After 1939 invasion of Poland, Wilno, where Kovner lived, fell into the Soviet occupation zone. In 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and captured Vilnius (Wilno) from the Soviets. All Jews were ordered by the occupiers to move into the Vilna Ghetto, but Kovner managed to hide with several Jewish friends in a Dominican convent headed by Polish Catholic nun Anna Borkowska in the city's suburbs.