Marek Edelman
Encyclopedia
Marek Edelman was a Jewish-Polish
political and social activist and cardiologist.
Before World War II
, he was a General Jewish Labour Bund
activist. During the war he co-founded the Jewish Combat Organization. He took part in the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
, becoming its leader after the death of Mordechaj Anielewicz
. He also took part in the city-wide 1944 Warsaw Uprising
. Before his death on 2 October 2009 Edelman was the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
.
After the war he remained in Poland
and became a noted cardiologist. From the 1970s he collaborated with the Workers' Defence Committee
and other political groups opposing Poland's Communist regime
. As a member of Solidarity, he took part in the Polish Round Table Talks
of 1989.
Following the peaceful transformations of 1989, he was a member of various centrist and liberal parties. He also wrote books documenting the history of wartime resistance against the Nazi German occupation.
), or in 1922 in Warsaw
. His father, Natan Feliks Edelman (died 1924), was a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
. His mother, Cecylia Edelman (died 1934), a hospital secretary, was an activist member of the General Jewish Labour Bund, a Jewish socialist workers' party.
After Edelman's mother died when he was 14, he was looked after by other staff members at the hospital where she had worked in Warsaw, the city he always called home.
As a child, Edelman was a member of S.K.I.F. (Sotsyalistishe Kinder Farband), the Jewish Labour Bund
's youth group for children. In 1939 he joined and became a leader in Tsukunft
("Future"), the Bund
's youth organization for older children. During the war, he restarted these organizations inside the Warsaw Ghetto. After the war, he would ascend to leadership of the Bund
itself.
The defiance and organization of the Bund made their mark on Edelman. As conditions for Jews worsened in the 1930s, Bund members preferred to challenge the mounting antisemitism rather than flee. Edelman later said: "The Bundists did not wait for the Messiah, nor did they plan to leave for Palestine
. They believed that Poland was their country, and they fought for a just, socialist Poland in which each nationality would have its own cultural autonomy, and in which minorities' rights would be guaranteed."
. In 1942, as a Bund
youth leader he co-founded the underground Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, ŻOB). In the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April–May 1943, led by Mordechaj Anielewicz
, Edelman was one of the three sub-commanders and then became the leader after the death of Anielewicz.
When In September 1942 the Germans had stopped their campaign of transporting Ghetto residents to Treblinka, only 60,000 had remained. Edelman and his comrades, however, had had little doubt that the Germans would resume the job. The Jewish Combat Organisation had begun acquiring weapons and organizing into units that would make up for lack of training and munitions with an intimate knowledge of the Ghetto, both above ground and in its sewer network.
The Nazis resumed their attack on the Ghetto on 19 April 1943 with over 2,000 troops. According to Edelman: "The Germans weren't expecting resistance of any kind, let alone that we would take up arms." Some 220 Jewish Combat Organization fighters had split into small groups, each armed with a pistol, a few grenades and some home-made explosives. The Ghetto fighters' strong resistance forced the German troops to withdraw.
It was on the second day of the Uprising, while protecting the retreat of Edelman and other comrades, that another prominent insurgent and Bundist, Michał Klepfisz, was killed.
Over the next three weeks, the fighting was intense. The Jewish fighters killed dozens of Nazi soldiers but inevitably sustained far greater losses. On May 8, Jewish Combat Organisation's commander, Mordechaj Anielewicz
, was surrounded by German forces. He committed suicide which meant that now Marek was in charge. "After three weeks," Edelman recalled, "most of us were dead."
The Germans proceeded to flush out the few remaining fighters by burning down the Ghetto - Edelman always insisted, "We were beaten by the flames, not the Germans." At that juncture, couriers from the Polish underground outside the Ghetto came through the sewers that still linked it with the rest of Warsaw. On the morning of 10 May 1943 Edelman and his few remaining Jewish Combat Organization comrades escaped through the sewers and made their way to the non-Ghetto part of Warsaw to find safety among their Polish compatriots. At this point the Uprising was over and the fate of those fighters who had remained behind is unknown.
After World War II, the Ghetto Uprising was sometimes given as an unusual instance of active Jewish resistance in the face of the horror perpetrated by the Germans. However, Marek never saw a difference in the character of those who fought in the Uprising and those who were sent to the death camps, as, in his view, all involved were simply dealing with an inevitable death as best as they knew how.
In mid-1944, Edelman participated in the city-wide Warsaw Uprising
, when Polish forces rose up against the Germans before being forced to surrender after 63 days of fighting. After the capitulation, the Nazis were filtering through their Polish POW's, and therefore Edelman together with a group of other ŻOB fighters, hid out in the ruins of the city as one of the Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw
before being rescued and evacuated with the help from the Polish Home Army.
In 1948 Edelman actively opposed the incorporation of the Bund into the Polish United Workers' Party
(Poland's Communist party), which led to the Communists disbanding the organization.
In 1976 he became an activist with the Workers' Defence Committee
(Komitet Obrony Robotników) and later with the Solidarity movement.
Edelman publicly denounced racism
and promoted human rights
.
In 1981, when General Wojciech Jaruzelski
declared martial law
, Edelman was interned by the government. In 1983 he refused to take part in the official celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising sponsored by Poland's Communist government, believing that this "would be an act of cynicism and contempt" in a country "where social life is dominated throughout by humiliation and coercion." Instead, he walked with friends to the street where Mordechai Anielewicz's bunker had been located.
Edelman took part in the Round Table Talks
as Solidarity's consultant on health policy and served as a member of the Sejm (parliament)
from 1989 to 1993. In 1993, he accompanied a convoy of goods into the city of Sarajevo
while that city was under siege
.
parties: the Citizens' Movement for Democratic Action, Democratic Union
, Freedom Union
and Democratic Party – demokraci.pl. He supported the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
as well as the 2003 Iraq war, both of which he saw as instances of American democracy saving countries from fascism
again.
On 17 April 1998 Edelman was awarded Poland
's highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle. He also received the French Legion of Honour.
Edelman was a lifelong anti-Zionist. He remained firmly Polish, refusing to emigrate to Israel. In old age, he spoke in defence of the Palestinian people
, as he felt that the Jewish self-defence for which he had fought was in danger of crossing the line into oppression. In August 2002 he wrote an open letter to the Palestinian resistance leaders. Though the letter criticised the suicide bombers, its tone infuriated the Israeli government and press. According to the late British writer and activist Paul Foot
, "He wrote [the letter] in a spirit of solidarity from a fellow resistance fighter, as a former leader of a Jewish uprising not dissimilar in desperation to the Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories
." He addressed his letter "To all the leaders of Palestinian military, paramilitary and guerilla organizations — To all the soldiers of Palestinian militant groups".
Moshe Arens
, former Israeli Defence Minister and Foreign Minister
, visited Edelman in Warsaw in 2005 to discuss the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
. Arens admired Edelman and tried unsuccessfully to gain official Israeli recognition for his heroism. Following Edelman's death, Arens recalled in Haaretz
:
in the wake of antisemitic actions by the Communist Polish authorities in 1968, Edelman decided to stay in Łódź. "Someone had to stay here with all those who perished here, after all." He published his memoirs, which have been translated into six languages. Each April he laid flowers in Warsaw for those he had served with in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Edelman's wife Alina, likewise a Warsaw Ghetto survivor, died in 2008. They were survived by their son and daughter.
and the former President Lech Wałęsa
were present at the funeral, attended by about 2,000 persons.
Władysław Bartoszewski, former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, and an Auschwitz survivor, led the tributes to Edelman, saying: "He reached a good age. He left as a contented man, even if he was always aware of the tragedy he went through." Bartoszewski denied that the activist was "irreplaceable," before acknowledging that "there are few people like Marek Edelman." Catholic
Bishop
Tadeusz Pieronek
said: "I respect him most for the fact that he stayed in this land, which made him fight so hard for his Jewish and Polish identity. He became a real witness, he gave a real testimony with his life." The former Polish Prime Minister, Tadeusz Mazowiecki
, was also present and said Edelman had been a model for him.
Former head of Israel
's parliament and former Israeli ambassador to Poland Shevah Weiss
said: "I'd like to offer my condolences to Marek Edelman's family, to the Polish nation and to the Jewish nation. He was a hero to all of us." Ian Kelly, official spokesperson for the United States
, expressed sympathies and affirmed that the United States "stands with Poland as it mourns the loss of a great man."
History of the Jews in Poland
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the...
political and social activist and cardiologist.
Before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was a General Jewish Labour Bund
General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland
The General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland was a Jewish socialist party in Poland which promoted the political, cultural and social autonomy of Jewish workers, sought to combat antisemitism and was generally opposed to Zionism.-Creation of the Polish Bund:...
activist. During the war he co-founded the Jewish Combat Organization. He took part in the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German occupied Poland during World War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany's effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to Treblinka extermination camp....
, becoming its leader after the death of Mordechaj Anielewicz
Mordechaj Anielewicz
Mordechaj Anielewicz was the leader of Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa , also known as ŻOB, during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from January to May 1943.-Biography:Anielewicz was born into a poor family in the small town of Wyszków near Warsaw...
. He also took part in the city-wide 1944 Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
. Before his death on 2 October 2009 Edelman was the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German occupied Poland during World War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany's effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to Treblinka extermination camp....
.
After the war he remained in Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
and became a noted cardiologist. From the 1970s he collaborated with the Workers' Defence Committee
Workers' Defence Committee
The Workers’ Defense Committee was a Polish civil society group that emerged under communist rule to give aid to prisoners & their families after the June 1976 protests & government crackdown...
and other political groups opposing Poland's Communist regime
Anti-communist resistance in Poland
Anti-communist resistance in Poland can be divided into two types: the armed partisan struggle, mostly led by former Armia Krajowa and Narodowe Siły Zbrojne soldiers, which ended in the late 1950s , and the non-violent, civil-resistance struggle that culminated in the creation and victory of the...
. As a member of Solidarity, he took part in the Polish Round Table Talks
Polish Round Table Agreement
The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw, Poland from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The government initiated the discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność and other opposition groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest.-History:...
of 1989.
Following the peaceful transformations of 1989, he was a member of various centrist and liberal parties. He also wrote books documenting the history of wartime resistance against the Nazi German occupation.
Early life
Details of Marek Edelman's birth are not known for certain; sources give two possible dates of birth, either 1919 in Homel (now BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
), or in 1922 in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. His father, Natan Feliks Edelman (died 1924), was a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party
Socialist-Revolutionary Party
thumb|right|200px|Socialist-Revolutionary election poster, 1917. The caption in red reads "партия соц-рев" , short for Party of the Socialist Revolutionaries...
. His mother, Cecylia Edelman (died 1934), a hospital secretary, was an activist member of the General Jewish Labour Bund, a Jewish socialist workers' party.
After Edelman's mother died when he was 14, he was looked after by other staff members at the hospital where she had worked in Warsaw, the city he always called home.
As a child, Edelman was a member of S.K.I.F. (Sotsyalistishe Kinder Farband), the Jewish Labour Bund
General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland
The General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland was a Jewish socialist party in Poland which promoted the political, cultural and social autonomy of Jewish workers, sought to combat antisemitism and was generally opposed to Zionism.-Creation of the Polish Bund:...
's youth group for children. In 1939 he joined and became a leader in Tsukunft
Tsukunft
Tsukunft or Cukunft or Zukunft was the youth organization of the General Jewish Labor Union . It was founded in the year 1910 and in the year 1916 it was officially called Yugnt-Bund Tsukunft. Their newspaper was the Yugnt veker. In 1921 Tsukunft suffered a split, in which a pro-Communist group...
("Future"), the Bund
Bund
- Organizations :* German American Bund, a pro-Nazi pre-World War II organisation* General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia, a political party founded in the Russian Empire* General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland, a political party founded in Poland...
's youth organization for older children. During the war, he restarted these organizations inside the Warsaw Ghetto. After the war, he would ascend to leadership of the Bund
Bund
- Organizations :* German American Bund, a pro-Nazi pre-World War II organisation* General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia, a political party founded in the Russian Empire* General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland, a political party founded in Poland...
itself.
The defiance and organization of the Bund made their mark on Edelman. As conditions for Jews worsened in the 1930s, Bund members preferred to challenge the mounting antisemitism rather than flee. Edelman later said: "The Bundists did not wait for the Messiah, nor did they plan to leave for Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. They believed that Poland was their country, and they fought for a just, socialist Poland in which each nationality would have its own cultural autonomy, and in which minorities' rights would be guaranteed."
World War II
In 1939, after the German invasion of Poland Edelman found himself confined—along with the other Jews of Warsaw—to the Warsaw GhettoWarsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of all Jewish Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. It was established in the Polish capital between October and November 15, 1940, in the territory of General Government of the German-occupied Poland, with over 400,000 Jews from the vicinity...
. In 1942, as a Bund
Bund
- Organizations :* German American Bund, a pro-Nazi pre-World War II organisation* General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia, a political party founded in the Russian Empire* General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland, a political party founded in Poland...
youth leader he co-founded the underground Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, ŻOB). In the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April–May 1943, led by Mordechaj Anielewicz
Mordechaj Anielewicz
Mordechaj Anielewicz was the leader of Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa , also known as ŻOB, during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from January to May 1943.-Biography:Anielewicz was born into a poor family in the small town of Wyszków near Warsaw...
, Edelman was one of the three sub-commanders and then became the leader after the death of Anielewicz.
When In September 1942 the Germans had stopped their campaign of transporting Ghetto residents to Treblinka, only 60,000 had remained. Edelman and his comrades, however, had had little doubt that the Germans would resume the job. The Jewish Combat Organisation had begun acquiring weapons and organizing into units that would make up for lack of training and munitions with an intimate knowledge of the Ghetto, both above ground and in its sewer network.
The Nazis resumed their attack on the Ghetto on 19 April 1943 with over 2,000 troops. According to Edelman: "The Germans weren't expecting resistance of any kind, let alone that we would take up arms." Some 220 Jewish Combat Organization fighters had split into small groups, each armed with a pistol, a few grenades and some home-made explosives. The Ghetto fighters' strong resistance forced the German troops to withdraw.
It was on the second day of the Uprising, while protecting the retreat of Edelman and other comrades, that another prominent insurgent and Bundist, Michał Klepfisz, was killed.
Over the next three weeks, the fighting was intense. The Jewish fighters killed dozens of Nazi soldiers but inevitably sustained far greater losses. On May 8, Jewish Combat Organisation's commander, Mordechaj Anielewicz
Mordechaj Anielewicz
Mordechaj Anielewicz was the leader of Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa , also known as ŻOB, during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising from January to May 1943.-Biography:Anielewicz was born into a poor family in the small town of Wyszków near Warsaw...
, was surrounded by German forces. He committed suicide which meant that now Marek was in charge. "After three weeks," Edelman recalled, "most of us were dead."
The Germans proceeded to flush out the few remaining fighters by burning down the Ghetto - Edelman always insisted, "We were beaten by the flames, not the Germans." At that juncture, couriers from the Polish underground outside the Ghetto came through the sewers that still linked it with the rest of Warsaw. On the morning of 10 May 1943 Edelman and his few remaining Jewish Combat Organization comrades escaped through the sewers and made their way to the non-Ghetto part of Warsaw to find safety among their Polish compatriots. At this point the Uprising was over and the fate of those fighters who had remained behind is unknown.
After World War II, the Ghetto Uprising was sometimes given as an unusual instance of active Jewish resistance in the face of the horror perpetrated by the Germans. However, Marek never saw a difference in the character of those who fought in the Uprising and those who were sent to the death camps, as, in his view, all involved were simply dealing with an inevitable death as best as they knew how.
In mid-1944, Edelman participated in the city-wide Warsaw Uprising
Warsaw Uprising
The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
, when Polish forces rose up against the Germans before being forced to surrender after 63 days of fighting. After the capitulation, the Nazis were filtering through their Polish POW's, and therefore Edelman together with a group of other ŻOB fighters, hid out in the ruins of the city as one of the Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw
Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw
Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw were people who, after the end of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and the subsequent planned destruction of Warsaw by Nazi Germany, decided to stay and hide in the ruins of the German-occupied city...
before being rescued and evacuated with the help from the Polish Home Army.
Communist era
Edelman's hospital upbringing had proven invaluable in the Warsaw Ghetto. After World War II, he studied at Łódź Medical School and became a noted cardiologist who invented an original life-saving operation.In 1948 Edelman actively opposed the incorporation of the Bund into the Polish United Workers' Party
Polish United Workers' Party
The Polish United Workers' Party was the Communist party which governed the People's Republic of Poland from 1948 to 1989. Ideologically it was based on the theories of Marxism-Leninism.- The Party's Program and Goals :...
(Poland's Communist party), which led to the Communists disbanding the organization.
In 1976 he became an activist with the Workers' Defence Committee
Workers' Defence Committee
The Workers’ Defense Committee was a Polish civil society group that emerged under communist rule to give aid to prisoners & their families after the June 1976 protests & government crackdown...
(Komitet Obrony Robotników) and later with the Solidarity movement.
Edelman publicly denounced racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and promoted human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.
In 1981, when General Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski is a retired Polish military officer and Communist politician. He was the last Communist leader of Poland from 1981 to 1989, Prime Minister from 1981 to 1985 and the country's head of state from 1985 to 1990. He was also the last commander-in-chief of the Polish People's...
declared martial law
Martial law in Poland
Martial law in Poland refers to the period of time from December 13, 1981 to July 22, 1983, when the authoritarian government of the People's Republic of Poland drastically restricted normal life by introducing martial law in an attempt to crush political opposition to it. Thousands of opposition...
, Edelman was interned by the government. In 1983 he refused to take part in the official celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising sponsored by Poland's Communist government, believing that this "would be an act of cynicism and contempt" in a country "where social life is dominated throughout by humiliation and coercion." Instead, he walked with friends to the street where Mordechai Anielewicz's bunker had been located.
Edelman took part in the Round Table Talks
Polish Round Table Agreement
The Polish Round Table Talks took place in Warsaw, Poland from February 6 to April 4, 1989. The government initiated the discussion with the banned trade union Solidarność and other opposition groups in an attempt to defuse growing social unrest.-History:...
as Solidarity's consultant on health policy and served as a member of the Sejm (parliament)
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
from 1989 to 1993. In 1993, he accompanied a convoy of goods into the city of Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
while that city was under siege
Siege of Sarajevo
The Siege of Sarajevo is the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare. Serb forces of the Republika Srpska and the Yugoslav People's Army besieged Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 5 April 1992 to 29 February 1996 during the Bosnian War.After Bosnia...
.
Post-Communism
In post-Communist Poland, Edelman was a member of several centrist liberalLiberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
parties: the Citizens' Movement for Democratic Action, Democratic Union
Democratic Union (Poland)
The Democratic Union was a Liberal Christian-democratic party in Poland. The party was founded in 1990 by Prime Minister, Christian democrat Tadeusz Mazowiecki as a merger of the Citizens' Movement for Democratic Action and the Forum of Right Democrats .The party had a market-socialist...
, Freedom Union
Freedom Union (Poland)
The Freedom Union was a liberal democratic party in Poland. It was founded on March 20, 1994 out of the merger of the Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Congress . Both of these parties had roots in the Solidarity trade union movement. It represented European democratic and liberal...
and Democratic Party – demokraci.pl. He supported the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was NATO's military operation against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The strikes lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999...
as well as the 2003 Iraq war, both of which he saw as instances of American democracy saving countries from fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
again.
On 17 April 1998 Edelman was awarded Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
's highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle. He also received the French Legion of Honour.
Edelman was a lifelong anti-Zionist. He remained firmly Polish, refusing to emigrate to Israel. In old age, he spoke in defence of the Palestinian people
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
, as he felt that the Jewish self-defence for which he had fought was in danger of crossing the line into oppression. In August 2002 he wrote an open letter to the Palestinian resistance leaders. Though the letter criticised the suicide bombers, its tone infuriated the Israeli government and press. According to the late British writer and activist Paul Foot
Paul Foot
Paul Mackintosh Foot was a British investigative journalist, political campaigner, author, and long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party...
, "He wrote [the letter] in a spirit of solidarity from a fellow resistance fighter, as a former leader of a Jewish uprising not dissimilar in desperation to the Palestinian uprising in the occupied territories
Israeli-occupied territories
The Israeli-occupied territories are the territories which have been designated as occupied territory by the United Nations and other international organizations, governments and others to refer to the territory seized by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967 from Egypt, Jordan, and Syria...
." He addressed his letter "To all the leaders of Palestinian military, paramilitary and guerilla organizations — To all the soldiers of Palestinian militant groups".
Moshe Arens
Moshe Arens
Moshe Arens is an Israeli aeronautical engineer, researcher and former diplomat and politician. A member of the Knesset between 1973 and 1992 and again from 1999 until 2003, he served as Minister of Defense three times and once as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Arens has also served as the Israeli...
, former Israeli Defence Minister and Foreign Minister
Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel
The Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The position is one of the most important in the Israeli cabinet after Prime Minister and Defense Minister...
, visited Edelman in Warsaw in 2005 to discuss the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the Jewish resistance that arose within the Warsaw Ghetto in German occupied Poland during World War II, and which opposed Nazi Germany's effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to Treblinka extermination camp....
. Arens admired Edelman and tried unsuccessfully to gain official Israeli recognition for his heroism. Following Edelman's death, Arens recalled in Haaretz
Haaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
:
Many of the survivors of the uprising who settled in Israel could not forgive Edelman for his frequent criticism of Israel. When on my return from Warsaw I tried to convince a number of Israeli universities to award Edelman an honorary doctorate in recognition of his role in the Warsaw ghetto uprising, I ran into stubborn opposition led by Holocaust historians in Israel. He had received Poland's highest honor, and at the 65th commemoration of the Warsaw ghetto uprising he was awarded the French Legion of Honor medal. He died not having received the recognition from Israel that he so richly deserved.
Family life
Marek Edelman was married to Alina Margolis-Edelman (1922–2008). They had two children, Aleksander and Anna. When his wife and children emigrated from Poland to FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
in the wake of antisemitic actions by the Communist Polish authorities in 1968, Edelman decided to stay in Łódź. "Someone had to stay here with all those who perished here, after all." He published his memoirs, which have been translated into six languages. Each April he laid flowers in Warsaw for those he had served with in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Edelman's wife Alina, likewise a Warsaw Ghetto survivor, died in 2008. They were survived by their son and daughter.
Death
Edelman died, aged 90, on 2 October 2009. He was buried in Warsaw with full military honours on 9 October 2009. His coffin was covered with a Bund banner inscribed "Bund - Yidisher Sozialistisher Farband," and a choir sang the Bund anthem, "Di Shvue." The Polish President Lech KaczyńskiLech Kaczynski
Lech Aleksander Kaczyński was Polish lawyer and politician who served as the President of Poland from 2005 until 2010 and as Mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 22 December 2005. Before he became a president, he was also a member of the party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość...
and the former President Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa is a Polish politician, trade-union organizer, and human-rights activist. A charismatic leader, he co-founded Solidarity , the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland between 1990 and 95.Wałęsa was an electrician...
were present at the funeral, attended by about 2,000 persons.
Władysław Bartoszewski, former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, and an Auschwitz survivor, led the tributes to Edelman, saying: "He reached a good age. He left as a contented man, even if he was always aware of the tragedy he went through." Bartoszewski denied that the activist was "irreplaceable," before acknowledging that "there are few people like Marek Edelman." Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
Bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
Tadeusz Pieronek
Tadeusz Pieronek
Tadeusz Pieronek is a Polish Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop-emeritus, Catholic academic and professor of theology and civil law. Pieronek is a leading member of the Stefan Batory Foundation .-Biography:...
said: "I respect him most for the fact that he stayed in this land, which made him fight so hard for his Jewish and Polish identity. He became a real witness, he gave a real testimony with his life." The former Polish Prime Minister, Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki is a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist prime minister in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.-Biography:Mazowiecki comes from a Polish...
, was also present and said Edelman had been a model for him.
Former head of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's parliament and former Israeli ambassador to Poland Shevah Weiss
Shevah Weiss
Shevah Weiss , is an Israeli political scientist and former politician.Weiss was born on July 5, 1935 in Borysław, Poland in Polish Jewish family to Gienia and Meir Wolf Weiss. As a Holocaust survivor, he migrated to Palestine in 1947...
said: "I'd like to offer my condolences to Marek Edelman's family, to the Polish nation and to the Jewish nation. He was a hero to all of us." Ian Kelly, official spokesperson for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, expressed sympathies and affirmed that the United States "stands with Poland as it mourns the loss of a great man."
Honors
- French Legion of Honor
- Poland's Order of the White Eagle
- Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, honorary doctorateHonorary degreeAn honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
See also
- List of Poles
- Wiktor Alter
- Henryk Ehrlich
Further reading
- Marek Edelman, Resisting the Holocaust: Fighting Back in the Warsaw Ghetto, Ocean Press, 2004, ISBN 1-876175-52-4., (Excerpt online)
- Hanna KrallHanna KrallHanna Krall is a Polish writer.-Childhood:Krall is of Jewish origin. During World War II she lost some of her close relatives. She survived the war only because she was hidden from the Nazis.-Journalism:...
, Shielding the Flame, Henry Holt & Co., 1986, ISBN 0-03-006002-8. Reprinted in Hanna Krall, The subtenant; To outwit God, Evanston, Ill. : Northwestern University Press, 1992, ISBN 0810110504. - Katarzyna Zechenter, 'Marek Edelman.'[In:] Holocaust Literature. An Encyclopedia of Writers and Their Work. Vol.1. Ed. S. Lillian Kremer. Routledge 2003, pp. 288–290. ISBN 0-415-92983-0.
External links
- The Ghetto Fights, by Marek Edelman
- Edelman's Biography
- Marek Edelman's Life Story on Web of Stories (Video interview in Polish with English subtitles)
- A True Mensch - Obituary to Marek Edelman by David Rosenberg
- John Rose. “Marek Edelman — star of resistance among Nazi horror” Socialist Worker (UK), January, 2006
- Last Warsaw ghetto revolt commander honours fallen comrades
- A Life of Resistance: Marek Edelman, 90, Last Ghetto Uprising Commander, Michael BerenbaumMichael BerenbaumMichael Berenbaum is an American scholar, professor, rabbi, writer, and film-maker, who specializes in the study of the memorialization of the Holocaust...
and Jon AvnetJon AvnetJonathan Michael "Jon" Avnet is an American director, writer and producer.-Early life:Avnet was born in Brooklyn, the son of Joan Bertha and Lester Francis Avnet, a corporate executive and electronics distributor. He attended Great Neck North High School in Great Neck, New York...
, The ForwardThe ForwardThe Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
7 October 2009, געשטאָרבן דער לעצטער קאָמאַנדיר פֿון װאַרשעװער געטאָ - מאַרעק עדעלמאַן (Marek Edelman, 1919-2009. Death of the last commandant of the Warsaw ghetto), Lebns Fragen, September - October 2009