Adolf Liebeskind
Adolf Liebeskind | |
|---|---|
 Liebeskind (centre) with his sister Miriam (right) and wife Rebeka (left) | |
| Born | 3 October 1912 |
| Died | 24 December 1942 (aged 30) |
| Education | Jagiellonian University |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | Leading the resistance in the Kraków Ghetto |
Adolf "Dolek" Liebeskind (3 October 1912 – 24 December 1942) was a Polish lawyer and a leader of the Jewish resistance movement within the Kraków Ghetto.
Biography
Early life and education
Liebeskind was born on 3 October 1912 in Zabierzów, a village near the city of Kraków. His parents, Igancz Liebeskind and Esther Liebeskind (née Vogler), were religious Zionists.[1][2] At the age of 14, Liebeskind joined the Kraków branch of Akiva, a religious Zionist youth organisation.[3]
Liebeskind studied law at Jagiellonian University, and was in the process of preparing his doctoral dissertation when World War II broke out in September 1939.[1] He had become secretary general of Akiva's Kraków branch, and later became its national secretary, prompting him to move to Warsaw. In December 1939, Liebeskind married Rebeka Kuper, an Akiva member.[3]
Formation of the Jewish resistance in the Kraków Ghetto
After the German occupation of Poland in September 1939, Liebeskind opted to remain in Poland, despite having received a certificate of departure that would have permitted him to emigrate to Mandatory Palestine.[1][3] Instead, he opted to return to Kraków, settling at 9 Limanovsky Street with his wife and taking a job with Jewish Social Self-Help. At the same time, Liebeskind began to become involved with Jewish and Polish resistance movements against the Nazis. Through the JSSH, Liebeskind and Szymszon Dränger helped run a farm in Kopaliny; as Jews were forced to relocate to specific areas such as Kazimierz and Podgórze, Kraków (the latter of which became the site of the formal Kraków Ghetto from 1940), the farm allowed Liebeskind and Dränger to legally leave the city and promote the underground resistance to people living outside of the Ghetto. In 1941, the farm was shut down by the General Government, preventing Liebeskind from legally leaving the Ghetto.[3]
Liebeskind and Dränger created He-Chaluc ha-Lochem, one of several resistance groups established within the Kraków Ghetto. The group provided training on weapons and self-defence to Jews living in the area, in addition to providing mutual assistance.[1][4] Later, He-Chaluc ha-Lochem and other resistance groups operating in the Ghetto, such as Ha-Shomer Ha-Za'ir and Ikra, agreed to join to form the Kraków branch of the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB) in August 1942, as had previously occurred in the Warsaw Ghetto a month prior. Other notable ŻOB members in Kraków included Dränger; his wife, Gusta; Hersz Bauminger, the founder of Ha-Shomer Ha-Za'ir; Bernard Halbrajch, Gola Mire; and Abraham Lejbowicz.[5][4]
Liebeskind became one of the key resistance leaders in the Kraków Ghetto. Leading cells of five, ŻOB led a series of attacks across the city, including setting fire to a garage holding government vehicles in Grzegórzki; attacking Optima, a German factory within the Ghetto; attacking German checkpoints; and attempting to assassinate Jewish informers and police officers.[6][7][8] Fellow resistance fighter Gusta Dawidson Draenger noted at the time that Liebeskind did not believe that the Jews would survive the Ghetto and that they were on the "path of death"; she recorded him as saying that he wanted there to be "three lines in history" that showed that Jews did not "go like sheep to slaughter" but that they had "rose up and fought for their honour".[3][9]
December 1942 Cyganeria bombing and death
In November 1942, police officers unsuccessfully attempted to arrest Liebeskind. A month later, on 22 December 1942, ŻOB, alongside the People's Guard, led a coordinated attack against German targets in Kraków, including throwing grenades at a German Army mess hall, the Zakopianka officers' club, and the Cyganeria and Espalanda cafés. False calls were also made by ŻOB to emergency services to divert them away from the areas where the attack took place. Between seven and 70 German soldiers were reported to have been killed in the attacks.[1][7][9]
German authorities led a manhunt for those involved that focused on the Kraków Ghetto. On 24 December 1942, while surrounded by German soldiers in the bunker of He-Chaluc ha-Lochem's command post at 5 Żuławski Street, Liebeskind was killed. His death was due to a gunshot, though it has been variously reported that he was killed by German soldiers, or that he died by suicide to avoid being captured.[1][10]
Aftermath
The leadership of Jewish resistance in the Kraków Ghetto ruptured after the deaths of Liebeskind and other leaders including Dränger and Dawidson Draenger. Some captured members shared information about the resistance while being tortured, further weakening the resistance. By March 1943, all the Jews in the Ghetto had been either deported Belzec extermination camp, Auschwitz concentration camp or Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp (where many of them would be murdered), or killed on the strets of the Ghetto Trawniki men.[11]
Liebeskind's wife Rebeka was deported to Auschwitz on 19 January 1943. She did not learn of her husband's death until after her deportation. She survived the war and moved to Kibbutz Maaysan Zvi in Israel, where she remarried. Liebeskind's sister, Miriam ("Mira"), also a member of the resistance, was captured and executed after being caught recruiting to the movement in Radom.[9][10]
In 1945, Liebeskind received an award from the Polish Land Forces. It was presented to his wife in 1967. Yitzhak Zuckerman, while against the operation at Cygneria, retrospectively recognised its importance and expressed appreciation for Liebeskind and others.[9]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Polski Słownik Judaistyczny - wersja Beta" [Polish Judaic Dictionary - Beta version]. Żydowski Instytut Historyczny (in Polish). Archived from the original on 6 January 2026. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
- ↑ "Liebeskind family". Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences. Archived from the original on 23 June 2025. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Aahron Liebskind". Holocaust Historical Society. 2014. Archived from the original on 10 March 2026. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
- 1 2 Sinnreich, Helene; Phillips, Shannon; Martin, Dean (2012). "Kraków". In Dean, M.; Megargee, G. P. (eds.). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CAMPS AND GHETTOS: Volume II: Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe. Washington, D.C.: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 6 December 2025. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
- ↑ "Hersz Bauminger". Encyklopedia Krakowa (in Polish). Archived from the original on 9 May 2026. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
- ↑ "Ghetto in Krakow". POLIN. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
- 1 2 "Getto – szlak pamięci 1941 - 1943" [Ghetto – a memory trail 1941-1943]. Kraków City Council (in Polish). Archived from the original on 22 May 2025. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
- ↑ Bauminger, A. L. (1986). The Fighters of the Cracow Ghetto. Jerusalem: A. L. Bauminger.
- 1 2 3 4 Drużyńska, Jolanta (4 October 2023). "Z dziejów krakowskich Żydów cz. 5 - Zagłada - żydowski ruch oporu" [From the history of Krakow Jews, part 5 - The Holocaust - the Jewish resistance movement]. Radio Kraków (in Polish). Archived from the original on 5 March 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
- 1 2 "Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 25 and 26 -- Testimony of Z. Lubetkin, Y. Zuckerman, A. Berman, R. Kuper". European Holocaust Research Infrastructure. 1961. Archived from the original on 7 December 2025. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
- ↑ Singer, Moshe (1967). "Jewish Resistance Movement in Kraków". Memorial Journal in Honor of Jews from Cracow Perished 1939-1945. New York City: New Cracov Friendship Society.
- ↑ "נחנד רחוב ע"ש מפקד מחתרת קרקוב" [A street was named after the commander of the Krakow underground]. Herut (in Hebrew). 18 January 1965. Retrieved 11 July 2026.
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