 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(February 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Yitzhak Zuckerman | |
|---|---|
יצחק צוקרמן | |
 Yitzhak Zuckerman testifies for the prosecution during the trial ofAdolf Eichmann in 1961. | |
| Born | (1915-12-13)13 December 1915 |
| Died | 17 June 1981(1981-06-17) (aged 65) |
| Known for | One of the leaders of theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Roni Zuckerman (granddaughter)Richard Rodriguez Mendez Zuckerman distant cousin |
Yitzhak Zuckerman (Polish:Icchak Cukierman;Hebrew:יצחק צוקרמן; 13 December 1915 – 17 June 1981), also known by hisnom de guerre "Antek", was one of the leaders of theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 againstNazi Germany duringWorld War II.
Zuckerman was born on December 13, 1915, inVilnius, then part of theRussian Empire. AfterWorld War I Vilnius became part of the recreatedPolish state. As a young man, he embraced the concepts ofLabor Zionism. He graduated from a religious elementary school associated with theMizrachi Zionist movement, followed by a Hebrew gymnasium in 1933.[1] He applied to study at theUniversity of Vilnius andHebrew University inJerusalem, but never began university studies.[1]
In his youth, he became involved with the Zionist movement, as a member ofHeHalutz andHeHalutz Hatzair.[1] He lived in a Vilniuskibbutz on Subocz Street, then on a farm training pioneers inGrochów nearWarsaw.[1] In 1937, he became a member of the HeHalutz Hatzair Central Committee, and in 1938 he took over as secretary general of theDror-Hehalutz.[1]
After theGerman and Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 he was in the area overrun by theRed Army and initially stayed in the Soviet zone of occupation, where he took an active part in the creation of various Jewish underground socialist organisations.[2] In the spring of 1940 he moved toWarsaw, where he became one of the leaders of theDror Hechaluc youth movement, along with his future wifeZivia Lubetkin. Zuckerman was issued a false passport by theŁadoś Group.[3]
In 1941 he became the deputy commander of theŻOB resistance organisation. In this capacity, he served mainly as the envoy between the commander of ŻOB and the commanders of the Polish resistance organizations ofArmia Krajowa andArmia Ludowa.[2] On 22 December 1942 he and two accomplices attacked a café inKraków that was being used by theSS andGestapo. Zuckerman was wounded and narrowly escaped, and his two comrades were tracked down and killed.[4]
In 1943, he was working on the "Aryan" side ofWarsaw to procure guns and ammunition when theWarsaw Ghetto Uprising erupted. Unable to enter the ghetto to join his comrades in battle, he nonetheless proved a crucial link between resistance forces within the ghetto and theHome Army on the "Aryan" side.[4] Along withSimcha "Kazik" Rotem, he organized the escape of the surviving ZOB fighters through the sewers to safety.[2] During the laterWarsaw Uprising of 1944, he led a small troop of 322 survivors of the Ghetto Uprising as they fought the Germans in the ranks of theArmia Ludowa.[5]
After the war he worked as part of theBricha network, whose operatives smuggled Jewish refugees out of Eastern and Central Europe toMandate Palestine. In 1947 he himself made that journey, settling in what would soon beIsrael.[2] There he and his wife Zivia, along with other veterans of the ghetto undergrounds and formerpartisans, were among the founding members ofKibbutz Lohamei HaGeta'ot and theGhetto Fighters' House (GFH) museum located on its grounds, commemorating those who struggled against the Nazis.[4] GFH has a study center named for Zivia and Yitzhak Zuckerman. Zuckerman and Lubetkin settled in Lohamei HaGeta'ot and had two children, Shimon (b. 1947) and Yael (b. 1949).[6]
In 1961 he appeared as a witness at thetrial of Naziwar criminalAdolf Eichmann in Israel. He died in 1981, in the kibbutz he had founded.[7][2]
A record of a lengthy interview he gave in 1976 was expanded into the bookSheva ha-Shanim ha-Hen: 1939-1946 [Hebrew: Those Seven Years] published in Israel in 1991, later translated into English and published asA Surplus of Memory: Chronicle of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.[4]
His granddaughterRoni Zuckerman became theIsraeli Air Force's first female fighter pilot.[2]
In 2001, the tale of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was turned into a made-for-TV film entitledUprising, with actorDavid Schwimmer portraying Zuckerman.
Media related toIcchak Cukierman at Wikimedia Commons
