Comandant Edelman

When one hears the words "Warsaw Ghetto Uprising" in Israel, the name that immediately comes to mind is Mordecai Anielewicz, leader of the uprising from the Zionist Shomer HaTzair movement. Until not long ago, few in Israel knew much about Marek Edelman-the representative of the non-Zionist socialist Bund in the uprising, and the one who took command after Anielewicz's death. After the War, Edelman chose to stay in Poland rather than immigrate to Israel like many of his comrades-in-arms, although he stayed in contact with colleagues such as Antek Zuckerman and Zvia Lubetkin. Edelman studied medicine in Łodz, became a renowned cardiologist, and persevered through difficult anti-Semitic episodes in communist Poland. Edelman was active in civil rights movements and naturally was a member of the Polish Solidarity movement. While Edelman's contribution to the anti-Nazi struggle have been pushed to the back of the Israeli collective consciousness, in Poland he is considered a national hero.