Stanisław Witold Aronson (nom de guerre "Rysiek"; ; born 6 May 1925) is a

Polish Jew 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 Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

and an Israeli citizen, as well as a former officer of the Polish

Home Army The Home Army (, ; 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) established in the ...

(AK) with a rank of lieutenant colonel. He was also a member of the Kedyw unit, "Kolegium A", of the Warsaw Region of AK, a participant in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

of 1944, and a lieutenant colonel of the

Israeli Defense Force The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

who took part in the

1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. During the war, the British withdrew from Palestine, Zionism, Zionist forces conquered territory and established ...

, the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

and the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

Biography

Aronson was born on 6 May 1925. Aronson's mother family came from

Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...

. After the

German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

in 1939, they first moved from Łódź to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

.Patrycja Bukalska, "Ostatnia wojna Stanisława Aronsona" (The Last War of Stanisław Aronson",

Tygodnik Powszechny ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' (, ''The Common Weekly'') is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, published in Kraków, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sap ...

, 2004-11-07

/ref> After a few days, they decided to move further east to the

Kresy Eastern Borderlands (), often simply Borderlands (, ) was a historical region of the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic. The term was coined during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic with ...

, where near Równo their relatives owned some land. However, in the meantime the Soviet Union also invaded Poland as part of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Treaty between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, and the relatives were arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

and deported eastwards, deep within the Soviet Union. As a result, the family tried to unsuccessfully enter

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, and then into

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Eventually they wound up in Soviet-occupied

Lwow Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

. According to Aronson, in Lwow, the Soviets pressured Poles, Ukrainians and Jews to sign up for the

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League, usually known as Komsomol, was a political youth organization in the Soviet Union. It is sometimes described as the youth division of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), although it w ...

but he personally refused. After

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union began and German troops entered Lwow. This resulted in a series of

pogroms A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century attacks on Jews i ...

by Ukrainian nationalists and German

Einsatzgruppen (, ; also 'task forces') were (SS) paramilitary death squads of Nazi Germany that were responsible for mass murder, primarily by shooting, during World War II (1939–1945) in German-occupied Europe. The had an integral role in the imp ...

, and the Germans began transporting Jews out of the city. Despite the fact that the Aronson family had documents that listed them as Poles, they were forced to flee again. In the autumn of 1941 they arrived in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

which in their view was a better place than the

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...

to which other Jews from Lwow were sent. During the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto the whole family ended up on Umschlagplatz where they got separated. Stanisław never saw his family again. He himself was put on a transport to

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

but managed to escape while the train was parked in the countryside near Warsaw. He spent the night hiding in a nearby chapel and then made his way to a nearby village. A local farmer gave him shelter, food and transportation to the nearby rail station. Aronson went back to Warsaw, where he made contact with Polish friends that lived on the "Aryan" side.Stanisław Aronson, Patrycja Bukalska, Rysiek z Kedywu. Niezwykłe losy Stanisława Aronsona, Kraków 2009 They organized a hiding place for him and later, false documents in the name of "Ryszard Żurawski" (later Żukowski), which was the origin of his nom-de-guerre “Rysiek”. Soon he was contacted by the Polish

and asked to join the anti-Nazi resistance. He was member of selected Kedyw group which, under the command of

Józef Rybicki Józef is a Polish variant of the masculine given name Joseph. Art * Józef Chełmoński (1849-1914), Polish painter * Józef Gosławski (1908-1963), Polish sculptor Clergy * Józef Glemp (1929-2013), Polish cardinal * Józef Kowalski (1 ...

, carried out executions of Nazi collaborators and traitors sentenced by

Underground court The underground courts (') were World War II secret courts in occupied Poland, organized by the Polish government-in-exile. The courts determined punishments for citizens of Poland who were subject to Polish law before the war. History After t ...

s.
Interview with "Rysiek" in Archiv of Warsaw Uprising Museum. Accessed 27 July 2022.

Warsaw Uprising and aftermath

He also took part in the

of 1944. His unit fought in the Wola district as part of the elite

Radosław Group Radosław Group () was the codename of a group of Kedyw, a Polish World War II Armia Krajowa organization, units during World War II created shortly before the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising. Organization The ''Radosław Group'' took its name fr ...

, in Battalion Zośka. The unit attacked German barracks at the site of Umschlagplatz from where Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto, including Stanislaw's family, had been sent to death camps. His battalion liberated about fifty Jews, mostly from Greece, still present at the site. After the insurgents were pushed out by the Germans into

Warsaw Old Town Warsaw Old Town, also known as Old Town, and historically known as Old Warsaw,''Encyklopedia Warszawy''. Warsaw: Polish Scientific Publishers PWN, 1994, p. 806. ISBN 83-01-08836-2. is a neighbourhood, and an area of the City Information System, ...

he was wounded and ended up in a field hospital on Długa street, which was under constant bombardment by the Germans. After the fall of the uprising he was sent along with the city's civilians to Durchgangslager 121 Pruszków (temporary

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

for POWs or expellees). Together with a companion he managed to escape from the camp and hid out at the house of a family friend near

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. After his wounds healed, he went back to Łódź and rejoined the Home Army, and later the anti-communist resistance organization NIE. After Red Army entered Poland, Aronson was arrested by the communist secret security services, UB, but again escaped. He clandestinely left Poland, first finding his way to the Western Allies Occupation zone in Austria, then to Italy. In Ancona he joined the II Corps of General Wladyslaw Anders, part of the

Polish Armed Forces in the West The Polish Armed Forces in the West () refers to the Polish Armed Forces, Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Allies of World War II, Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its Axis powers, allies during World War II. Poli ...

. He began studying medicine when he was contacted by an uncle who lived in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

who convinced him to emigrate to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. Aronson finished his military service with the Polish corps in 1947 and moved to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

In Israel

In Jerusalem he resumed the study of medicine, but when the

broke out he joined the nascent

Israeli Army The Israeli Ground Forces () are the Army, ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The commander is the GOC Army Headquarters, General Officer Commanding with the rank of major general, the ''Mazi'', subordinate to the Chief of the Gen ...

. He was demobilized in 1950 with the rank of captain. He took part in later conflicts and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Aronson did not get to visit Poland until 1988. He published his memoirs, and on his initiative a commemorative plaque was added to the site of the former Umschlagplatz commemorating the participation of Jewish fighters in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

Military decorations

* Commander of the Order of Polonia Restituta with Star (2013) * Commander of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

(2007) * Officer of the

Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland The Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland () is a Polish order of merit created in 1974, awarded to persons who have rendered great service to Poland. It is granted to foreigners or Poles resident abroad. As such, it is sometimes referred to as ...

(1997) * Cross of Valour (Poland) – two times * Armia Krajowa Cross * Warsaw Cross of the Uprising * Army Medal for War 1939-45 (Poland) – two times * Gold Polish Army Medal * Decoration of Honor – "Medal of Honor for Merit to the Military Gendarmerie" (2014) * Medal for the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

(Israel) * Medal for the

(Israel)

References

Bibliography

* Stanisław Aronson, Patrycja Bukalska, ''Rysiek z Kedywu. Niezwykłe losy Stanisława Aronsona'', Znak, Kraków 2009

External links

A story of Stanisław (Shlomo) Aronson
on sztetl.org.pl *Patrycja Bukalska

, Polish press article "Tygodnik Powszechny" 2004 *Piotr Zychowicz

Polish press article - "Rzeczpospolita" 2008 *Piotr Zychowicz

Polish press article -"Rzeczpospolita" 2009
Interview with "Rysiek" in Archiv of Warsaw Uprising Museum
on ahm.1944.pl
Odznaczenia kombatantów z okazji Dnia Weterana
on the website of Polish President {{DEFAULTSORT:Aronson, Stanislaw 1925 births Living people Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Jewish partisans Warsaw Ghetto inmates Warsaw Uprising insurgents Polish Holocaust survivors Home Army officers Israeli military officers Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta Officers of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland Recipients of the Cross of Valour (Poland) Recipients of the Armia Krajowa Cross Recipients of the Polish Army Medal