Urke Nachalnik ( yi, אורקע נאכאלניק) (June, 1897 – November 11, 1939). Itzchak Baruch Farbarowicz, better known by his literary name Urke Nachalnik, a Yeshiva boy who was born to a well to do Jewish family in Wizna, (a village near the town of

Łomża Łomża (), in English known as Lomza, is a city in north-eastern Poland, approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) to the north-east of Warsaw and west of Białystok. It is situated alongside the Narew river as part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship si ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

), became a criminal and then a self made author and ended his life heroically on November 11 of 1939 as a leader of a small underground unit that hid Tora scrolls from destruction. The memoir of Calel Perechodnik claims that Nachalnik was among the first three victims at Otwock: he was forced to dig his own grave and then was shot along with Perechodnik's brother-in-law Wolf and Gershon Randoninski. They were buried in a Jewish cemetery and their remains were later exhumed. His books and stories were published in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

and

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

, his native tongue, and made into theater plays and serialized in newspapers. Likewise, numerous books and articles about Polish gangsters before the Second World War include sections about Urke Nachalnik. A biographical film shown in the

Discovery Historia Discovery Historia is a Polish television channel broadcasting history-related programmes. The channel was originally a joint-venture between Discovery Networks and TVN, but TVN left the venture in 2009. (Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Dis ...

TV channel was made about him.

Books

Menshen on a morgen, Polish title: Ludzie bez jutra, Wydawnictwo Herkules, Warszawa 1938; Życiorys własny przestępcy Żywe grobowce, 1934. Milosc przestępcy מיין לעבנסוועג : פון דער ישיבה און תפיסה - ביז צו דער ליטעראטור אהבה ונקמה : רומן Mayn lebensṿeg : fun der yeshive un tfise biz tsu der liṭeraṭur

External links

*
Urke Nachalnik
" famous Polish gangster, turned noted author, who was born in Wizna, at ''Wizna, Poland'' website
Works
Polish male writers 1897 births 1939 deaths Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust {{Crime-bio-stub