Żagiew ("The Torch", ''Die Fackel''), also known as Żydowska Gwardia Wolności (the "Jewish Freedom Guard"), was a Nazi-collaborationist Jewish agent-provocateur group in

German 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 ...

-occupied Poland, founded and sponsored by the Germans and led by

Abraham Gancwajch Abraham Gancwajch (1902–1943) was a prominent Nazi collaborator in the Warsaw Ghetto during the World War II occupation of Poland, and a Jewish kingpin of the ghetto underworld. Opinions about his ghetto activities are controversial, though m ...

Operations

Many ''Żagiew'' members were related to the collaborationist Jewish organization

Group 13 The Group 13 network ( pl, Trzynastka, Yiddish: ''דאָס דרײַצענטל'') was a Jewish Nazi collaborationist organization in the Warsaw Ghetto during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. The rise and fall of the Group ...

, which was also led by Gancwajch. The organization operated primarily within 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 ...

. Żagiew was established in late 1940 and existed until the Ghetto's elimination during the 1943

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 ...

. Żagiew had over a thousand Jewish secret agents and some were permitted by their

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 ...

handlers to possess firearms. Żagiew's prime goal was to infiltrate the Jewish resistance network and reveal its connections with the

Polish underground The Polish Underground State ( pl, Polskie Państwo Podziemne, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Gover ...

that aided and hid Jews in the

General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...

. The organization was able to inflict considerable damage on both fronts.Henryk Piecuch, ''Syndrom tajnych służb: czas prania mózgów i łamania kości'' (A Syndrome of Secret Services: A Time of Brainwashing and of Breaking Bones), Agencja Wydawnicza CB, 1999, . Żagiew agents were also instrumental in organizing the ''

Hotel Polski Hotel Polski (lit. Polish Hotel), opened in 1808, was a hotel in Śródmieście, Warsaw, Poland, at 29 Długa street. In 1943, in the mop up operation following the liquidation of Warsaw Ghetto, the hotel was used by Germans as bait for Jews ...

'' affair, in Warsaw, a German scheme to lure thousands of wealthy Jews, under false promises of evacuation to South America, into a trap and extort their money and valuables before killing most of them.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zagiew Poland in World War II Jewish collaboration with Nazi Germany Jewish Polish history 1940 establishments in Poland 1943 disestablishments in Poland

Operations

See also

Notes