Blackmail, extortion, kidnapping and executions for example. This is not a list of charges against members of some formidable gang. These are the methods that the fighters of the Jewish Fighting Organization had to resort to in order to "motivate" the inhabitants of the Warsaw ghetto to support their struggle financially.
The Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) was established on October 15, 1942 - or at least this date was always given by Marek Edelman. At that time, the socialist and Zionist Jewish youth from the Warsaw ghetto joined forces under the leadership of Mordechaj Anielewicz. From the very beginning, ŻOB was an elite formation. At the moment of its greatest prosperity, only a few hundred fighters belonged to it. Moreover, at its inception, it was struggling with serious financial problems, and in order to die with honor - after all, that was the purpose of establishing the ŻOB - you had to have weapons. On the other hand, to buy weapons, money was needed, and the circle is complete.
These elegant gentlemen, these elegant ladies… There was someone to take money from in the ghetto! (Photo from Bundesarchiv, 1941).
So what did the young leaders of the Jewish Resistance Movement come up with? Well, they decided that there were still many people in the ghetto who had enough cash and - in the name of a good cause - would "willingly" share it. If, on the other hand, they are not willing, then is enough to talk to them seriously . This is how the idea of "exes" was born, that is, expropriation actions ...
No holds barred
The organization of the "exes" was described in the book "Strażnik" published several years ago by Marek Edelman - the only leader of the ghetto uprising who managed to survive the turmoil of the war. In his old age, he recalled the methods influencing those who did not want to pay a special "tax" to the ŻOB:
You visited rich Jews, smugglers or Jewish policemen, terrorized them and took their money . We robbed the Judenrat money for hundreds of thousands of zlotys, we also robbed a provisioning enterprise. We even went so far as to kidnap . [Marek] Lichtenbaum, chairman of the Judenrat after Czerniaków, refused us any money. So we imprisoned his son . We held it for twelve hours. We wrote to Lichtenbaum that we were keeping the boy with his legs in a bucket of ice-cold water, so that he would surely contract a disease. They came with money. Another time, a Jewish policeman, a motherfucker, wouldn't give us money. We had to show that we are tough. We came to see him around four, after the ultimatum had expired. "Don't you want to give?" - we asked and shot him . After that, everyone paid. In total, we did not lack money. We were the real authority in the ghetto. We were the ones who decided how the people who remained in the ghetto should live. They called us "the party." When the party ordered something, it was done.
Crowded intersection of Chłodna and Żelazna Streets in the ghetto (photo:Bundesarchiv).
Another ŻOB fighter - Szymek Ratajzer - also talked about kidnapping children as an effective means of enforcing obedience. It happened, however, that wealthy Jews refused to give up money, even when it was about the life of their son or daughter. At that time, Żobowcy used their secret weapons. What? Well, impersonated Poles . Ratajzer was the best in this, he had eminently "non-Jewish" features and many bystanders took him for a goy.
The way "for akowiec"
The unusual method was actually created accidentally, during one of the "exes". In the book devoted to Ratajzer, "Shadow hero" reads:
When the attacked person does not want to spend the valuables on the slogan "for the needs of the Jewish Combat Organization", the commander of Ratajzera in a flash of genius shouts at him in Polish:"Kazik, make order with him" . That, like Ratajzer, this boy with a Slavic appearance, is a Pole, and, as you know, they do not joke with Jews ... So not Szymek anymore, but Kazik Ratajzer, puts the barrel of his revolver to the man's stomach and pushes him to the corner of the room, hissing:"No jokes with me." He gets the money right away.
Ratajzer himself mentioned in his book ("Memoirs of a Warsaw Ghetto Fighter ...") that rich Jews immediately softened to the sound of the Polish name because it was better not to mess with the goys, especially in times like this .
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In the biography of Ratajzer ("Shadow Hero") we read about another case of kidnapping:this time of a young girl in order to obtain money from her father. A wealthy pre-war entrepreneur however, he defended his purse at all costs. Although he came to meet the żobowce, he refused to pay, because the Jews will not shoot a Jew!
Ratajzer comes into action again, who at the decisive moment, while the man still refuses, puts a revolver to his head, threatening to shoot. And again he pretends to be a Polish Home Army soldier who cooperates with ŻOB . A rich Jew agrees to pay.
And one more photo of the elite of the Warsaw ghetto. Dresses, suits, rickshaws. Not everyone could afford it. But when it was, he also had money to support the militants (photo Bundesarchiv).
There is no mercy for traitors
In the case of wealthy Jews who refused to pay "taxes", the ŻOB members limited themselves to threats. They intimidated, attacked and even kidnapped, but they did not shoot just for the sake of money. The situation was completely different in the case of the Nazi collaborators. They could not count on any reduced fare. Ratajzer took part in attacks on at least two such delinquents (one Pilotka, who was exposed as a spy, and the head of the police in the ghetto, Józef Szeryński). Edelman also mentioned the executions: Only in March 1943 we executed three death sentences on collaborators .
Young Marek Edelman. In the name of the cause, he was not afraid to resort to gangster methods ...
***
In extraordinary circumstances, extraordinary measures must be resorted to. An American journalist openly praised Jews from the ŻOB for having the courage to use the methods of the "Chicago mafia" to defend their honor and show the Germans that they would not be killed without a fight. Marek Edelman himself stated that thanks to the resolve of the fighters, the atmosphere in the ghetto changed. The bakers had to bake bread for us. Because the one who fights must eat. And people had to act like people:no cooperation with the Germans.
Above all, however, we managed to get the means to fight, which will be remembered forever.