Abraham Blum
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Abraham Blum (also known as Abrasza Blum; born c. 1905,
Wilno Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
(now
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
) – May 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 officia ...
) 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 lon ...
socialist activist, one of the leaders of the Bund in 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 ...
and a participant in 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's ...
.


Early life and activism

He was a student in the
reformed Reform is beneficial change Reform may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine *''Reforme'' ("Reforms"), initial name of the ...
Cheder A ''cheder'' ( he, חדר, lit. "room"; Yiddish pronunciation ''kheyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. History ''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th ...
in Wilno, where he met his wife
Luba Luba may refer to: Geography *Kingdom of Luba, a pre-colonial Central African empire * Ľubá, a village and municipality in the Nitra region of south-west Slovakia *Luba, Abra, a municipality in the Philippines *Luba, Equatorial Guinea, a town ...
. They had two children. Abrasza studied structural engineering at a technical school in
Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...
, Belgium. By 1929 they resided in Warsaw. Initially he belonged to a communist youth organization but later became active in the Jewish socialist Bund, including its youth branch, the Cukunft. Beginning in 1930 he was one of the directors of the party's paper. He organized secular Jewish schools for the Bund.


German invasion of Poland

During the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany in September 1939 he participated in the defense of Warsaw. Together with the leader of the Bund, Szmul Zygielbojm, and with support from Warsaw's mayor
Stefan Starzyński Stefan Bronisław Starzyński (19 August 1893 – between 21 and 23 December 1939) was a Poles, Polish politician, statesman, economist, military officer and Mayor of Warsaw before and during Siege of Warsaw (1939), the Siege of 1939. Earl ...
, he helped to organize all-Jewish detachments that defended the Polish capital against the German assault. Along with other Bund activists Blum continued to edit the party's newspaper, the ''Folkszajtung'' ("the People's Gazette") ensuring that it did not cease publication during the
siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...
.Marek Edelman
/ref> As the occupation of Warsaw commenced most of the Bund's senior leadership was forced to evacuate the city, as they may have been too well known to the Germans, and the local leadership of the party was taken over by younger members, many of them from the Cukunft. Blum, who was their leader, has been credited with ensuring the Warsaw Bund's survival during this difficult time.


Warsaw Ghetto, the uprising and death

After Poland's capitulation and the capture of Warsaw by German forces he was forced into the Warsaw Ghetto. From the end of November 1942 he was on the Bund's Coordinating Commission of the Jewish National Council. Most likely, together with
Maurycy Orzech Maurycy Orzech (; nom de guerre: ''Janczyn'';David Cesarani, Sarah Kavanaugh, Holocaust: critical concepts in historical studies, Volume 4, Routledge, 2004, pg. 312/ref> 1891 – August 1943, Warsaw) was a Polish economist, journalist, politician ...
, he was one of Bund's representatives in negotiations with the Anti-Fascist Block (an alliance between leftist-Zionist, communist and socialist Polish Jewish parties). He was considered by many Bundists and other leftist activists, including
Marek Edelman Marek Edelman ( yi, מאַרעק עדעלמאַן, born either 1919 in Homel or 1922 in Warsaw – October 2, 2009 in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish political and social activist and cardiologist. Edelman was the last surviving leader of the ...
for whom Blum was a "spiritual leader", to be one of the main intellectuals of the Block. Between 1942 and 1943 he worked in a brush factory on Franciszkanska Street. He was the Bund representative in the political bureau of the
Jewish Fighting Organization The Jewish Combat Organization ( pl, Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, ŻOB; yi, ''Yidishe Kamf Organizatsie''; often translated to English as the Jewish Fighting Organization) was a World War II resistance movement in occupied Poland, which wa ...
(ŻOB). He took an active part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He escaped the final liquidation of the ghetto by the Germans through the sewers. He first hid in the private apartment of
Eugenia Wasowska-Leszczynska ''Eugenia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family Myrtaceae. It has a worldwide, although highly uneven, distribution in tropical and subtropical regions. The bulk of the approximately 1,100 species occur in the New World tropics, ...
on Żurawia street and then in the apartment of Władysława Kowalska-Meed (nom de guerre "Władka") on Barok St. 2 in Warsaw. He was discovered by the janitor of the building who reported him to 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 organi ...
(the janitor was later sentenced to death on this account by the Polish
Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...
).Hanna Krall, "Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem", a5, 1997, pg 109

Blum tried to escape through the window on a rope made from bedsheets but broke his legs in the fall from the third story and was captured. He was captured and murdered by the Gestapo.


Family and legacy

His wife, Luba Blum-Bielicka, was a director of a nursing school in the Warsaw Ghetto. Together with their children, she survived the
German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
and the
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
. After the war she was the director of the orphanage in
Otwock Otwock is a city in east-central Poland, some southeast of Warsaw, with 44,635 inhabitants (2019). Otwock is a part of the Warsaw Agglomeration. It is situated on the right bank of Vistula River below the mouth of Swider River. Otwock is hom ...
, and until 1949 the director of the Nurse School no. 3 in Warsaw. His symbolic grave is located on the main alley of the Jewish cemetery at Okopowa street.Internet database of the Warsaw Jewish Cemetery at Okopowa Street
/ref>


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blum, Abraham 1900s births 1943 deaths Politicians from Vilnius People from Vilna Governorate Lithuanian Jews Bundists Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Warsaw Ghetto Uprising insurgents People who died in the Warsaw Ghetto Jewish Combat Organization members Polish people executed by Nazi Germany Lithuanian people executed by Nazi Germany