Anielewicz becomes the commander

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

Taxing the people

RELATED STORIES

Anielewicz becomes the commander

Marek Edelman Social activist

		Views	Duration
91. Anielewicz becomes the commander		249	01:28
92. Taxing the people	2	140	03:43
93. Getting food for militant groups	1	137	03:01
94. Ransom from the Jewish Community Council		134	01:14
95. The big disaster	1	183	03:40
96. The people who fought in Warsaw	1	362	03:53
97. A leader must take responsibility for another person's life	2	193	05:58
98. Germans plan to destroy the ghetto	1	378	03:39
99. The uprising in the ghetto	1	254	02:43
100. At the brush-makers	1	216	02:08

Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

Polish | English

Anielewicz został komendantem, no bo on bardzo chciał, więc tego... Antek pisze w tej swojej książce, że on powinien był zostać... mógł zostać... Nie było mowy o tym, żeby kto inny, bo wszyscy wiedzieli, że jak on nie zostanie komendantem, to rozwali ten cały interes, on miał hysia, że musi być komendantem, bo on jest szomer i ma bębenek jednym słowem. Ale on był chłopak dorzeczny. Trzeba przyznać, że on się nadawał na to stanowisko. Czy lepiej od Antka? Antek był trzeźwiejszy. Zresztą oni byli... ci syjoniści byli na głosy w większości, bo oni mieli dużo bardzo małych organizacji, każdy miał przedstawiciela. Wiesz jak to jest – rozbity parlament i jak te... jak te grupki się zbiorą, to... więc musiał, mógł być Antek albo on. Antek był trzeźwiejszy i nie był wariatem, nie krzyczał 'husia!', miał zdrowy rozsądek i mógł on zostać komendantem. Ale jego parcie do władzy było tak kolosalne, że wszyscy mówili: zostań komendantem, i tak nie będziesz mógł zrobić nic bez nas, więc bądź komendantem, tylko nie wariuj.

Anielewicz became the commander because that's what he badly wanted. In his book, Antek says that the post should have gone to him, but there was no question of anyone else taking on this role because everyone knew that if he wasn't made commander, he'd destroy the whole thing. He was fixated with the idea of being commander because he was a 'szomer' and he had a drum. But he was a very down-to-earth kid. I have to admit that he was well suited to take up that position - better than Antek? Antek was more clear-headed, but those zionists were very divided, they had lots of very small organisations and each one had a representative. You know how it is, a divided parliament and when those groups get together, so it had to be - it was either Antek or him. Antek was more clear-headed and wasn't a madman, didn't cry out, 'Go for it!', he had common sense and so he could have been the commander. But his urge to have power was so colossal that everyone said, 'You be the commander, you won't be able to do anything without us anyway, so you be the commander, just don't go mad.'

Marek Edelman (1919-2009) was a Jewish-Polish political and social activist and a noted cardiologist. He was the last surviving leader of the 1943 uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. Following the Second World War, he took an active part in domestic and international politics, dedicating himself to fighting for justice and peace.

Title: Anielewicz becomes the commander

Listeners: Anka Grupinska Joanna Szczesna Joanna Klara Agnieszka Zuchowska

Polish | English

Anka Grupinska ukonczyla filologie angielska na UAM w Poznaniu. Wspólpracowala z poznanskimi pismami podziemnymi, wraz z innymi zalozyla i wydawala dwumiesiecznik "Czas Kultury". W latach 1988-1989 przebywala w Izraelu opracowujac wspomnienia ocalalych z Zaglady. W latach 1991-1993 pracowala jako attaché kulturalny w ambasadzie polskiej w Tel Awiwie. Od 1996 mieszka w Polsce. Anka Grupinska specjalizuje sie w tematyce stosunków polsko-zydowskich. Publikuje ksiazki (m. in. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Zydowski Instytut Historyczny, Twój Styl), artykuly prasowe (m. in. "Tygodnik Powszechny", "Rzeczpospolita"), realizuje projekty wystawiennicze. Jest takze koordynatorem miedzynarodowego projektu "Swiadek zydowskiego wieku" (archiwizowanie pamieci o zydowskiej przedwojennej Polsce), prowazi autorska audycje radiowa "O Zydach i o Polakach tez" i uczy warszawskich studentów sztuki czytania i pisanie tekstów literackich.

Anka Grupinska studied English at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. She wrote for Poznan’s underground publications and was herself one of the founding publishers of the bi-monthly Czas Kultury. She spent 1988 and 1989 in Israel compiling reminiscences of Holocaust survivors. From 1991 to 1993, she held the post of Cultural Attache at the Polish Embassy in Tel Aviv. She moved back to Poland in 1996 and now writes books on Jewish subjects, mainly dealing with the history of the Warsaw ghetto. She is also a freelance journalist for Tygodnik Powszechny. Anka Grupinska is the director of the Centropa Foundation project in Poland (oral history project) called “The Witness of the Jewish Century¿, presents her own radio programme, “Of Jews and of Poles too¿, and teaches creative writing and oral history in Collegium Civitas and SWPS in Warsaw.

English | Polish

Joanna Szczesna is a journalist writing for Gazeta Wyborcza. Together with Anna Bikont, she’s the author of Pamiatkowe rupiecie, przyjaciele i sny Wislawy Szymborskiej (The Recollected Flotsam, Friends and Dreams of Wislawa Szymborska) a biography of Wislawa Szymborska, the Polish winner of the Noble Prize for Literature. Since the 1970s, Joanna Szczesna has been involved with the democratic opposition movement in Poland, active in the Worker’s Defence Committee (KOR), the co-founder of the independent press in Poland: editor of KOR’s Information Bulletin, Solidarnosc Press Agency and Tygodnik Mazowsze.

Joanna Szczesna, dziennikarka "Gazety Wyborczej", autorka - wraz z Anna Bikont - biografia polskiej noblistki "Pamiatkowe rupiecie, przyjaciele i sny Wislawy Szymborskiej". Od lat 70-tych zwiazana z opozycja demokratycznaw Polsce, wspólpracowniczka Komitetu Obrony Robotników, wspóltwórczyni prasy niezaleznej w Polsce: redaktorka "Biuletynu Informacyjnego KOR-u", Agencji Prasowej "Solidarnosc" i "Tygodnika Mazowsze".

English | Polish

Joanna Klara Agnieszka 'Aga' Zuchowska was born 20 January 1938. Her father was killed in the Katyń massacre. After the war, she moved from Warsaw to Lódz. She obtained a degree in medicine in 1960, qualifying as a specialist in internal medicine in 1973. Dr Zuchowska worked with Marek Edelman for 15 years. In 1982 she left Poland for Algeria where she remained for the next three years, returning to Poland in 1985. She currently lives in Lódz.

Joanna Klara Agnieszka 'Aga' Zuchowska, urodzona 20 stycznia 1938. Ojciec zginal w Katyniu. Po wojnie zamieszkala w Lodzi. Studia ukonczyla w 1960 r. a specjalizacje z chorób wewnetrznych w 1973 r. Doktorat obronila we Wroclawiu. Pracowala z Markiem Edelmanen przez 15 lat. W 1982 r. wyjechala do Algerii. Wrócila do Polski w 1985 r. i mieszka obecnie w Lodzi.

Tags: Mordechai Anielewicz

Duration: 1 minute, 29 seconds

Date story recorded: December 2003

Date story went live: 24 January 2008