Abraham Blum

Gravestone of Abrasza Blum

Abraham (Abrasha) Blum (* 1905 in Vilnius , † 1943 in Warsaw ) was a leader of the General Jewish Workers' Union ("Bund") who was murdered by the Gestapo after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising .

Life

Abraham Blum was born in Vilnius in 1905. After attending the Jewish high school, he studied engineering in Belgium . Blum went to Warsaw with his wife Luba, with whom he later had two children , where he became a member of the “ Tsukunft ” and the Bund Committee. He was also in the Central Committee of the future for all of Poland and in the city council. Already from this time it is reported that Abrasha Blum, as he was called by friends and followers, gave all his time only for others.

When the Second World War began, Blum remained one of the few important federal leaders in Warsaw. He mobilized workers' militias , organized the political work of the federal government and almost alone published their newspaper, the Folkstsaytung . After the German occupation he became the pioneer of the illegal alliance, he continued to organize the union and with him a new leadership was formed. Blum remained active in the ghetto and became a member of many party organizations, including the archive committee, the Santorium committee and the Red Circle . Together with Adam Sznaidmil and Bernard Goldstein , he also headed the federal militia, which fought against the anti-Semites from the very beginning. In the next few years he remained so active, and he was one of the first to call for armed resistance. After the big deportations in 1942, he pleaded for the federal militia to be merged with the other groups to form the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB). Abrasha Blum became a member of the political arm of the ZOB, the coordination committee. Although he was not considered a particularly good fighter, he took part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising . With Marek Edelman , with whom he was already fighting in the brush-making area, he was able to flee through canals to the other side on May 10, 1943. However, he was caught by the police in an apartment in May. Blum tried to flee. He wanted to lower himself on a bed sheet, but it tore. Abrasha was taken to the Gestapo with two broken legs and murdered there.

Posthumously in 1945 he was awarded the Virtuti Militari order.

literature

• Daniel Blatman: For our freedom and yours. The Jewish Labor Bound in Poland. Vallentine Mitchell, London 2003, ISBN 0-85303-458-3 .
• Marek Edelmann: The ghetto is fighting. Warsaw 1941–1943. Harald-Kater-Verlag, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-927170-05-4 .
• Marek Edelmann: The keeper. Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-48656-8 .
• Bernard Goldstein: The stars are witnesses. Ahriman-Verlag, Freiburg 1992, ISBN 3-922774-69-5 .
• J. Sh. Herts: Di geshikhte vun a jugent. Ferlag Unser Tsait, New York 1946.

Web links

• Institute of Jewish History, with the history of the Federation