Yitzhak Wittenberg (, ; 1907 – 16 July 1943) was a Jewish resistance fighter in Vilnius during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was a member of the Communist Party. He was the commander of the Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye (FPO), a resistance group in the Vilna Ghetto which was preparing an uprising should the final moments of the ghetto come. When the Germans learned about the existence of a Communist, Wittenberg, in the ghetto, they made a request to the head of the Jewish council, Jacob Gens, that Wittenberg should be surrendered to them. Gens betrayed Wittenberg to the police who arrested him, but he was freed by young FPO fighters. Subsequently, Gens insisted that Wittenberg surrender. Feeling he did not have the support of the ghetto for an uprising and fearing a massacre, he surrendered. Some accounts say that he was later found dead in his prison cell having swallowed poison; others say that his mutilated body was found the next day. It has been speculated that Gens slipped the poison to Wittenberg. The Wittenberg affair was discussed in the Eichmann trial. The story of his death is told in the song ''Yitzhak Wittenberg''.

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The Wittenberg Affair

Resistance in the Vilna GhettoSong about WittenbergHow Did Itzik Wittenberg, Hero of the Vilna Ghetto, Die?
Menachem Kaiser, April 24, 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wittenberg, Yitzhak 1907 births 1943 suicides 1943 deaths Jewish resistance members during the Holocaust People who died in the Vilna Ghetto People who died by suicide in prison custody Suicides by poison Soviet civilians killed in World War II Jewish Lithuanian history Suicides by Jews during the Holocaust Lithuanian communists Lithuanian Jews who died in the Holocaust Suicides in Lithuania Jewish communists