Izrael Chaim Wilner
Izrael Chaim Wilner , alias Arie Wilner and Jurek Wilner (born November 14, 1917 in Warsaw ; † May 8, 1943 in Warsaw) was a Polish poet, activist of the Jewish resistance movement in World War II , reporter between the Jewish Fighting Organization (pol. Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa , short ŻOB ) and the Polish Home Army (Pol. Armia Krajowa ) on the “Aryan” side, member of the staff of the ŻOB and participant in the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto .
Life
Wilner was born on November 14, 1917, the fourth son of Jachowa, the owner of a workshop and a shop with leather goods, and Tina Willner in Warsaw.
Wilner was active in the Jewish Zionist youth organization Hashomer Hatzair . During the German occupation he took part in the missions to Cracow and Częstochowa , which had the purpose of organizing a resistance movement there. At the end of July 1942, after the expulsion campaign started by the Germans, a meeting of representatives of the youth movements Dror, Hashomer Hatzair and Bnei Akiva took place in Ulica Dzielna 34 in a kibbutz of the Jewish youth organization Dror (Hebrew: Freedom ) . It was decided to found the Jewish fighting organization. Wilner, together with Jofes Kapłan and Szmuel Bresław, represented Hashomer Hatzair.
In August 1942 Wilner was sent to the "Aryan" side for the first time in order to establish relations with the Polish underground state ( Polskie Państwo Podziemne ). He managed to set up such with Henryk Woliński , alias Wacław . Woliński was the representative of the Jewish Affairs Unit of the Information and Propaganda Office of the Main Command of the Polish Home Army ( Unit Spraw Żydowskich Biura Informacji i Propagandy Komendy Głównej Armii Krajowej ). It was with him that Wilner had the first talks about help with the organization of armed resistance against the situation in the ghetto .
Wilner was a representative of the Jewish underground called the OOB on the “Aryan” side. Together with Adolf Berman , representative of the Jewish National Committee ( Żydowski Komitet Narodowy ; an organization that linked Zionist and socialist parties) and Leon Feiner , alias Mikołaj , representative of the Coordinating Committee ( Komisja Koordynacyjna ; a platform for cooperation between the Jewish National Committee and the General Jewish Workers' Union ) he was responsible for relations with the Polish underground state. He was also responsible for smuggling arms and delivering information from the “Aryan” side. Together with other representatives of the Jewish underground, he declared his will to subordinate the actions of the OOB to the Representation of the Polish Government ( Delegatura Rządu na Kraj ) and the main command of the Home Army. In November 1942 the ŻOB was recognized as a paramilitary organization and it adopted the methods of organization and combat tactics of the Home Army .
In March 1943 Wilner was arrested by the Gestapo on the "Aryan" side. He was tortured during the investigation. He succeeded in liberating him and transporting him to the ghetto. Because of his injuries, he had to undergo an operation. During this time Wilner was in Lutek Rotblat's apartment at 44 Muranowska Street. Icchak Cukierman became the representative of the ŻOB on the “Aryan” side.
In a conversation with Henryk Woliński, Wilner was supposed to say the famous words about the reasons for the outbreak of the uprising: “We don't want to save our lives. None of us will come out alive. We want to save human dignity. "
After the outbreak of the uprising in the ghetto on April 19, 1943, Wilner fought together with a group of resistance fighters he led in the area of the central ghetto, near Zamenhofa, Miła and Franciszkańska streets. On May 8, 1943, after the Germans discovered the bunker in Ulica Miła 18 , where the headquarters of the OOB was located, he died of suicide along with other resistance fighters .
Tosia Altman , who was in the bunker and after the exit of a small group of resistance fighters who were led out through a canal to Ulica Prosta 51 by Szymon Ratajzer , alias Kazik , reported that it was Arie Wilner who shouted: “Fighters, shoot you. Let the last bullet hit us. We don't get into the hands of the Germans alive! ”.
Wilner is lying with the other resistance fighters of the ŻOB in the mass grave in the filled-up bunker on Ulica Miła, because no exhumation was carried out there after the war.
Awards and memories
On April 19, 1945 he was posthumously awarded the Cross Virtuti Militari 5-er Klasse. Arie Wilner was commemorated on one of the stone blocks on the path of remembrance of the suffering and struggle of the Jews in Ulica Zamenhofa. Arie Wilner's name can also be found on the memorial obelisk at the foot of Anielewicz Hill in the former ulica Miła 18.
literature
- Larissa Cain: Irena Adamowicz.
- Anka Grupińska: Po kole. Rozmowy z żydowskimi żołnierzami.
- Israel Gutman : Walka bez cienia nadziei.
- Hanna Krall : Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem.
- Cywia Lubetkin: Zagłada i powstanie.
- Władka Meed: On Both Sides of the Wall. Memoirs from the Warsaw Ghetto.
- Gusta Wilner: Relacja 03/395; w Archiwum Jad Waszem, tytuł: Wspomnienia z getta i aryjskiej strony Warszawy - Poświęcone pamięci mojego Brata, bojownika Arje Wilnera.
Individual evidence
- ^ Jurek Wilner at yadvashem.org
- ↑ Leociak, Jacek: Ghetto warszawskie: przewodnik po nieistniejącym mieście . Wyd. 1st edition. Wydawn. IFiS, Warszawa 2001, ISBN 83-8763283-X .
- ^ Bernard Mark: Walka i zagłada warszawskiego getta. Wydawnictwo Ministerstwa Obrony Narodowej, Warsaw 1959, p. 148.
- ^ Rufeisen-Schüpper, Hella: Pożegnanie Miłej 18: wspomnienia łączniczki żydowskiej organizacji bojowej . Beseder, Kraków 1996, ISBN 83-8699501-7 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wilner, Izrael Chaim |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wilner, Aria; Wilner, Jurek |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Polish poet, activist of the Jewish resistance movement in World War II |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 14, 1917 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Warsaw |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 8, 1943 |
| Place of death | Warsaw |