1. Marek Edelman was a Polish political and social activist and cardiologist.
20 Facts About Marek Edelman
1. 2.
Marek Edelman took part in the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, becoming its leader after the death of Mordechaj Anielewicz.
3.
Marek Edelman took part in the citywide 1944 Warsaw Uprising.
4.
Marek Edelman wrote books documenting the history of wartime resistance against the Nazi German occupation of Poland.
5.
Details of Marek Edelman's birth are not known for certain; sources give two possible years of birth, either 1919 in Homel, or in 1922 in Warsaw.
6.
Marek Edelman's father, Natan Feliks Edelman, was a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party.
7.
Marek Edelman's mother, Cecylia Edelman, a hospital secretary, was an activist member of the General Jewish Labour Bund, a Jewish socialist workers' party.
8.
Anielewicz died during the final assault on the ZOB's bunker on 8 May 1943, which meant that now Marek Edelman was in charge.
9.
However, Marek Edelman 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 well as they knew how.
10.
Marek Edelman's hospital upbringing had proven invaluable in the Warsaw Ghetto.
11.
In 1948, Marek Edelman actively opposed the incorporation of the Bund into the Polish United Workers' Party, which led to the Communists disbanding the organization.
12.
In 1981, when General Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law, Marek Edelman was interned by the government.
13.
Marek Edelman was then prevented from being present at this occasion because he was being held under house arrest back in Lodz.
14.
Marek Edelman sat in his house surrounded by the police cars, at a table set for a fancy dinner which included empty places because the police were not letting the guests in, except the journalist Hanna Krall.
15.
Marek Edelman remained firmly Polish, refusing to emigrate to Israel.
16.
Marek Edelman 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.
17.
Marek Edelman lent public support to anti-fascist initiatives and to organisations combatting antisemitism.
18.
Marek Edelman was buried in Warsaw with full military honours on October 9,2009.
19.
Marek Edelman left as a contented man, even if he was always aware of the tragedy he went through.
20.
Marek Edelman became a real witness, he gave a real testimony with his life.