Marek Edelmann Sparknotes

In September of 1939, the Nazi’s stormed Poland, which marked the beginning of World War Two. With the Nazi’s taking of Poland, many things would change for the people of Poland, one of those heinous things being the Warsaw Ghetto, which was a marked example of the cruelty that many Jewish people faced to separate them from the occupying Nazis. Many policies were made by the Nazis between 1939-1945, some of which included forced segregation, walls and barriers put in place, restricted movement, forced labor, food rationing which led to starvation, violence, and intimidation. At first these policies appeared mild in comparison to what they became towards the end of the war, going from segregation to blatant murder. Likewise, the concentration

One day everything could be fine and the Nazi’s left them alone in the Ghetto, but the next day could be something entirely different. This book comes from Marek Edelmann, a key leader of the Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB). He used his leadership skills to help mobilize the Warsaw Jews and coordinate their attacks from within the Ghettos. Towards the end of the reports, Edelmann says, “I think that never before had there existed a similar degree of unanimity and coordination of people of different political parties as during those various groups’ collaboration in that period.”4 which states that he was proud of the group he had a (huge) part in creating and organizing. He then goes on to say, “We were all fighters for the same just cause, equal in the face of history and death. Every drop of blood was precisely the same value.”5 What they had was nothing more than family and unity through one of history's darkest times. Stating that everybody who fought with the ZOB was equally as important as himself or the next guy. Life in the Ghetto for the Jewish Inabinet was rough, as when the Ghetto was first established it was already a cramped living experience, but the Nazi’s kept bringing newly deported people into the Ghetto. This led to a homeless population and starvation. Edelmann recounts the depressing water soup. The Warsaw group’s struggles were unimaginable and quite horrendous in comparison. There were a couple key social groups and movements relating to Marek Edelmann's struggle, they were the Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB) and the Zionist Youth Movements. The ZOB was significant in organizing the armed resistance within the ghetto. They brought weapons and other resources to the hands of the Jews inside the Ghetto. The youth inside the Ghetto were treated cruelly, as they most often starved. Edelmann says, “Young Jews were being persecuted