Mordechai_Anielewicz

Charting the Waters of Identity Tucker Rhodes Word Count: 513 Words 02/26/10 Mordechai Anielewicz Background: Mordechai Anielewicz was Jewish resister, well known for his in the initiation of the largest armed Jewish attack resistance against the Nazi’s during the Holocaust, The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Anielewicz was born in 1919 to a poor family living in the town of Wyszkòw, near Warsaw Poland. Soon after completing his High School studies, Anielewicz joined the Zionist movement Hashomer Hatzair. Here he distinguished himself as a good organizer, and strong leader. But when war broke out in 1939, Anielewicz fled Warsaw to the east. After being captured and released by a soviet jail, he returned and became a full-time underground activist and by 1941, was even transforming various underground youth groups in the Warsaw Ghetto’s into armed resistance movements. In the summer of 1942, Anielewicz visited areas of southern Poland in an attempt to organize more armed resistance and upon returning to Warsaw, found that 290,00 of the Warsaw Ghettos 350,00 Jews had been deported. Soon after his return, Anielewicz joined the ZOB, a Jewish fighting organization, and in November of the same year, was elected a chief commander. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of January 1943, Anielewicz was in charge or the street fighting and after four days freed many Jews and successfully suspended the mass deportation. However, on April 19th, the Nazi’s launched a final mass deportation; hitting back with a much harder force that eventually overcame the Resistance Group. They burnt down the ghetto building by building. During this time, Mordechai Anielewicz was killed in a bunker along with some of his comrades. The date was May 8th, 1943. Analysis: Mordechai Anielewicz’s acts of resistance were very much consistent with his identity profile. Not much is known of Anielewicz early history, but based on three main factors; much can be inferred of him. Anielewicz was a Jew and therefore, one can infer that this influenced much of his hate for the Nazi’s. They were killing off his race and therefore he most likely had very strong feelings against the Nazi’s and what they stood for. To build on to this, Anielewicz was from a poor polish. Poland was the first country invaded by Germany during World War II and also the base of numerous concentration camps. When the Nazi’s invaded, the first to suffer were the poor and therefore, Anielewicz most likely was one of the first to witness the pain and suffering the Nazis brought. So like anyone in his position, he wanted to stop them and put end to this and did so by joining resistance groups. From that point, his strong leader ship abilities carried him further and further up the chain of command in these resistance groups. They allowed him to take charge in desperate times such as the second mass deportation of the Warsaw Ghetto where he led the street battles and not only saved many innocent Jews, but also temporarily halted the entire Nazi operation. Unfortunately, Anielewicz’s leadership and beliefs led to his demise and he was killed in a bunker in the Warsaw Ghetto. But his historic acts of resistance were never forgotten. Works Cited: The American-Israel Cooperative Enterprise. "Mordechai Anielewicz." Jewish Virtual Library. The American-Israel Cooperative Enterprise, 2010. Web. Feb. 2010. . "Mordechai Anielewicz." A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust. Florida Center for Instructional Technology, 2005. Web. Feb. 2010. . "Mordechai Anielewicz." Wikipedia. 14 Jan. 2010. Web. Feb. 2010. . Simkin, John. "Mordechai Anielewicz." Sparatus Educational. Google. Web. Feb. 2010. .