Robota, Rosa

(1921--1945), Jewish underground activist in Auschwitz. Robota was born in Ciechanow, Poland, and was a member of the town's Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa’ir Zionist underground movement. In 1942 Robota was taken to Auschwitz on a transport from Ciechanow; she was one of the first inmates to be placed in the women's camp in Birkenau (also know as Auschwitz II). In 1943 a Jewish underground group was established in Auschwitz. Robota quickly joined the group and solicited support for it from many women inmates. In 1944 Robota helped smuggle tiny amounts of explosives from the ammunition factory in Birkenau where she worked. They were given to the underground in Auschwitz I and to the Sonderkommando men working in the Birkenau crematoria. In October of that year the Sonderkommandos revolted; during the investigation of the mutiny Robota and three other young women from the factory were arrested. Robota was the only one who had any useful information about the underground, its main members, and how it functioned, but in spite of the torture inflicted upon her, she did not give up a single name.On January 6, 1945, just a few weeks before Auschwitz was evacuated, Robota and three fellow underground members were hanged.