Jakub Michlewicz (or ''Jakov Michaeli'', served under the name ''Ryszard Trzaskowski'', nom-de-guerre ''Rysiek''; 1929 – 2013,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

) was a

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the l ...

member of the Polish

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II, resistance movement in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed i ...

and a child soldier in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

Biography

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, after his family was murdered by the Germans, Jakub hid, first in the Polish countryside and then in Warsaw. He joined the Polish Anti-Nazi Resistance group the Home Army almost accidentally, when upon the break out of the Warsaw Uprising he emerged from hiding and was approached by an older boy who was on his way to try and join the resistance and who suggested Jakub come along with him. They were both accepted and on the same day (August 1, 1944) he helped build barricades and participated in a grenade attack on a German car patrol. He was fifteen at the time. Subsequently, he served as a

courier A courier is a person or organisation that delivers a message, package or letter from one place or person to another place or person. Typically, a courier provides their courier service on a commercial contract basis; however, some couriers are ...

for the Chrobry II Battalion Group (1st Battalion, 3rd company) and carried orders to the front lines. He was the youngest member of the unit. He was wounded towards the end of the uprising and, after the Polish capitulation he was sent to the

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prison ...

in Lamsdorf. Later he was imprisoned at

Stalag IV-B Stalag IV-B was one of the largest prisoner-of-war camps in Germany during World War II. Stalag is an abbreviation of the German ''Stammlager'' ("Main Camp"). It was located north-east of the town of Mühlberg in the Prussian Province of ...

in Mühlberg and in

Brachwitz Brachwitz is a village and a former municipality in the Saalekreis district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 January 2011, it is part of the town Wettin-Löbejün Wettin-Löbejün is a town in the district Saalekreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. ...

. His Jewish ethnicity was never discovered and as a result he survived the war. He emigrated to Israel afterward.

References

Barbara Engelking Barbara Engelking (born 22 April 1962) is a Polish sociologist specializing in Holocaust studies. The founder and director of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research in Warsaw, she is the author or editor of several works on the Holocaust ...

, Dariusz Libionka, "Żydzi w Powstanczej Warszawie" (Jews in the Warsaw Uprising), Polish Center for Holocaust Research Association, 2009, pgs. 101–104. {{DEFAULTSORT:Michlewicz, Jakub 1929 births 20th-century Polish Jews Home Army members Warsaw Uprising insurgents 2013 deaths Polish emigrants to the United States