released. The Germans ordered that the Jewish ghetto police hang Meck in the public square next to the Jewish Council building and that his body be left for 24 hours as a deterence against future acts of resistance. Before dying, Meck supposedly told the two Jewish hangmen that he forgave them since he knew they had no choice but to carry out the execution order. He asked about his family as he was being led to the gallows and was told they were alive in the ghetto. However, the following day his mother and sister were taken to the Ninth Fort where they were killed.

    See https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005174.
    See Also https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005265.
    See Also "Kauen Main Camp" in Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, Volume 1 Part A.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Photo Source
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
    Provenance: Eliezer Zilberis
    Central State Archives of Lithuania
    Copyright: Exclusively with source
    Source Record ID: R-1390 Ap.3 B.47 L.3

    Keywords & Subjects

    Record last modified:
    2003-03-18 00:00:00
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/pa3776

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