nom de guerre
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...
: ''Janczyn'';David Cesarani, Sarah Kavanaugh, Holocaust: critical concepts in historical studies, Volume 4, Routledge, 2004, pg. 312 /ref> 1891 – August 1943,
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
economist
An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics.
The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...
,
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...
,
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...
and a leader of the
Jewish Bund
The General Jewish Labour Bund in Lithuania, Poland and Russia ( yi, אַלגעמײנער ייִדישער אַרבעטער־בונד אין ליטע, פּױלן און רוסלאַנד , translit=Algemeyner Yidisher Arbeter-bund in Lite, Poy ...
in interwar Poland. He was one of the commanders of the Bund during the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany' ...
.
Interwar Poland
Orzech joined the Bund in 1907 and was in charge of the party's newspaper, ''Forverts''. In the late 1920s he served as chairman of the Bund-founded Socialist Association of Artisans of the Republic of Poland (''"Socialist Artisans"'').Joseph Marcus, "Social and political history of the Jews in Poland, 1919-1939", Walter de Gruyter, 1983, pg. 134 /ref> Orzech was also member of the Bund affiliated
Morgnshtern ''Morgnshtern'' (מאָרגןשטערן, Yiddish for 'Morning Star', sometimes also known by its Polish name ''Jutrznia'') was a Jewish sports organisation in interbellum Poland, politically linked to the Bund. It was founded in the end of 1926. ' ...
sports organization. He owned a textile manufacturing factory, "Bazar Orzecha" which was very profitable. Orzech used money from his business to finance the Yiddish newspaper '' Folkstsaytung'', of which he was also an editor.Marian Fuks, "Dwudziestolecie międzywojenne: od "5 Rano" do popołudnia", '' Rzeczpospolita'', 27-10-2008 /ref>
British embassy
This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Com ...
to escape on a ship to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
.Samuel D. Kassow, "Who Will Write Our History?: Rediscovering a Hidden Archive from the Warsaw", Random House, Inc., 2009, pg. 113 /ref> However, he was arrested by the Nazi Germany, Germans and imprisoned in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
. Later, he was transferred to the
Warsaw Ghetto
The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...
. In the ghetto, Orzech worked for the charitable organization ''Joint''.Samuel D. Kassow, "Who Will Write Our History?: Rediscovering a Hidden Archive from the Warsaw", Random House, Inc., 2009, pg. 119 and pg. 426 /ref> He also worked on the production of Polish underground press, underground newspapers, including the Bundist ''Der Verker''. In April 1942, the Germans began mass executions in the ghetto, supposedly as a way of combating underground literature. Orzech was summoned by
Judenrat
A ''Judenrat'' (, "Jewish council") was a World War II administrative agency imposed by Nazi Germany on Jewish communities across occupied Europe, principally within the Nazi ghettos. The Germans required Jews to form a ''Judenrat'' in every c ...
president
Adam Czerniaków
Adam Czerniaków (30 November 1880 – 23 July 1942) was a Polish engineer and senator who was head of the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Council (''Judenrat'') during World War II. He committed suicide on 23 July 1942 by swallowing a cyanide pill, a day a ...
and asked that the Bund cease circulating its illegal newspapers. However, Orzech correctly surmised that the newspapers were just an excuse and that the mass executions were simply the first step in total extermination of Warsaw's Jews. The Bund refused Czerniaków's request.Bernard Goldstein, "Five years in the Warsaw Ghetto: (The stars bear witness)", AK Press, 2005, pg. 89,96, 15 /ref> Orzech also wrote bulletins and proclamations to the residents of the ghetto not to trust the Germans and not to volunteer for supposed "labor in Germany" from the Umschlagplatz (Warsaw Ghetto), Umschlagplatz (which was in fact a collection point for deportation to the
Treblinka extermination camp
Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The camp ...
)
Most likely he was one of the organizers of the Antifascist Block (a group representing leftist Zionist and secular Jewish groups) and served as the Bund's representative at its conferences. Generally, Orzech saw the struggle of Poles and Jews against the German occupants as one and the same and favored the merger of Jewish resistance into Polish resistance.Śārā Bender, "The Jews of Bialystok During World War II and the Holocaust", UPNE, 2008, pg. 179 /ref> He, along with
Leon Feiner
Leon Feiner (nom-de-guerre "Mikołaj" (Michael), "Berezowski") (1885 in Krakow – February 22, 1945, in Lublin) was a Polish lawyer, an activist of the General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland and between November 1944 and January 1945 the director ( ...
, wrote the telegram which informed the Bundist member of the
Polish government in Exile
The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...
,
Szmul Zygielbojm
Szmul Mordko Zygielbojm (; yi, שמואל זיגלבוים; – ) was a Polish socialist politician, Bund trade-union activist, and member of the National Council of the Polish government-in-exile.
Zygielbojm was born in 1895 into a ...
, about the outbreak of the
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany' ...
.
Death
In 1943, after the fall of the Ghetto Uprising, he escaped but was eventually arrested by the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...
. According to some sources he was arrested during an attempt to cross the
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n border, brought back to Warsaw where was placed in
Pawiak prison
Pawiak () was a prison built in 1835 in Warsaw, Congress Poland.
During the January 1863 Uprising, it served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by Imperial Russia to deportation to Siberia.
During the World War II German occupation o ...
List of Poles
This is a partial list of notable Polish or Polish-speaking or -writing people. People of partial Polish heritage have their respective ancestries credited.
Science
Physics
* Czesław Białobrzeski
* Andrzej Buras
* Georges Charpa ...