[Col. 1105]

As long as the Aktion (that was the term they used for the slaughter of the Jews) continued, the community was silent. They allowed themselves to be led like sheep to the slaughterhouse. I know that porters from the CENTOS warehouse, giants who more than once showed their strength in times of danger, let themselves be herded like lambs.^[3] We might say the same about most of the men and women who were taken to the Umschlag in the course of the Aktion.^[4] The passivity of the Jewish population towards the Jewish police will forever remain a riddle.^[5] Now, when it is a bit quieter, and there is a chance to draw conclusions from recent events, there is a feeling of shame at the lack of resistance, even towards the Jewish police. When we think about assigning guilt for the mass slaughter, we reach the conviction that a large part of the blame lies with the Jewish police. Many blame them exclusively. Now, revenge is being taken: the Jewish police are reminded of their sins at every turn. When one talks to a policeman, he is totally innocent. He never participated in any Aktion. He was posted to this or that other institution. In the best case, he saved people from the Umschlag; others did the snatching, not he. According to these conversations, those snatched up for the Umschlag were taken to various camps, or to Treblinka; but we know that the facts were quite the opposite. The most insolent and vulgar policemen remained among the three hundred-man police force that is now in charge of keeping order in the ghetto. Those who were less shrewd, who did not have enough money or the right connections, were taken to Treblinka, and other camps, such as Lublin.

As I remarked above, now is the time for soul-searching and reflection about past events. People feel the desire to take revenge on those who are guilty. A secret hand is invested in denying the identity of culprit responsible for the resettlement.^[6] The Jewish police are reminded of their culpability at every turn. The Jewish police are being persecuted whenever possible. In addition to the Jews,

[Col. 1106]

Poles, too, show their hatred. Former Jewish policemen who work in the tram depot are constantly badgered by the Polish workers. At Rembertów station, they are even harassed by German soldiers. There are many protests against introducing policemen into the security forces of workshops and factories. One workshop even passed a resolution to remove all former policemen from the premises. I know that former policemen wear their police caps until they reach their post, because a “cap” is important in the ghetto. They take the cap off once they are outside the ghetto, as they fear the Poles; the latter hate the Jewish police because of their deeds. A son once recognized a policeman who had taken away his parents during the resettlement, and attacked him. In Halman's workshop, the resettlement aid committee provided support to a policeman who had become ill. Agitation against the aid committee was fierce. Former policemen were continually harassed.

People always recount the atrocities committed by the Jewish police during the resettlement period. The following case is an example: a Jew was killed at 50 Leszno Street. His body lay at the gate. Two gravediggers came with a cart to take the deceased. The Jewish police happened to be upset on that particular day, because each had to produce 5 “heads”; otherwise, they and their families would be taken away. Without deliberating, the policeman took the two gravediggers and abandoned the body in the street. A second event happened at 24 Leszno. The 16-year-old son of a baker had assaulted a policeman who wanted to take away his mother. The teenager ripped the policeman's jacket. The boy was taken to the police chief, where he received 25 lashes, and consequently died.

Another incident, no less terrible, happened during the resettlement period. A policeman came (or, more precisely, forced his way) into a home. All the tenants were able to hide. Only a three-month-old child in a cradle was left behind. The policeman wasted no time, and

[Col. 1107]

called over the German who was in charge of the Aktion. The German became infuriated at the policeman because of the paltry victim. He beat up the policeman, and shot the child. I heard this fact from many people, who all told the same tale. I am therefore certain that it is true.

Various horrifying incidents are related concerning the policemen at the Umschlag. For them, human beings did not exist, only kepls (from the Polish łepek, a diminutive of łep), for which they could get a ransom.^[7] Ransoming could only be done with means of money, diamonds, gold, etc. The price of a kepl could vary. Initially, it was 1,000-2,000 złoty, but it later increased. At its peak it was 10,000 złoty per kepl. The price depended on many subjective and objective factors. The Jewish police often had to include the “braggarts” (properly known as Sonderdienst, a force established for the ghetto, usually consisting of Volksdeutsche, and under the command of the Ghetto Commissioner) who operated at the Umschlagplatz).^[8] The Jewish policemen were merciless.

[Col. 1108]

It could be the worthiest person; if no ransom money was forthcoming, or there were no relatives to pay it, the person was taken away. There were also cases in which there was no ransom money, but the policemen accepted “natural” payment: the bodies of women. My friend Kalmen Zilberberg knew the I.D. numbers of these policemen as well as the names of the women who had paid for their freedom with their bodies. The police kept had a special room at the hospital for this purpose. In general, the police were unrecognizable during the resettlement, They were constantly incited against the rebels who did would not let themselves be resettled.They themselves were regularly threatened with being taken away to the Umschlag, along with their wives and children. They were already demoralized. Those who were snatched up for the Umschlag, especially the women,were defiant. The sum total of these factors created an intolerable climate for the police, who rampaged and perpetrated horrors.

December 7, 1942

(From Part 2 of the underground Ghetto archive.)

Translator's footnotes

1. These pages consist of two columns. I have designated the right-hand column as Col. 1, and the left-hand column as Col. 2. Return
2. Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum (1900-1944) was a Polish-Jewish historian, politician and social worker, perhaps best known today for the Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, which he created and managed. The portions of this archive that were found after the war in the ruins of the Ghetto (about 6,000 documents) are known as the Ringelblum Archive; it is housed at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. It is worth noting that Ringelblum wrote this text in 1942, while the events were occurring. Return
3. CENTOS was a Jewish humanitarian aid organization founded in the aftermath of World War I. It sought to operate in the early years of the German occupation. Return
4. The German Umschlag, short for Umschlagplatz, denotes holding areas adjacent to railway stations in occupied Poland where Jews from ghettos were assembled for deportation to Nazi death camps. Return
5. The Jewish Police were auxiliary police units organized within the ghettos by the local Judenrats (Jewish councils). Return
6. “Resettlement” was the term used by the Nazis for the removal and transport of Jews to concentration camps and death camps; the term was often expanded as “resettlement in the East.” Return
7. The Yiddish kepl – little head – is a diminutive of kop, and is often used affectionately for children. The Polish łep and łeb are variants of the same word “head”; łepek is the diminutive. Return
8. Sonderdienst were paramilitary formations created in Poland during the German occupation. Volksdeutsche is a Nazi term for ethnic Germans living outside of Germany Return

[Page 1109]

It has been ten days since that unexpected Monday, January 18, 1943. Ten days of nightmares, fear, trembling, and terror at the thought of tomorrow, with its uncertainty.

Driven out of our “own domain” in the ghetto, broken, having lost the little that remained to us after the terrible days of 6-9 November 1942, we wander among strangers, afraid to raise our heads, like animals in the wild.^[1] We found refuge with friends and acquaintances, ignoring the frowns of the householders; we have been staying for almost a week with the “brushmakers,” enjoying the hospitality of acquaintances, giving no thought to tomorrow.^[2]

But why reflect? I would like to describe the next few days of starkness and privations, and the heroism of the few remaining Jews.

Let me first present a minor episode. Yesterday, January 22, 1943, I heard the following in a conversation: “If in July 1942, when the resettlement aktion began, Jews had taken up weapons and tried to mount a resistance, killed a few Germans, and forced the Jewish hooligans (the Jewish police) not to play an active role – and thousands of Jews would have been killed by German bullets – other Jews would have said, “This was due to your foolishness.” But no one thought that such resistance might have slowed down the resettlement considerably. Today, when a paltry 6,000 Jews have been resettled, and 1,000 Jews were killed, compared with only 12 Germans, the community finally understands the heroism of the “foolish” boys. I heard this in the conversation of an ordinary Jew. It is Sunday, January 17, 1943; a day off from work, as usual. The ghetto is noisy. Jews stroll along the streets of the tiny ghetto, aimlessly or with purpose. Moving around within the apartment blocks. People are still visiting apartments at 9 p.m., talking with a resident, sometimes even playing a game of cards. This was life in the ghetto after those horrific Selektion-days.^[3]

[Page 1110]

Tomorrow, people will go to work at the workshops, as usual, to do the slave work of our eternal enemy. We go to bed, not anticipating anything bad.

The clock hands show 5:45 a.m., January 18, 1943. I get dressed and prepare to go to the shed at Gesia 30 together with the whole group. At 6:30 I hear our unit, which works at the court on Leszno St., leaving the apartment block. A neighbor suddenly bursts in, gasping. She addresses my roommates: “What? You're all still in bed? The street is surrounded by police. The guards are letting no one out of the ghetto. There's a blockade; there's sure to be an Aktion.”

The room is instantly in uproar and tumult. We decide that we must hide; we all crawl into the bunker.

We hear the first shot at 7:30–an announcement that the operation is starting. At 8:15 they're in our house. We sit as still as mice in their den. We hear the door being broken down – the Germans do this calmly, deliberately, and quickly. Once it's open, they enter the apartment and start searching the closets, the plank beds. They find no one. Our hearts beat with terror, hoping they won't discover us. They knock out a windowpane and leave the house. We take a breath, but going out is out of the question. They're checking the entire block. So we sit, crammed like herrings, and wait. Occasional shots are heard; we don't yet know their significance. The Aktion continues in the block until 4 p.m. It is only at about 5 that we poke our heads out. There is deathly silence in the street, not a single soul is visible. The bolder among us take the risk and go down to Mila 64, looking for some news. It seems that Jewish policemen participated in the Aktion as well, but not as actively as in the first days of July. They were satisfied with tagging along.

We discover that the entire court unit has been taken to the Umschlag. We also find out that the entire management of the OBW has been taken. Mr. Y. Lando gathered a few workers, and they started out for the workshop.^[4] They were all detained on the way and taken to the Umschlag. Several men escaped on the way, among them Alexander Lando, who immediately

[Page 1111]

got in touch with the Polish office, and barely managed to rescue his brother Yosef. The others went to Treblinka. Some quickly escaped from the Umschlag, many escaped on the way, jumping out of the cars. One of our carpenters, Khayim Srebernik, had almost reached the Treblinka train station.

The heroic stand of the group at 61 Mila merits special mention. The first shot was fired there; it may have triggered the rest of the defense action. One policeman was wounded (people later said that he had died). On the other hand, five Jews died in the skirmish, among them Emilia Lando (Alexander's daughter), and Liberman. The Germans threw a grenade into the cellar workshop of the OBW at Mila 61.

At 6 a.m. on Tuesday, January 19,we were already in hiding. The Aktion, however, had moved on; this time, to Muranowska, Niska, and other streets in the ghetto. It was quiet in our block, but the fear was great. The Werterfassung had begun work, threatening to reveal all those in hiding and have them shot.^[5]

But Jews find a mitigation for every misfortune. As the group was working in Mila 61, people concluded that it was only removing objects from the apartments of Liber and Lando. Later, however, it emerged that

[Page 1112]

they had been ordered to clear out Mila 61, 64, and 67.

No. 64 had been purchased by Fogel, the Jewish leader of the group, for 75,000 złoty. The Werterfassung has still not been there, though all the other apartments in the block have been cleaned out. On Tuesday, January 19, I found out that a revolt had occurred at Mila 34 and on the corner of Niska and Zamenhof streets on the first day, January 18, 1943.

There was heavy shooting at Niska. From a small wooden house, three young men shot at a group of marching Germans. The shots seemed to be from machine guns. Four Germans were killed. The Germans continued marching only after they had set fire to the house; the Jewish heroes were killed in the flames.

By Wednesday, January 20, our neighborhood was almost quiet. People began moving around. But the Aktion took place on Leszno St., where shots had been fired from No. 78. The Germans retreated from the house, but they evacuated several hundreds of Jews. Up to 150 of these people were immediately shot at the Umschlag.

On Tuesday, January 19, there was an Aktion at the brushmakers on Świętojerska. 305 men were taken. In addition, 13 were killed, among them the director, Holodenko. Director I. Giterman was also shot at Mila 69 during the Aktion of January 18 on Mila.

Translator's footnotes

1. The writer uses the Hebraic phrase dalet ames, which denotes one's own domain. Return
2. The area of the non-Jewish brushmakers' shops in the ghetto was relatively friendly to Jews. Return
3. This refers to the Nazis' selection of Jews for deportation. Selektion was more commonly used for the process of deciding who would be killed on arrival in the death camps. Return
4. The OBW (Ostdeutsche Bautischlerei Werkstatte [East German Carpentry Construction Workshops]) was a Jewish-owned carpentry shop that came under German management in the last period of the ghetto's existence. It was run by the two Lando (Landau) brothers. Many of the workers were members of a Jewish socialist group Return
5. The Werterfassung was an SS enterprise devoted to collecting, sorting and storing all transportable Jewish property left behind in the deserted apartments and buildings in the Warsaw ghetto. Return

[Page 1113]

[Introduction]^[1]

Władysław Świętochowski, now 33 years old, was a firefighter at the time of the Warsaw uprising. His unit was sent to the ghetto and adjoining streets, to prevent the conflagration from spreading to the “Aryan” side. Świętochowski was already involved in hiding Jews. After the uprising, he became a constant liaison between the Jewish underground on the “Aryan” side and the Jewish partisan groups who were part of the Peoples' Guard (Gvárdija Liudovà) in the Wyszkow forest.^[2] Simultaneously, he concealed Jewish fighters in secret apartments, such as Leszno 18, thus saving their lives.

When the Warsaw Ghetto uprising began, the Nazi authorities ordered the Warsaw power station and the firefighters to send units to the surrounding area, which was threatened by the flames in the ghetto. In this way, I found myself inside the ghetto from April 23 to June, 1943. I was on duty every other day. The borders of our section were the edges of Nalewki, Gęsia, and Smocza streets, as far as Niska. Officially, we were forbidden to enter the area of the ghetto proper, but in actual fact we could roam an area of 100 meters inside the ghetto; however, this was not always possible. We were in danger, not only from the Germans but also from the Jewish fighters. At first, we wore our gray firefighters' helmets, but soon had to exchange them for shiny helmets; the Jewish fighters could not distinguish us from the Germans. They shot at us, and almost killed many of us. They told me this after the uprising.

By that time, I was already involved in hiding Jews. Together with my father-in-law, Jozef Pera (who was killed in the uprising of August, 1944), I hid the sisters Malvina and Bronislawa Grosbard, who had escaped from the ghetto. In this way, I entered the ghetto during the uprising, firmly resolved to help the fighters and the victims in any way that I could.

Now, more than seven years later, it is hard for me to give a precise account

[Page 1114]

of that horror in all its details, which I saw in the burning, struggling ghetto. I remember that terrible, indelible impression: the impact of both the inhuman cruelty of the Nazis and their helpers, and the remarkable uprising of the Jewish fighting organization (ŻOB).^[3] This organization was so powerful that it inspired me with strength to continue my work with them and with the partisans, as well as the conscious effort to save Jews

How did the SS forces and their helpers, Fascists of all stripes, carry out their murderous activities?

After they set fire to a single block or a row, the murderers would seat themselves at a good distance from the burning structure, in comfortable armchairs they had looted, and watch for fleeing Jews. They were armed with revolvers and automatic pistols, which they used the moment that Jews appeared. The Germans usually moved in groups of camp guards (Fascist ruffians of different nationalities), and in SS formations that consisted of riff-raff speaking different languages. The camp guards, who were not yet completely “trained” in murder, once again exhibited a “humane attitude”; they could be bribed. However, they were later replaced by SS units that were ruthless. The Germans also used Jewish informers, which they termed Kapusch; these consisted of both men and women.^[4] When groups of Jews surrendered, and hung out a white rag (this did not often happen), they were not killed on the spot. Until May 5-7 such groups were even transported to the Umschlagplatz and then taken in train cars to the death camp. Later, such groups were shot on the spot, inside the ghetto. Where did the informers come from? The Germans had either physically tortured them severely, or lured them with the illusion that their lives would be spared.

The heroic actions of the Jewish fighters shone all the more brightly in the surrounding darkness of savage cruelty and death. I myself saw the following events:

[Page 1115]

1. At the corner of Smocza, I saw a scene that was unbelievable at first glance, yet it was real. It seemed that a young Jew had to leave his hideout. He ran through a vacant area between himself and the more distant ruins. Two Germans, armed with automatic weapons ready to shoot, guarded the area. They apparently decided to play a game, letting the Jew run into one of the ruined buildings. He climbed the stairs inside and agilely appeared on the balcony. He looks around and sees that the Germans are aiming their automatic weapons at him. Quick as lightning, he pulls out a hand grenade and hurls it at his pursuers. The hand grenade exploded, and both Germans fell, gravely wounded, perhaps killed. The fighter vanished.
2. One day, I saw ten dead Germans, as well as Fascists from other units, being taken away from my section, along with many wounded men; they were transported by Red Cross carriages. At the time, I heard that the number of Nazis killed was much larger.
3. As I stood at the end of Mila Street, I saw a battle, far down Mila. Fully armed Fascists were on one side of the street, while shots came from a barricaded house on the other side. The Jewish fighters were, of course, concealed; but they steadily fired back at the hail of German bullets.
4. On one of the first nights, I was on duty with several colleagues. We stayed in one of the firefighters' booths at the edge of the ghetto. We hear someone walking around the booth. These were Jewish fighters, their feet bound in rags to deaden their footsteps. Their plan was to take our helmets, uniforms, and equipment. This incident enabled me to connect with them. From then on, they came to set positions nearly every night, where I would give them food, alcohol to disinfect their injuries, as well as cigarettes and matches. Some of them had decided to fight to the end, whereas others were apathetic by then, and even resigned to the outcome. The first group had come to the conclusion that their personal lives were over. Once, I brought them some bulletins of the Polish underground. They asked whether an uprising would break out on the “Aryan” side. Finally, we talked about efforts to rescue them from the ghetto; this was very difficult, because German patrols were constantly around. Finally, they stopped coming. I don't know what became of them. They probably fell in the fighting.
5. Many nights later, we saw tiny fires blinking among the ruins. We also heard echoes of shots. These were still the fighters,

who would come out at night to attack the enemy.
6. We heard echoes of shooting from both sides until June. But the German guards would no longer let us go deeper into the ghetto.
7. A watchman from the electrical substation to which our firefighting unit belonged was shot by the Germans, because he refused to turn over a list of the substation's guards (the substation was for a while a rendezvous point with representatives of the ghetto fighters).

On Smocza, I saw a German shoot a man, a woman, and a child, after he had taken away all their belongings.

Also on Smocza, the murderers threw a Jewish fighter, whom they had caught with weapons, into a burning house alive.

On another street (I think it was Zamenhof), the Fascists forced a group of Jews to strip naked. They then crammed them into the cavity of a burned-out shop and threw in grenades, killing them all.

On Mila, the Germans carried out a Selektion among those who were snatched: men to the left, women to the right. They then ordered everyone to undress for inspection. One young woman refused to undress, rebelling against the Germans. One of the Germans shot her on the spot; the soldiers jeered at her dead body, and cut it up.

On one occasion, I was able to help the victims. A young Jewish woman ran up to us with a request to save her father, who was pinned under a fallen wall. We set to work, using our firefighting axes to chop up the wall. The Germans heard us, thought we were Jewish fighters, and arrested us. After they had established our identity and legitimacy with the Warsaw electrical station, they released us, warning that we would be shot if we were caught again. The trapped Jew was shot on the spot; his daughter vanished among the ruins.

As I noted, I was so affected by all I saw in the ghetto that I threw myself into work with the Jewish fighters on the “Aryan” side and with the partisans.

Translator's footnotes

1. This paragraph has no heading or signature, but appears in a different font in the original and functions as an introduction to the first-person narrative that follows. I am therefore adding the heading. Return
2. The People's Guard was a communist military resistance organization operating during World War II in occupied Poland. Return
3. ŻOB (Polish Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa) was the Polish acronym of the Jewish Fighting Organization, which was formed in July 1942, and was instrumental in organizing and launching the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Return
4. I could not translate this term. Return
5. The article is referenced by a mistaken acronym. The correct acronym indicates the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw. Return

[Page 1117]

(Fragment from a larger work on the history of the Jewish underground movement in Poland)

The Jewish underground and aid movement could not have included such a large clandestine Jewish membership under the conditions of Nazi terror without the assistance of Poles. An extremely important role in the rescue movement was that of the “General Polish Council to Aid Jews,” the large secret organization that saved thousands of Jews from being murdered.^[2] The actions of the auxiliaries of the Polish Workers' Party were also significant. However, we also need to emphasize the individual acts of thousands of Poles.

When describing the martyrdom of the Jews of Poland, emphasis is usually placed on the Jews who hid on the “Aryan side,” and suffered at the hands of Polish blackmailers and informers, Fascist hooligans and other underworld elements. Less is written about the fact that thousands of Poles risked their lives extending aid to Jews. The froth and scum on the surface of a stormy river is more noticeable than the pure stream in the depths. That stream did exist, and it was effective.

A major proportion of the underground Jewish National Committee's auxiliaries were Polish.^[3] They were headed by Poles who volunteered to run the rescue work. These were Polish intellectuals, writers and artists, who collaborated with Polish social aid efforts. There were also workers, and some peasants as well. For the most part, they were progressive, left-leaning persons: Communists, Socialists, radical democrats and peasant activists. However, they also included Catholics, and members of various Christian sects.

Many of them were apolitical, simple, kind, ordinary people, who sincerely sympathized with the tormented Jews, felt their tragedy deeply, and helped out of the kindness of their good, decent hearts.

In some cases, individual help was extended, even by anti-Semitic Poles, to Jews they knew…

[Page 1118]

Such cases were rare. It is, however, a fact that the Hitler-nightmare, the inhuman suffering, and the tragic murder of millions of Jews left such a deep and shocking impression on some anti-Semitic Poles that they later changed their attitude, and even gravitated towards the progressive camp.

The home of two Polish women intellectuals, the educator Ms. Irena Sawicka and the archaeologist Dr. Zofija Podkowinska, was one of the main “bases” of the Jewish underground movement on the “Aryan side.” Both were connected with the Communist movement which coordinated aid to hungry, persecuted Jews. There, on Żoliborz, in the radical Polish intellectual neighborhood, was where Dr. Berman, Antek, and other underground activists met with representatives of the Leftist Polish underground movement, the activists of the Polish Workers' Party, and of the partisans' popular movement.^[4] They found a warm, friendly atmosphere, and a deep understanding of the suffering of the Jewish masses and their armed battle. Jews whose location had been exposed and who were consequently out on the street often found shelter and assistance there. The death of Irena Sawicka at the hands of Fascists during the Polish uprising in Warsaw was a painful experience, and a blow, for the Jewish underground activists.

Another heroic personality was that of Janina Buchholz, a psychologist and the wife of a Polish intellectual who was a professor at the Polytechnic. She had no party affiliation and was remote from political life. During the years of the Nazi occupation, she dedicated herself to two causes: her scientific work, and aiding Jews. The notary public's office on Miodowa St., where she worked as a translator from various languages, became one of the main secret “offices” of the Jewish National Committee. This was also the “office” of Bashe Berman and the staff of her “liaison

[Page 1119]

“officers,” who were there almost daily. This was where masses of “Aryan” documents for Jews were handed over to for distribution to the aid funds, and other prohibited “transactions” took place. “Mrs. Janina” was always ready to help, with a smile on her good-natured, motherly face. She was always “philosophically” calm, ready with words of encouragement, comfort, optimism, and faith. For years, up to the liberation, she continually risked her life in order to save Jews.

During that horrific period, Professor Dr. Maria Grzegorzewska, the famous Polish scholar, philosopher and pedagogue, the Director of the State Committee of Special Pedagogy, who wrote important works on the psychology of blind people, was a true “mother” and savior of dozens of Jews and abandoned children who had fled from the ghetto and were wandering around on the “Aryan side.” She was one of the pillars of the rescue project, which was an important support of the Jewish underground movement.

She never refused to help. When there was no other solution, when catastrophe was imminent, we ran to “Madame Maria” for last-minute help. And she helped: she supplied a place for someone in a critical situation, found work and a “cover” for another, and personally forwarded money from the Jewish National Committee to dozens of Jews in hiding.

The great dramatic actress Irena Solska took upon herself the most difficult and dangerous role during the Occupation: that of actively helping Jews. Though she was in poor health, and contended with great personal and family problems, she was constantly occupied with aid work. Dozens of life-and-death matters were taken care of at her home. She offered last-minute help, when all other avenues for rescue had been exhausted. She was the embodiment of an active humanitarian, who was profoundly and sincerely concerned with Jewish suffering.

Stefania Sempołowska, the most exemplary of fighters for progress and democracy, the “mother” of the political prisoners in prewar Poland and the symbolic archetype of the Polish radical intelligentsia, was quite elderly and partly paralyzed by the time of the Nazi occupation. Yet, even in her final days, she did not cease being “the mother of the suffering.” She mobilized her family and friends for Jewish aid activity. Her semi-paralyzed hands handled documents and financial support for concealed, persecuted Jews. To the last day of her amazing life, she was faithful to the great cause of helping the victims of Fascism and racial hatred.

[Page 1120]

Tadeusz Kotarbiński, the renowned philosopher at Warsaw University, did not abandon his Jewish friends and students during their difficulties. Before the war, he defended them courageously whenever they were attacked by Polish hooligans. During the occupation, he helped in every possible way. He opened his home to Jews, at the risk of his own life.

There were many Polish intellectuals who helped Jews. Among them was the well-known biologist, Zygmunt Szymanowski (a veteran of the Socialist movement); the renowned statistician and radical education activist Dr. Marian Polski; Maria and Stanisław Otowski, professors of esthetics and ethics at Warsaw University; the architect and urbanist Professor Stanisław Tołwiński, who became president of Warsaw after the liberation; the archeologist Dr. Ludwik Sawicki, who fostered an abandoned Jewish boy from the ghetto; and dozens of other well-known educators, psychologists, physicians, economists, librarians, geographers, and other scientists.

Special mention is due to the biologists and then-director of the Warsaw Zoo, Dr. Jan Żabiński, and his wife, the writer Antonina Żabińska. Thanks to them, the Warsaw Zoo became a place of refuge for Jews. The camouflaged animal cages served to house Jews, who were sustained by Dr. Żabiński and his wife, at their own personal risk.

Among other Polish intellectuals who paid with their lives for their underground activity and rescue of Jews, the young assistants of the University of Warsaw are noteworthy. These included the courageous activist Dr. Ewa Rybicka; the gifted young psychologist and Communist party member, Joanna Kunicka; the Socialist activist Irena Pruchnik, the wife of Dr. Adam Pruchnik, leader of the left-wing Socialists; and others.

Polish writers also participated in the aid activity. Among them was the well-known writer and peasant leader Władysław Kowalski, who served as president of the Polish Seijm after the liberation, and wrote the story “The Beast” about the martyrdom of the Jew; he fostered an abandoned Jewish girl from the ghetto during the occupation.^[5] After liberation, she joined her relatives in Israel. Other Polish writers such as Helena Bogusweska, Jerzy Kornacki, and others helped Jews.

We should also emphasize the heartfelt and devoted aid of ordinary Poles, such as the tailor Stanisław Michalski; museum worker Kazimierz Kutz; nurse Waleria Malaszewska; laborer Kazimierz Proszowski; tram worker Richowicki; Pawel Hormuszka, a peasant from the Grodno area

[Page 1121]

who helped the family of Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum; and many other kind, ordinary folks.^[6]

Polish community activists, who helped in various support organizations, played a significant role in the aid project. Among these, for example, were Aleksandra Kargielawa, who placed many Jewish children in Polish institutions; Antonina Roguska, who “specialized” in finding workplaces for Jewish women by personally guaranteeing – at the risk of her life – that they were “Aryans”; Maja Laska, who worked in the city's certification department, and endangered herself in order to carry out dozens of secret and prohibited manipulations of “Aryan” documents for Jews; and dozens of other women who helped with social support.

We should also mention the courageous Polish women, such as Irena Kurawska, the director of an elementary school in Żoliborz; Sylwia Rzeczycka, who protected dozens of Jews; Juljana Larisz, who rescued 21 Jews from the ghetto; and many others.

“Gaik” the Communist (“Kszaczek”) helped to rescue Jewish ghetto fighters through the sewers, and the Socialists Stefan Sawicki and Stefan Pokropek paid with their lives for working with the Jewish underground movement and helping Jews. The blood of

[Page 1122]

Jewish and Polish fighters was shed together in the common fight against the enemy.

The Polish musician Ludomir Marczak protected a group of 15 Jews in a “bunker” on Nowiniarska Street. They were betrayed and discovered; Marczak and the Jews were all shot.

Also noteworthy was the devoted help of the Polish peasant Kaiszczek, from the Łomianki village area, who actively helped the fighters of the Jewish Fighting Organization. Others were the Polish officer Pero, who was shot by the Gestapo; and dozens of anonymous Poles who helped individually. They did not give their names, but they were known to the Jewish underground movement. Examples are “the former mayor of Celestynów,” “the engineer of Sapieżyńska St.,” “the teacher from the forest, protector of Jewish partisans,” “the grandmother from the vegetable stall in the market,” and dozens of others.

There were many more such anonymous, decent Poles throughout the country than people know. Thousands of Jews owe their lives to them. The Poles mentioned above are only a small part of those who helped and rescued Jews, at great danger to themselves.

Translator's footnotes

1. I was not able to identify many of the Polish names in this article, and have reconstructed them to the best of my ability. Return
2. Known in Polish as Żegota, the Council was part of the Polish Underground State in 1942-1945, in German-occupied Poland. Return
3. The Jewish National Committee was a political affiliate of the Jewish Fighting Organization. Return
4. ‘Antek’ was the underground pseudonym of Yitskhok Cukierman (better known to non-Polish readers as Yitzchak Zukerman) one of the commanders of the ghetto uprising. Return
5. The Sejm is the Polish Parliament. Return
6. The historian Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum founded the Underground Archives of the Warsaw Ghetto. Return

[Page 1123]

“Now, we have a real commander,” people told each other with great pleasure. Even the “Easterners,” as people called the Soviet partisans, show him respect and approval as a fighter, commander, and person. People ask each other, “Who is he?” Yoyne Suchaczeswki, a print-shop worker from Warsaw, the product of a trade union, born in 1914. He's known in the forest as “Sasha,” and before the war was also known as “Jerzy” to his union friends and in the “Morgenshtern” sports club. As a print-shop worker, Yoyne Suchaczewski was always with the workers, defending his class interests – the interests of all mankind. The Nazi German attack on Poland in 1939 and the temporary occupation of Polish territory up to the Bug River impelled him (like thousands of other workers and Jews) to move to Soviet territory, so as to avoid extermination by Nazi Germany as a Jew and as a class-conscious worker. In the Soviet Union, he was able to work in peace, and to become a new Soviet citizen without discrimination. This was the future to which he had devoted himself as a youth. The barbaric Nazi invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941 pulled the man known to us as Sasha, our commander, back under Nazi authority. This time, he cannot escape. Yoyne Suchaczewski remains in Slonim, under Nazi occupation. Not despairing, he makes contact with the Soviet partisans, who are organizing in the forests of Slonim under the command of General Kapusta. Yoyne Suchaczewski assembles many Jews of the Slonim ghetto to join the partisans. The partisan movement in the fields of Slonim grows into a significant force, which carries out acts of sabotage, and even open skirmishes with the Gestapo. Yoyne rises to the position of a liaison officer at the highest level of the partisan movement. He is respected and praised by all the partisans. The movement supported and gave a chance to all the Jews who joined its ranks

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to revenge themselves and join the struggle against Nazism. The Germans called in large reinforcements, even aerial force, and began to bomb the forests and set them on fire. They encircled the partisans, fighting for each meter of forest. It was a difficult struggle, which lasted for months. In some cases, the partisans broke through and, along with other partisan groups that were in the forest, caused many German casualties. The partisans later left the area to fight in other locations.

Yoyne Suchaczewski arrives in the Bialystok ghetto. He starts working in the boiler room of the Gestapo museum, but his fight is not over. He cannot sit still and witness the behavior of the Judenrat members and their conversation, which is just as listless as in all the other towns. The fighting spirit and the close relationships of the fighters, their mutual devotion, and the care provided by the organization calls him back to the free, decent, militant life of the forest.

He contacts the underground organization in the ghetto, and uses his experience in working for the Gestapo to manufacture weapons and bring them into the ghetto. At the time, that was the riskiest work of all.

Shortly afterwards, Yoyne is sent to a group in the forest, as commander of the “Forwards” partisan unit, which was set up by the underground anti-Fascist organization in the Bialystok ghetto, together with the general anti-Fascist Polish Workers' Party (PPR). A new battle begins in the forest, with our “Sasha” – the current commander” – utilizing his earlier experience in the partisans to introduce new forms of battle and organization. Sasha also participates as a humor writer in the newspaper we publish in the forest for the population of the area; his article is titled “The Preacher and the Obrez.” He described one of our comrades who wore glasses and looked like a preacher. This comrade carried a sawn-off rifle,

[Page 1125]

known in Russian as obrez.

Yoyne brought in a new spirit. He was disciplined, brave, and comradely, respectful towards us and commanded respect for himself. Sasha led us in many battles against the German Gestapo. There were always casualties, both among us and among the Nazis. He always reorganized the group after each skirmish, so as to be battle-ready once again.

The fall of 1943 began early, with the uprising in the Bialystok ghetto. On August 16, members from the town responded boldly and bravely to our call to battle against the destruction of the ghetto, and to fight against the deportation of the Jews to Treblinka. The organization wanted to lead as many Jews as possible out to our group in the forest. Sasha immediately organized our group to help by positioning armed members along all the routes that led to the forest, so as to help those Jews and fighters who were wandering around searching for the way to our group. They had to be brought to us for protection. The repression of the uprising, the destruction of the ghetto, and the transports to Treblinka lasted throughout August. During this period, Sasha organized the Jews from the ghetto in groups and scattered them in the forest, so that they wouldn't be too noticeable in any one location. Those who brought weapons from the ghetto became fighters along with those who were already partisans. The Germans realized that many fighters had gone into the forests with their weapons. Our group also began actively looking after all the Jews. After our group was augmented by new members, we began expanding our sabotage activities. This impeded the movements of the Nazi army and the Gestapo along the roads and in the villages around the forest. Spies from among the civilians who served the Germans let them know where we were. This enabled them to attack us more easily. One such informer, the Pole Karabowicz, who had been a forest worker in the same area before the war, excelled at noticing and understanding all the signs of our activity. He would lead the Germans along complicated paths and bring them to us. We lost many battles and comrades because of him. On September 25, 1943, he led the Germans to us in the Izow forest. This was the battle in which the commander, our “Sasha,” was killed.

Following a long, cold, autumn night in the village of Karakle, where we were educating the peasants, and were carrying several weeks' worth of food for the Jews who had come from the ghetto, we sat down to rest among the trees.^[1] Our commander, Yoyne Suchaczewski, had set up three new fighting groups, had consulted with the new commanders about the further action of our group, which would

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spend the winter in areas several dozen kilometers away from Bialystok.

We were all scattered among the trees, lying down and thinking of the parents, brothers, friends, and fellow fighters who had recently been murdered in the ghetto. The leaves were beginning to turn yellow. The wind was bringing them down to the ground, where thousands of other yellow leaves were waiting for their arrival, to create a soft yellow leaf-bed for our partisans to rest on. The low-lying sun gazed into our lives, its rays sending caresses of mild warmth over our bodies, which were half-frozen from living under the open skies on the bare earth which was now radiating wintry cold – a harbinger of winter. The women were washing clothes and hanging them on the trees. It all created a bright home-like corner in the wilderness of the surrounding forest. Only a few steps away it was dark, abandoned, uncultivated. In a short time, Man can create a corner of life for himself.

The coziness was suddenly pierced by a shot that rang out; it was followed by several other shots that echoed through the forest. Our comrade who was on watch had noticed Germans approaching; he shot at them, to warn us of the danger and enable us to be ready. This comrade was the first to be killed. Sasha, the commander, ordered the laundry to be taken down, and was ready for battle with our armed comrades. The Germans had been led by Karabowicz, the spy for whom we had long been searching in order to carry out the death sentence we had imposed on him. Now he was killed by our bullets; but we paid too dearly for his death. Six comrades were killed and two others wounded, Rivke Shinder Wojskowska and Simkhe Love. We were ready for battle. Ten were armed with two submachine guns; there was one ten-round rifle, carried by Sasha; and the others had Mauser rifles. The Germans outnumbered us twenty to one, and were armed from head to foot with the latest weapons. The forest was transformed into a loud battle position. Bullets screamed through the air between the trees, breaking twigs as they flew. Orders, as raucous as the screeching of pigs, were heard from the German leaders. Many fighters, men and women, fell in the depths of the Izow forest. One of the women fighters was Sasha's wife, Fanny. When he was encircled and had shot nearly all his bullets at the German enemy, Sasha used the last bullet on himself, so as not to fall alive into the hands of the enemy–as all heroic fighters are instructed to do.

This was the end of his heroic life of

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battle. For us, his friends and his people, he will always be an example of heroism and consistency, for future generations.

Nightfall stopped the battle. The Germans took their dead as well as

[Page 1128]

their spy, and vanished into the darkness, along with the echoes of their vehicles. The quiet in the secret depths of the forest became even more pronounced. The tree branches blocked the rays of the setting sun at the site where our fighters drew their last breaths, so as not to disturb their eternal rest.

Translator's footnote

1. I was unable to identify this village. Return

[Page 1129]

“What we have lived through cannot be put into words. We are reporting one aspect; what happened exceeded our boldest dreams.”

And further: “Be well, my dear. Perhaps we may meet again. My life's dream has become reality. Jewish armed resistance and revenge have become facts. I witnessed the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish freedom fighters.”

These are the words that the young, 24-year-old Mordechai Anielewicz wrote in the hell of the Warsaw Ghetto to his comrade Yitzchak Cukierman (Antek) on April 23, 1943, at the height of the desperate, heroic uprising in the ghetto; a brave, ferocious fight for a worthy death rather than for a tragic life.^[1] The young and profoundly modest chief commander Anielewicz describes himself as “a witness to the heroic fighting.” We know that he was much more than a witness. When he wrote his last letter, he and his troops were enduring terrible conditions. As he writes in his letter, “There are no words to describe the living conditions of the Jews in the Ghetto at this time. Only a few will survive. Others will die, sooner or later. Their fate is sealed. In almost all the bunkers, where thousands of people are hiding, one cannot strike a light, as there is no air.” (B. Mark, Khurves Dertseyln, 251, 1947).^[2]

Not only was everyone's fate sealed. His own fate was also sealed. In the atrocious conditions of the ZOB's command bunker at 18 Mila St., where he and a number of squads were located, he was active, struggling heroically and finally dying courageously, with dreadful suffering.^[3] His

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hope (“Perhaps we may meet again”) never came true. After the battle of May 8, 1943, Mordechai and his girlfriend Mira Fukhrer, along with about eighty more fighters, fell when their bunker was surrounded by German troops, who had seized all the entrances to the bunker, and then threw in hand-grenades and gas bombs…^[4]

We have moving, disturbing descriptions of the frightful “lives” of the heroic rebels in their bunker inside the ghetto, as well as of the last days of the desperate battle among the burning ruins and the conduct of the young Mordechai Anielewicz. Tuvia Borzykowski, one of the most active fighters of the uprising, recounted:

“The bunker at 18 Mila St. was not only a site of great Jewish suffering and the base for a large number of fighting units. It was also the location of the ZOB's high command, as well as its nerve center. This was the key point of the uprising, and was connected with all the fighting positions in the Ghetto. Couriers and fighters came here with reports, and from here instructions were sent about tactics and troop movements between positions, etc.”

“Life” in the bunker itself required much thought, attention, and “strategy.” Mordechai contributed greatly to everyday life. He helped to create good relationships between the fighters as well as between groups belonging to different political persuasions. He was aware of all the group's activities in the bunker. The bunker was so crowded that anyone having to pass from one location to another had to elbow his way through. Mordechai was always disentangling himself from one clump of people and working his way into another. He had to be everywhere, in personal contact with every comrade, receive dispatches himself,

[Page 1131]

and stay in touch with individuals about difficulties and tactics. His presence was a source of encouragement.

Mordechai Anielewicz, the young man from Warsaw, had not attended a military academy, or schools of strategic studies. It was callous fate that had pushed him into the front ranks, and entrusted him with leadership of the war effort in an overwhelmingly uneven struggle. The conditions and positions were extraordinary. The young commander disregarded the desperate nature of the battles he was undertaking, and made plans that utilized all possible methods of fighting. His chiefs were clear about the goal of the impending uprising in the Ghetto. A coded letter to supporters abroad stated, “It starts tomorrow. We are highly aware of what lies in store. We are acting in order to discharge a debt that cannot be ignored; we will complete our mission –of this you can be sure!”

Hersz Wasser, one of the popular activists in the ghetto (incidentally, he was a member of the delegation sent to the U.S. by the Central Committee of Jews in Poland in the summer of 1946), recounts events at the staff meeting he attended on April 18, 1943 (one day before the Ghetto uprising began): “Mordechai Anielewicz reported on the strategic guidelines for the imminent battles in the ghetto: following several effective attacks that would cause the enemy distressing losses, the fighters would switch to partisan methods, wearing out the Germans by mounting ceaseless attacks from every gate, window, and ruin, day and night, that would exhaust their nerve and their armaments. We developed our own strategy in order to function in the maze of the Ghetto. The Germans would have to fight for months. If we receive the weapons, ammunition, and explosives that we ask for and need, the battles in the ghetto will extract an ocean of blood from the enemy. We will also show the Polish working class the meaning of faith and trust in one's own powers. These were the words of Mordechai Anielewicz one day before the start of the uprising.” (Ber Mark, Khurves Dertseyln, [Ruins recount], Warsaw 1945, 95.)

According to his fellow fighter and life-partner, Mira Fukhrer, Anielewicz prepared for the heroic uprising with great intensity and passion. Mira was with him during the uprising, and was also murdered along with him. She writes, in a letter to comrades abroad, “Mordechai is very busy with family matters, twenty-four hours a day. I am active as well, and very preoccupied; but do not think I am complaining. I am happy. I've never been so cheerful… and never loved him with all my being as much as I do now.” (Mark, Khurves, 174; M. Nayshtat, Khurbn un oyfshtand fun di yidn in Varshe [Destruction and uprising of the Jews in Warsaw], Tel-Aviv 1948, 583.)

[Page 1132]

It is worth noting that on the second anniversary of the Ghetto Uprising (April 1945), the general staff of the Polish army awarded military decorations to fifty ghetto fighters for their heroic battle against the German occupiers. Mordechai Anielewicz headed the list. The document was published in the Łódź Yiddish newspaper Dos Naye Lebn (May 1, 1945; also noted in Nayshtat's book Khurbn, 328).

Mordechai Anielewicz, the young commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, who was murdered under the ruins of Jewish Warsaw, was born in that city in 1919, on Solec St. in the Powisle neighborhood, a largely non-Jewish area. In that neighborhood, he “had to deal as a child with anti-Semitic hoodlums as well as with class-conscious Polish workers who would turn the poverty-stricken street into a field of battle” (Mark 57). His poor, hardworking family struggled to eke out an existence. “His mother sold fish. He would hand out fresh baked goods to housewives on their way to the synagogue” (Nayshtat 331). Later, he studied in the Jewish-Polish gymnazia La-Or.^[5] He distinguished himself at school, where he was granted a scholarship that granted full tuition. A star athlete, he was beloved by his friends. At age 14-15, he joined the Be-Chazit troop of Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir, and soon became “one of the most devoted and faithful members of the Warsaw ‘branch’.”^[6] He became the leader of an educational group in the Tel Amal troop, and later (1937) the leader of the entire troop and a full-fledged member of the ‘branch.’ The ‘branch’ was at 12 Rymarska St., near the Saxon Garden. It was also close to the Polish part of the city, from which bands of Polish fascists would emerge from time to time and attack the Jewish neighborhood. The young Jews would often hear the cries and sounds of breaking glass panes. On those occasions, groups of members armed with sticks would come out of the clubhouse, led by Mordechai, who calmly put his plans into action and beat the attackers soundly. During those years, a friend said, “If Mordechai hadn't been Jewish, he would have become an army general.”

Mordechai was “tall, strong, and nimble” (Mark 56; Nayshtat 331-332). He was strongly built, self-disciplined, and logical in all his actions. For example: “He came to the final examinations at the gymnasia wearing his Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir uniform. The school's directors, who had long been annoyed with him – one of the best students – because he had drawn many students into the movement,

[Page 1133]

failed him in the final exams, and forced him to study an additional year.” (Nayshtat, 332).

At the outset of World War II, Anielewicz left with a group of comrades for Kolomea, and then proceeded to Kuty, where he established contact with Romania.^[7] When the Germans occupied Warsaw, Anielewicz returned to his home town. He visited several places that were under German occupation. At the end of 1939, he was sent to Vilnius by the movement; in January 1940 he and Mira Fukhrer returned to Warsaw, where they reorganized the ‘branch’ and revived the activities of Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir. The first general assembly (at 5 Prosta St.), in March 1940, after the German murderers had taken all of Warsaw and Poland, was attended by hundreds of comrades, male and female. Mordechai was an active participant in the movement's ideological council, and gave a detailed lecture about political issues. One year later, he organized the second council of the movement, and presented an educational seminar. He was a member of Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir's underground high command. After the murder of Yosef Kaplan, he became a member of the underground central committee of He-Halutz in Poland.^[8] He was one of the main participants in the underground periodical of Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir, Neged Ha-Zerem^[9].

In early 1942, when news began to come that Jews from the regions that had been annexed to the Third Reich were being sent to the Auschwitz death camp, Mordechai went to Upper Silesia, where he met with Moshe Merin, the chairman of the local Judenrat, as well as with others.^[10] Merin took pains to convince Mordechai of the “good intentions” and “positive actions” of the Judenrats. Anielewicz declared boldly that young Jews would use force and weapons to oppose further German ruthless round-up operations and abuse of Jews. He helped organize self-defense groups in the local branches of the movement in Silesia. (Nayshtat 333, and the collection Varshaver Ghetto Oyfshtand (The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising), marking its 4^th anniversary, Landsberg, Germany, 14-15.)

When he heard of the murders of Yosef Kaplan and Shmu'el Braslav in Warsaw (September 3, 1942), he returned to that city and assumed the leadership of Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir. As Nayshtat recounts, Mordechai also visited Czestochowa, where he met with Aryeh Vilner and Tzvi Brandes, and developed plans for organizing self-defense in several towns as well as communication between the locations (Nayshtat 333).

“Everyone in the ghetto knew him and treated him with friendliness and respect. The Polish underground leaders knew him as ‘aniołek’ (little angel). He was active, and motivated others, day and night. His thoughts, and entire being,

[Page 1134]

were devoted to preparations for the final battle.” (Nayshtat 334).

We find Mordechai Anielewicz's name in research concerning the Warsaw Ghetto. Dr. Hillel Seidman, in his Togbukh fun varshever geto (Diary of the Warsaw Ghetto, Buenos Aires 1947), recounts a moment of profound tragedy: the community trial of Dr. Alfred Nossig, the Jewish traitor and informer.^[11] It became clear that he was faithfully serving the German Nazis, and assisted in the extermination of Jews. Seidman reports that “young Anielewicz, who was present, said, ‘His earlier service? His talents? On the contrary, they increase his responsibility’ (Seidman 248). As is known, the scoundrel Dr. Nossig was sentenced to death; the sentence was carried out by the Warsaw Ghetto Combat Organization on March 12, 1943 (Seidman 248).

Even earlier, in December of 1942, a long, passionate discussion was held in one of the hideouts, about the major, profoundly historical problems of the Jewish people in connection with the national catastrophe that was taking place. The participants were the Ghetto's most important historians, thinkers, artists, and community activists, and the discussion was fiery… “the discussion continued endlessly, until Yosef Tenenboym, his wife Irena, M. Anielewicz, Peretz Landoy, Y. Rayzman, and Miss Tosia… Among other topics, they spoke of revenge, without ‘quotation marks’ or ‘literature’… ‘honor,’ ‘value,’ ‘dying with dignity,’ the hell with… they expressed themselves baldly. That is a matter for those who write for the press, they needle me. However, if we must go to the slaughter, let's have a moment of sweet revenge before we die, and see the abominable blood of the beast flow. If we have revolvers, it's fine. If not, we have knives…” (Seidman 174)

Dr. E. Ringelblum's Notitsn fun varshever geto (Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto, Warsaw 1952) includes the following interesting note about Anielewicz and his comrades: “After the outbreak of hostilities between the U.S.S.R. and Germany, Mordechai's supporters decided to recall their members who had been working in the areas held by the Germans, so as not to aid the enemy of the U.S.S.R. A few members of the “Several Representatives” cooperative located at 40 Ogrodowa St., acted otherwise.^[12] They supplied shops with the best merchandise. Strong prices – weak prices – weak deeds, but in actual fact no deeds at all. However, reports abroad are false, stating that they work wonders” (224)

Important details concerning Mordechai Anielewicz's demeanor in the Ghetto, his approach to important political issues, and the way in which he applied his positions to everyday life and to battle are presented in the interesting book by the well-known Chaika Grossman, Anshei Ha-Machteret (People of the Underground, Merchavya, 1950, 448).^[13] Disguised as a young Christian woman, she was sent to the Warsaw Ghetto a few times,

[Page 1135]

and met Mordechai Anielewicz on several significant occasions. He carried out his enormous responsibilities and duties faithfully, with patience, and wisdom. “He is in a hurry, the day is almost over, yet there is still much to be done.” He evoked trust and attention from the first moment. Chaika characterizes him as follows: “He understands clearly and with common sense, grounded in Marxism, an activist, courageous, and restrained. Activism infuses his thinking, and thought infuses his activities. He quickly senses danger, and avoids it calmly and capably. He is always deep in thought, yet constantly aware of everything. He has a profound grasp of everything that has happened. He understands the position of his fellow soldiers in the organization, though his own position often contradicts it. He views events in broad historical context, taking account of history, the future, and later developments that will take place after the fighters are gone” (Grossman 87-98).

Jonas Turkow, the famous actor and director, who has written several foundational books about the destruction and uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, has given me the following new details about the young fighter and martyr.^[14]

“I came to know Mordechai Anielewicz during the German occupation of Warsaw in early 1940. At the time, I was the director of the Jewish Self-Help Organization, at 20 Rymarska St. Mordechai Anielewicz came to see me (with Yulia Shafirshteyn) about a hall at 6 Leszno St. that was used by a group of Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir members. As the hall was on the fifth floor, we wanted to find a different location. Anielewicz demanded that we leave the group in the same location, as they had installed a kitchen there at great expense. Thousands of people passed through my office at the Organization, and I cannot remember them all.

“Yet, strange as it may seem, Mordechai Anielewicz made a great impression on me the moment he began talking. He was a tall, well-built young man, and carried himself with elegance. His face was intelligent, cheerful, yet very energetic, with smiling eyes that sparkled suggestively. He began speaking in Polish; when I asked about his knowledge of Yiddish, he responded that he found it easier to speak in Polish.

“Every word he said was measured and well-considered. His argumentation was absolutely logical. He responded to my counter-arguments calmly but with great assurance

[Page 1136]

that things would transpire as he wished. He let me know, in no uncertain terms, that they would not leave the apartment on Leszno St.

“I felt that the young man possessed a kind of irresistible power. The involuntary thought crossed my mind that this young man would play a significant role in our lives. Later, when I recounted my impression of him to Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum, he replied, ‘Yes, we will be very pleased with this young man…’

“ Our second meeting was under the following circumstances: I knew that the dancer Franciszka Manuwna worked for the Gestapo, and had become ‘interested’ in the illegal literature that the underground movement distributed in the Ghetto.^[15] I received word that Manuwna was on the trail of several organizations, in which underground literature was printed or from which it was disseminated. Among other locations, she was extremely interested in the Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir branch at 23 Nalewkes. I passed on this information to the proper underground authorities. Anielewicz listened to me calmly, and, in his usual manner and with his customary smile, answered laconically, “That's good to know!…

“That very day, a member of the 23 Nalewkes branch, which Manuwna was tracking, was sent away to Grodno, if I'm not mistaken. All the traces of the printing press and the literature that were normally housed there were erased. The underground organization sentenced Manuwna to death.

“When it became known in the Ghetto that Mordechai Anielewicz had been appointed chief commander of the Jewish Combat Organization, I was not at all surprised; this was the right man in the right spot!^[16]

“I next saw Anielewicz at the last office of the Jewish Self-Help Organization, at 25 Nowolipki St.^[17] It was the first day of the ‘resettlement,’ in July 1942.^[18] He and Miriam Haynsdorf, visited me; Miriam had to stamp ‘certificates’ for the members of Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir. These certificates were supposed to protect their bearers from ‘resettlement.’ I handed the stamp to Anielewicz and Haynsdorf so that they could stamp as many ‘certificates’ as necessary. They did this on the spot.

“The last time I saw Anielewicz was soon after the heroic uprising, during the January 1943 round-up. Much has been written about Anielewicz's bravery during this Aktion, and I will not repeat it. I met him as we were accompanying

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Lutek Rotblat, a member of the ŻOB, who was wearing the Ghetto Police uniform.

“I congratulated Anielewicz on his great victory of January 18. In his exceptional modesty, Mordechai did not want to talk about it. When Rotblat began talking with me about the weapons we had collected at 18 Milna St. (in the former Jewish emigrant hotel), Anielewicz became animated and said, ‘We should really talk about that now! That is the only issue that concerns us!’

“Unfortunately, that was the last time that I had the chance to speak with the unforgettable Mordechai Anielewicz.”

Jonas Turkow's report ends here.

Mordechai Anielewicz's first armed battle against the German monsters was in 1943, on Monday, January 18. Tuvya Borzykowski describes that dreadful day as follows:

“In the early hours of that winter morning, Jews with terrified eyes were starting to creep carefully out of the houses as usual, anxious about the new day. They all proceeded to the assembly point from which they would normally be taken to work, on the square facing the Judenrat building. As the lines were forming for inspection, everyone suddenly began to feel extremely nervous… The Ghetto was suddenly completely surrounded by German military units. SS men immediately appeared on the streets. Assisted by gendarmes and Ukrainians, they took up positions in every corner of the Ghetto. Groups of Jews ready to march to work were taken to the Umschlagplatz.^[19] Those who had not gone into hiding were caught. Whoever was spotted, or suspected of, trying to escape the Germans was shot on the spot…”

Borzykowski goes on, “The turmoil increased with each passing second. The day we had all feared for many months was now a reality. The roundup grew more and more terrible. No consideration was shown to children, women, or the elderly. All were brutally beaten as they were flung into carts and taken to their deaths. ---------- The din of rifles and machine guns drowned out the voices of those who struggled to stay alive as they were being dragged to their deaths. The agonized wailing of small children was mixed with the groaning of patients who had been hauled out of the Jewish hospital. The road to the Umschlagplatz was strewn with bodies of

[Page 1138]

the dead and dying (Borzykowski, 16-17)

B. Mark provides this description of the armed clash between the fighters and the German murderers: “The Jewish fighters, intent on revenge, originally planned to do open battle in the streets. They mingled with the masses of people who had been snatched up for deportation on Mila and Zamenhof. Mordechai Anielewicz was in the crowd. When the mass of several hundred people reached the intersection of Zamenhof, Mila, and Niska streets, a signal was given. The Germans were pelted with bullets from all sides, and a commotion erupted. The Jews fled. This was an example of the extraordinary courage of the Jewish fighters” (143-144).

In his story “The First Ones,” Borzykowski continues^[20], “… The Jewish fighters standing guard hurled grenades at the Germans who were leading a group of Jews to the Umschlagplatz and the S.S. men from the deportation point…. The Germans were stunned; many of them fell, and the others ran for cover. All the Jews scattered. The fighters, headed by Mordechai Anielewicz, barricaded themselves in a small house on Niska and held it against the German reinforcements that soon arrived… The Germans were unable to enter the house, and set it on fire. The fighters continued firing until the last bullet.

I would like to mention one of the fighters in particular, Eliyohu (Elek) Ruzhanski. As he lay mortally wounded, he asked one of the comrades to take his weapon so that it would not fall into German hands. Of the entire unit, only Mordechai Anielewicz managed to survive. He attacked a German with his bare fists, wrestling a rifle away from him before he too fled” (Borzykowski, 18-19).

The following document, written in Warsaw in March, 1944, was sent to London on May 24, 1944, through underground channels; it describes the confrontation thus: “In the central Ghetto, a detachment of the combat organization, led by their commander Mordechai Anielewicz, intentionally allowed themselves to be caught together with several hundred other Jews. When they were taken to the intersection of Zamenhof and Niska streets, the Jewish fighters responded to a signal and opened fire on the Germans. The Jews who were being led to their deaths scattered, as did the panic-stricken Germans. However, once the Germans overcame their panic they returned, in greater strength…” “when Mordechai Anielewicz ran out of bullets, he attacked a gendarme with his bare hands, seized his gun, and resumed fighting. After an hour of heroic fighting, the entire Jewish group had been killed, except for the commander, who

[Page 1139]

was miraculously spared” (in Nayshtat, 149-150).

Borzykowski goes on: “Not only the Germans were astonished on January 18, 1943; the Jews themselves were also astonished… Many Jews who had spent January on other streets in Warsaw could not believe that young Jewish men and women had attacked Germans… But the subsequent actions of the ZOB convinced everyone that it was possible.” (25).

According to Ber Mark, “It is hard to determine the number of Jews who fell in battle. Marek Edelman states that four-fifths of the ZOB's members were killed in the January round-up.^[21] In any case, Baron von Eupen, who had been brought in from Treblinka for a ‘guest performance’ – liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto – had to cut the roundup short. The armed stand of the Ghetto's inmates was an utter surprise. The enemy retreated after rampaging for three days… The first appearance of the armed Jewish Combat Organization made a tremendous impression…” (148).

The collection In di yorn fun yidishn khurbn (During the years of the Jewish catastrophe) (The Underground Jewish Bund, New York 1948), also calls the first armed uprising in the Ghetto “the first trial by fire” that “the Jewish Combat Organization endured in its first major street battle.”… “We lost the best members of the organization there. It was no less than a miracle, as well as thanks to his heroic action, that the commander of the combat organization, Mordechai Anielewicz, was able to save himself” (191).

This “trial by fire” was followed by the last, great battle of the Jewish fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto.

“The last act of the Warsaw Ghetto tragedy began during the night of April 18, 1943.” This opens the description in the official document written in Warsaw in March, 1944, which details the rise and development of the Jewish Combat Organization as well as of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. “It was planned as a birthday present for the ‘Fűhrer.’ The Jewish Combat Organization embarked on its last battle. At 2.00 a.m. that night, the Germans surrounded the Ghetto walls with German-Ukrainian-Latvian patrols at close intervals of 25 meters. One by one, in pairs, and in threes, Germans began entering the uninhabited buildings of the Ghetto, hoping to surprise the fighters and the residents…

“At 2.00 a.m. on the night of April 18, a runner arrived and told us that the Germans would carry out the final liquidation (of the Ghetto) the next morning. We were all terrified at the news.

[Page 1140]

We immediately went through the Ghetto streets, and ordered all the elderly people and children into the hideouts. All young people – to battle! ” (Zivia Lubetkin, Di Lere Fun Varshever Oyfshtand [The Lesson of the Warsaw Uprising]), Landsberg, 1947, 24.

Borzykowski's description of the fateful day, April 19, 1943, is headed “The Hour had Struck. Monday, the eve of Peysekh, 1943, was a beautiful spring day. The sun had reached every dark corner of the ghetto as the time came for the final liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto…

Itsik Feffer writes about the uprising in his Shadows of the Warsaw Ghetto (Warsaw, 1945):^[22]

There's shooting in the Ghetto, and the Ghetto responds,
countering hate with hate, fire with fire.
A conversation of guns.

They came like hordes from the steppe
With venomous eyes and devilish snouts,
Like robbers coming to steal the possessions of others.
They fell like crumbling cabbages,
Like poisoned rats, like hunted hares,
Like carrion, they poisoned the air.

We cannot present all the details of the incredibly heroic, vicious battles and struggles between the unequal forces during all the days and nights of the Uprising. On the German side, “detachments of SS armored troops, SS cavalry, police, paramilitary forces, intelligence service, Ukrainian auxiliaries, security police, cannon teams, flame-throwers, armored cars, tanks, artillery batteries, and special sapper units laying mines and explosives.” On the Jewish side, the exhausted, emaciated, drained members of the Jewish Combat Organization, an underground army that was cut off from all outside support and completely isolated, but armed with the will ‘to fight and…die for the dignity of the nation and its people…’ ‘…Let us die with honor’ were the last words of the call to arms that was pasted onto the Ghetto walls on the night of the Passover Seder” (Rachel Auerbach, Der Yidisher Oyfshtand, Varshe, 1943 [The Jewish Uprising, Warsaw, 1948]). We point the reader to the various books that provide detailed descriptions of the battles at different locations and an overall view of the “positions” on the Ghetto front. Among these sources is Dr. Yoysef Kermish's Der Oyfshtand in Varshever Geto [The Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto], April 19-May 16, 1943, translated from Polish by Shloyme Lastik, Buenos-Aires 1948. This book is based on official materials and documents (as well as on information from the murderous General Stroop, may his name and memory be blotted out!)

Below is an episode that has appeared in several

[Page 1141]

sources, here in the description by Dr. Kermish: “When the Germans settled into a camp near the crossroads of Mila and Zamenhof streets, the Jewish fighters (comprising members of Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir, the Polish Workers' Party, Dror, and the Bund) barricaded themselves at the four points of the intersection and opened concentrated fire (which German General Stroop described as “strong and well-prepared”).^[23] They set off homemade hand grenades, and fired an automatic revolver as well as rifles. The street emptied after the initial revolver shots and the successful effect of the grenades on the crowded S.S. ranks … Now tanks were brought in…But when the first tank was incinerated, along with its crew, after being hit by a Molotov cocktail, the other two tanks and armored troop-carriers stayed clear of the positions held by the Jewish Combat Organization” (49).

Relentless battles, strong attacks, artillery shelling, and vigorous skirmishes took place in many other places. “The Jews defended themselves tenaciously, pushing the enemy back with superhuman efforts. In some places, they captured machine guns and other weapons” (51-52). “The first day of battle ended with the clear victory of the ZOB” (52).

The German beasts, surprised and enraged by their defeat and considerable losses, changed their method the next day: they began to set fire to the ghetto. They burned down all the buildings where they had encountered resistance. This was the start of a new, terrifying, hellish period for the fighters and the remaining Jews… “The terrible conflagration forced the Jews to leave their hideouts. On the night of April 21-22, all the Jews the Germans were unable to find earlier exited from their shelters under roofs and in cellars, and tried to save themselves from the flames. Many people, entire families who were encircled by fire, jumped from the windows onto mattresses that had been thrown down earlier, let themselves down with bedsheets that were tied together, and similar means. All were immediately killed” (60).

The savagery and cruelty of the Germans while fighting the Jews is indescribable. The various descriptions published by eyewitnesses depict unbelievably horrendous scenes. The Jewish fighters had to contend with unthinkable situations. The official document mentioned above reports, “In the midst of the events, the Jewish fighters switched from attack tactics to defensive tactics. They wanted to protect the people and keep their defensive positions. The forces were restructured… They barricaded themselves in buildings and attics, in order to prevent the Germans from taking over these defensive positions… Though the Germans made numerous efforts to force their way

[Page 1142]

into the Ghetto, they had to retreat in each case, as they were fended off by the brave defenders, leaving hundreds of fatalities on the battlefield. However, they had to take the Ghetto, and brought in their artillery. Large batteries were set up on Krasiński Square, as well as on Świętojerska and Bonifraterska streets. This began the physical siege of the Ghetto. Flamethrowers spread death among the residents. Airplanes flew overhead and dropped bombs with explosives as well as incendiary bombs. The entire quarter was set ablaze and became engulfed in flames, causing thousands of deaths… The Jewish fighting units, driven out of their positions by the raging fires, had to switch tactics. They organized guerilla warfare amidst the ruins, among which they lay in wait for German units. The fighting continued day and night without respite. The Germans had to capture each street and each house. As time went on, the situation became more and more unbearable. The fighters suffered almost no losses, but there was virtually no safe refuge for the exhausted forces, as the entire Ghetto was ablaze. Due to the high temperatures, the asphalt street paving became a mass of liquid tar. The food reserves were incinerated; the wells, that had been dug with such effort, were blocked by the debris of the collapsed buildings; but the worst was the depletion of the ammunition reserves. Now, the fighters crept through the streets in small groups, wearing German uniforms and helmets. Their feet were wrapped in rags, to muffle the sound of their steps. They attacked the Germans as they marched through; this happened less and less often. “Flesh-and-blood German soldiers were now replaced by flames, airplanes, and the artillery emplacements next to the walls of the Ghetto” (Nayshtat, 162-163).

As Itzik Feffer says in his poem “Shadows of the Warsaw Ghetto,” “Heroes walk, washed in flames. Can anyone now block the roads?”

The poet and martyr, Yitzchok Katsenelson, who was then in Warsaw, ends his dirge “The End” (in his book of lamentation, Song of the Murdered Jewish People), thus: “The Ghetto is burning, burning its walls and its last Jews, the fire sobs and sobs. The sky was lit up; if there was anyone to watch, they watched, and saw the end” (74).^[24]

According to Borzykowski, “The third week of the uprising marked the beginning of the worst period of the fighters' lives. The Ghetto was a mass of ruins. Not a single wall was left standing to offer cover. The Germans discovered the crowded bunkers, including the one that was the lest refuge of

[Page 1143]

our fighters. There was literally not a drop of water or a crumb of food. The noose was tightening (115).

“At 18 Mila (where part of the ZOB, headed by Anielewicz, was based) the fighters expected to die soon. After days in which the bunkers were constantly gassed – including those bunkers that were well-hidden – people became more convinced that even the best-concealed bunkers, such as the one at 18 Mila, offered no hope of survival. The only hope was that the Germans would not discover all five camouflaged entrances; this would give us the chance to come out fighting when they entered through one or two of the entrances” (116).

The situation was grim: the chances of remaining alive were steadily dwindling steadily and the sounds of Germans marching overhead grew closer, and the members of the ZOB made various plans to avoid death and fight the enemy. Before leaving the bunker on Friday, May 7 to seek a sewer opening through which the remnants of fighters and civilians could be evacuated and saved, Borzykowski describes the scene: “Conditions inside were extremely desperate…” They felt as though the bunker “would turn into one mass grave… The fighters took up positions at the five entrances, ready to shoot the moment the Germans appeared. The civilians lay holding their breaths, muffling their sobs, shuddering at the sound of every footfall outside. Women murmured prayers, and older Jews said their deathbed confessions. Mothers covered their childrens' heads with thick kerchiefs to muffle their cries” (117).^[25]

Borzykowski gives this account of the last hours in the bunker at 18 Mila St. “It was Shabbes, May 18. The Germans surrounded the bunker, and broke through all five entrances simultaneously. The civilians fell into an indescribable panic… but the fighters had full command of the situation. Groups of armed men positioned at each entrance opened fire the moment the Germans entered. It was a hopeless fight, as there was no exit that would enable the fighters to leave and resume fighting under better conditions… The Germans started tossing in gas bombs. All the people in the bunker immediately began choking and tearing up. They scurried around in the darkness, unable to find refuge or path to leave…” (137).

“It was at this hopeless moment

[Page 1144]

that Aryeh Vilner called on the comrades to commit suicide. The majority used their own pistols or swallowed cyanide. Lutek Rotblat first shot his mother and sister, and then himself. Berl Broide, whose arm was injured, asked his comrades to shoot him. Some fighters could not commit suicide as they had lost consciousness due to the gas. Most of the civilians died by that gas…” (137).

Ber Mark reports: “Michael Rozenfeld and Sarah Żagiel opposed the idea of suicide and wanted to fight the enemy to the end. However, this was impossible, due to the effect of the gas. Witnesses reported that Mordechai Anielewicz also opposed suicide and wanted to do battle with the enemy until the end. The comrades started to shoot at the Germans, but the gas grew increasingly debilitating. At that point, Anielewicz allowed the comrades to make their own choice. At the end, the bunker reverberated with the sounds of two anthems: the Internationale and Ha-Tikva – the last songs of the heroes.”^[26](307)

Rachel Auerbach concludes her description of the death scene inside the bunker at 18 Mila: “Mordechai Anielewicz, the commander of the uprising, died together with his fighters. Fate bathed the young hero's head was bathed in light, the halo of death” (Auerbach, 64). In a telegram sent from a neutral country on May 13, 1943, an emissary from the Histadrut provided several names of those who were killed during the fighting; among them was Mordechai, “the father of the Combat Organization.”^[27]

The name and heroic actions of the young fighter-martyr, Mordechai Anielewicz, are now part of the “pantheon” of Jewish heroes and fighters. As we know, a kibbutz bearing his name was established several years ago.^[28] Kibbutz Yad Mordechai is the home of a powerful monument by the sculptor M. Rapoport, the creator of the monuments to the fighters and martyrs of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Translator's footnotes

1. Cukierman's code name was Antek. Return
2. Note in the original. Ber Mark (1908-1966) was a journalist and historian. He became known after World War II for his books on the revolt against the German occupation army in the Warsaw Ghetto and other works dealing with the life of the Jews under the Nazis in Poland. Return
3. ZOB is the acronym of the Polish name (Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa), of the Jewish Combat Organization – the Jewish resistance movement in occupied Poland, which was instrumental in organizing and launching the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It took part in a number of other resistance activities as well. Return
4. These were a type of chemical weapon. Return
5. The Polish gymnasia was equivalent to a middle school. La-Or is Hebrew for “towards the light.” Return
6. The Ha-Shomer Ha-Tza'ir Socialist Zionist youth movement (founded in Europe in 1913) was organized along the lines of the Scouting movement, aiming to create farming settlements in Palestine, then under the British Mandate. Local clubs were termed “branches.” The Hebrew Be-Chazit means “on the front.” Return
7. Kolomea (present-day Kolomiya) is in western Ukraine. Kuty is in southwestern Ukraine, close to Romania. Return
8. He-Halutz (“the pioneer”) was an asssociation of Jewish youth whose aim was to train its members to settle on the land in the Land of Israel. Return
9. Hebrew for “against the current.” Return
10. Judenrats were Jewish councils set up within the Jewish communities of Nazi-occupied Europe on German orders. Return
11. Dr. Alfred Nossig (1864-1943) was a Jewish sculptor, writer, and activist in Zionism and Polish civil society. He was held in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, where he was accused of collaboration with the Gestapo, and executed by the Jewish resistance. Return
12. I was unable to find information about this group. Return
13. Chaika Grossman (1919-1996) was an activist and a fighter in the Jewish anti-Nazi underground forces in Poland. Her book has been translated and published as The Underground Army. Return
14. Jonas Turkow (1898-1988) was an actor, stage manager, and director in Yiddish theater in Europe and South America. Return
15. I was unable to find information about a dancer by this name. Return
16. The Jewish Combat Organization is often referred to by its Polish acronym, ZOB. Return
17. This was the Jewish humanitarian relief organization that belonged to the larger network of organizations helping Jews in German-occupied Poland. From its Kraków office, the organization distributed relief and aid to Jews. Return
18. On 22 July 1942, Germans announced the launch of a resettlement “to the East” action in the Warsaw Ghetto. In reality, transports of Jews were heading towards the newly established Treblinka death camp where they were sent straight to gas chambers. Return
19. This was the term for holding areas adjoining railway stations, where Jews from ghettos were assembled for deportation to death camps.. Return
20. No source for this story is given. Return
21. Marek Edelman (1919-2009) was the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Return
22. Itsik Feffer (1900-1952) was a Yiddish poet, intellectual, and activist, born in Ukraine, arrested in 1948 and executed in 1952. Return
23. The Polish Workers' Party (P. P. R., Polska Partia Robotnicza), was a communist party in Poland from 1942 to 1948. Dror (Hebrew for Freedom) was a Zionist Socialist Federation that originated in Kiev, Ukraine on the eve of World War I. The Bund (The General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia, generally called the Bund or the Jewish Labor Bund) was a secular Jewish socialist party, initially formed in the Russian Empire and active mainly between 1897 and 1920. Return
24. Yitzchok Katsenelson (1886-1944) was a Jewish-Polish teacher, dramaturgist, and poet. His epic poem “Song of the Murdered Jewish People” (1944), in 15 cantos, tells the story of the destruction of Eastern European Jewry and their world, from the German invasion of Poland through the executions and deportations to the razing of the Warsaw Ghetto after the 1943 uprising. Return
25. The Hebrew term viduy (confession) is used for the special set of prayers that is recited on Yom Kippur and before death. Return
26. The Internationale is the international anthem used by various communist and socialist groups. Ha-Tikva is the national anthem of Israel. With lyrics written by Naftali Herz Imber in the late 19^th century, it reflects the age-old desire of the Jewish people to return to the Land of Israel in order to reclaim it as a free and sovereign nation-state. Return
27. The Histadrut (the General Organization of Workers in Israel), is Israel's national trade union center and represents the majority of Israel's trade unionists. Established in December 1920 in Mandatory Palestine, it soon became one of the most powerful institutions in the Yishuv (the body of Jewish residents in the region prior to the establishment of the state). Today, it has 800,000 members. Return
28. Kibbutz Yad Mordechai was founded in the western Negev in December, 1943. Return

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