Tag #141722 - Interview #78774 (Fania Brantsovskaya)

There were discussions about whether it was necessary to start fighting in the ghetto. In July 1943 Yitzhak Vittenberg was arrested. His comrades fought him back using their weapons. I didn't take part in it as I was a junior member. Then Gensas sent a message to the underground organization saying that if they didn't give in Yitzhak all 20,000 inmates of the ghetto would be shot. Yitzhak did a heroic deed coming out to face his executioners. He was severely tortured by the Gestapo and shot. The leadership of the underground organization decided to leave the ghetto and take people to the woods. Their groups, moving in the direction of Belarus, were captured. Their relatives in the ghetto were taken to prison or Ponary.