Frank Bleichman
Encyclopedia
Frank Blaichman (also Ephraim Blaichman, occasionally spelled Frank Bleichman, and in Polish Franek or Franciszek Blajchman) was a Polish Jewish member of an armed organization during World War II.
in September 1939.
Although German officials issued decrees that limited Jewish travel outside of Kamionka and required Jews to identify themselves by wearing armbands, Blaichman took a number of risks in order to help his parents and six brothers and sisters. He rode his bicycle from the neighboring farms and villages to Lubartów
(six miles east) and Lublin
(12 miles south) where he bought and sold goods such as honey, chickens, butters, grains, meat, tobacco, yarns, and sugar. Blaichman was able to travel among the population without being recognized as a Jew (he refused to wear the Star of David
armband and traveled without the necessary permits). He was assigned to work two days a week on a nearby estate with crops, but instead he paid someone to fill his place and continued to engage in underground trading.
In October 1942, the Kamionka Jewish council (Judenrat
) informed the Jewish residents that they would be resettled in the Lubartów Ghetto
. Blaichman slipped out of Kamionka and went to a gentile
farmer in the village of Kierzkówka
who offered him assistance (the family of Aleksander and Staisnława Głos, which would later be listed among the Polish Righteous Among the Nations
). He later learned that the Jews of Kamionka had not been relocated to the Lubartów Ghetto
but rather were deported on trains to an unknown destination. Blaichman heard that a group of Jews were hiding in the forest, so after two days with the farmer, he made his way to the forest and found more than one hundred Jews living in an encampment of small bunkers in the forest. He realized that the group was in constant danger. Blaichman encouraged the group to form a defense unit to guard the camp even though they had no firearms. In December 1942 the group managed to acquire firearms from a local Polish farmer. (However, according to another biography, it was only in summer of 1943 that Blaichman left the Głos family and joined the resistance).
Over time, Blaichman's unit increased in size. They were joined by refugees from Markuszow
and expanded to sixty fighters. In the spring of 1943, Blaichman encountered Samuel Gruber. Gruber's group consisted of men who had fought with the Polish Army and knew how to use explosives and mines. The two groups joined together and became a more effective fighting force. By September 1943, the Polish People's Army realized that the Blaichman and Gruber groups could be a dependable ally in the fight against the Germans and provided them with supplies that had been parachuted in by the Soviet air force. Now equipped with hand grenades, explosives, land mines, machine guns, and ammunition, the group could be even more successful in fighting the Germans.
In 1944, Blaichman's group received an order from the People's Army to move east and join forces with another Jewish partisan unit in the Parczew
area commanded by Yechiel Grynszpan. Gruber was appointed deputy commander and Blaichman, at the age of 21, became the unit's youngest platoon
commander. In July 1944, the Soviet Red Army
advanced from the east and entered the Parczew forest. Also that month, Lublin
was taken from the Germans by the Soviets, and Blaichman's partisan group entered the city.
After the war, Blaichman married Cesia Pomeranc, who had also lived in the Parczew area, and six years later they settled in the United States
.
Near the end of the war and Immediately afterward (April to 19 July 1945) he has worked for the Polish communist secret police
(Office of Public Security), as the temporary head of the Department of Prisons and Camps (Wydział Więzień i Obozów) in the Kielce
's Voivode Office of Public Security (Wewódzki Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Państwowego, WUBP).
Blaichman published a memoir
in November 2009, Rather Die Fighting: A Memoir of World War II. In August 2010, a Polish translation, Wolę zginąć walcząc. Wspomnienia z II wojny światowej, was released in Poland.
publicized information "Franciszek Blajchman" was the temporary head of the Department of Prisons and Camps of the Office of Public Security in Kielce. His image was also at the exhibition "Faces of the Kielce's Communist Security Agencies", organized by the IPN. This information was widely reported in Polish mass media.
The book has been criticized in Poland for controversial, revisionist
claims, such as the accusation of widespread antisemitism in Armia Krajowa
(AK, or Home Army). Stanisław Aronson
, a former Polish-Jewish officer of the AK, called the charges made in the book against the Home Army "absurd", as did Polish historians such as Jan Żaryn and Waldemar Paruch (see also Armia Krajowa and the Jews). Blaichman portrayal of his activities in Jewish resistance has been questioned, and it has been alleged that he was a member of a criminal gang (associated with communist Gwardia Ludowa
resistance) which focused on forcefully obtaining provisions from the local populace and clashed with the Polish resistance. Blaichman also mentions that at one point he shot dead two AK soldiers,which has led to demands for this case to be investigated as a murder.. The spokesman for the Polish Institute of National Remembrance
has declared that Blaichman's book will be investigated to determine whether he is guilty of what Polish legal system describes as "communist crime
s".
World War 2
Frank Blaichman was born in Kamionka, Poland on December 11, 1922. His grandmother owned a grocery story and his father was a grain merchant. He was 16 years old at the time of the German invasion of PolandInvasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
in September 1939.
Although German officials issued decrees that limited Jewish travel outside of Kamionka and required Jews to identify themselves by wearing armbands, Blaichman took a number of risks in order to help his parents and six brothers and sisters. He rode his bicycle from the neighboring farms and villages to Lubartów
Lubartów
Lubartów is a town in eastern Poland, with 23,000 inhabitants , situated in Lublin Voivodeship. It is the capital of Lubartów County and the Lubartów Commune.-History:...
(six miles east) and Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
(12 miles south) where he bought and sold goods such as honey, chickens, butters, grains, meat, tobacco, yarns, and sugar. Blaichman was able to travel among the population without being recognized as a Jew (he refused to wear the Star of David
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
armband and traveled without the necessary permits). He was assigned to work two days a week on a nearby estate with crops, but instead he paid someone to fill his place and continued to engage in underground trading.
In October 1942, the Kamionka Jewish council (Judenrat
Judenrat
Judenräte were administrative bodies during the Second World War that the Germans required Jews to form in the German occupied territory of Poland, and later in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union It is the overall term for the enforcement bodies established by the Nazi occupiers to...
) informed the Jewish residents that they would be resettled in the Lubartów Ghetto
Lubartów Ghetto
Lubartów Ghetto was established by Nazi Germany and existed from 1941 until October 1942. The Polish Jews of the town of Lubartów were confined within it, amounting to 3,269 people or 53.6% of the town's population according to the 1921 census.. Its inmates also included Jews deported from other...
. Blaichman slipped out of Kamionka and went to a gentile
Gentile
The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
farmer in the village of Kierzkówka
Kierzkówka
Kierzkówka is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Kamionka, within Lubartów County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It lies approximately north-west of Kamionka, west of Lubartów, and north of the regional capital Lublin.-References:...
who offered him assistance (the family of Aleksander and Staisnława Głos, which would later be listed among the Polish Righteous Among the Nations
Polish Righteous among the Nations
Polish citizens have the world's highest count of individuals awarded medals of Righteous among the Nations, given by the State of Israel to non-Jews who saved Jews from extermination during the Holocaust...
). He later learned that the Jews of Kamionka had not been relocated to the Lubartów Ghetto
Lubartów Ghetto
Lubartów Ghetto was established by Nazi Germany and existed from 1941 until October 1942. The Polish Jews of the town of Lubartów were confined within it, amounting to 3,269 people or 53.6% of the town's population according to the 1921 census.. Its inmates also included Jews deported from other...
but rather were deported on trains to an unknown destination. Blaichman heard that a group of Jews were hiding in the forest, so after two days with the farmer, he made his way to the forest and found more than one hundred Jews living in an encampment of small bunkers in the forest. He realized that the group was in constant danger. Blaichman encouraged the group to form a defense unit to guard the camp even though they had no firearms. In December 1942 the group managed to acquire firearms from a local Polish farmer. (However, according to another biography, it was only in summer of 1943 that Blaichman left the Głos family and joined the resistance).
Over time, Blaichman's unit increased in size. They were joined by refugees from Markuszow
Markuszów
Markuszów is a village in Puławy County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Markuszów. It lies approximately east of Puławy and north-west of the regional capital Lublin....
and expanded to sixty fighters. In the spring of 1943, Blaichman encountered Samuel Gruber. Gruber's group consisted of men who had fought with the Polish Army and knew how to use explosives and mines. The two groups joined together and became a more effective fighting force. By September 1943, the Polish People's Army realized that the Blaichman and Gruber groups could be a dependable ally in the fight against the Germans and provided them with supplies that had been parachuted in by the Soviet air force. Now equipped with hand grenades, explosives, land mines, machine guns, and ammunition, the group could be even more successful in fighting the Germans.
In 1944, Blaichman's group received an order from the People's Army to move east and join forces with another Jewish partisan unit in the Parczew
Parczew
Parczew is a town in eastern Poland, with a population of 10,281 . Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship , previously in Biała Podlaska Voivodeship . It is the capital of Parczew County.-History:...
area commanded by Yechiel Grynszpan. Gruber was appointed deputy commander and Blaichman, at the age of 21, became the unit's youngest platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
commander. In July 1944, the Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
advanced from the east and entered the Parczew forest. Also that month, Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
was taken from the Germans by the Soviets, and Blaichman's partisan group entered the city.
After the war, Blaichman married Cesia Pomeranc, who had also lived in the Parczew area, and six years later they settled in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Near the end of the war and Immediately afterward (April to 19 July 1945) he has worked for the Polish communist secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
(Office of Public Security), as the temporary head of the Department of Prisons and Camps (Wydział Więzień i Obozów) in the Kielce
Kielce
Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...
's Voivode Office of Public Security (Wewódzki Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Państwowego, WUBP).
Blaichman published a memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
in November 2009, Rather Die Fighting: A Memoir of World War II. In August 2010, a Polish translation, Wolę zginąć walcząc. Wspomnienia z II wojny światowej, was released in Poland.
Controversy
The same month the book was published in Poland the Polish newspaper RzeczpospolitaRzeczpospolita (newspaper)
Rzeczpospolita is a Polish national daily newspaper, with a circulation around of 160,000. Issued every day except Sunday. Rzeczpospolita was printed in broadsheet format, then switched to compact at October 16, 2007...
publicized information "Franciszek Blajchman" was the temporary head of the Department of Prisons and Camps of the Office of Public Security in Kielce. His image was also at the exhibition "Faces of the Kielce's Communist Security Agencies", organized by the IPN. This information was widely reported in Polish mass media.
The book has been criticized in Poland for controversial, revisionist
Historical revisionism (negationism)
Historical revisionism is either the legitimate scholastic re-examination of existing knowledge about a historical event, or the illegitimate distortion of the historical record such that certain events appear in a more or less favourable light. For the former, i.e. the academic pursuit, see...
claims, such as the accusation of widespread antisemitism in Armia Krajowa
Armia Krajowa
The Armia Krajowa , or Home Army, was the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland. It was formed in February 1942 from the Związek Walki Zbrojnej . Over the next two years, it absorbed most other Polish underground forces...
(AK, or Home Army). Stanisław Aronson
Stanisław Aronson
Stanisław Aronson is a Polish Jew and an Israeli citizen, as well as a former officer of the Polish Home Army with a rank of Lieutenant...
, a former Polish-Jewish officer of the AK, called the charges made in the book against the Home Army "absurd", as did Polish historians such as Jan Żaryn and Waldemar Paruch (see also Armia Krajowa and the Jews). Blaichman portrayal of his activities in Jewish resistance has been questioned, and it has been alleged that he was a member of a criminal gang (associated with communist Gwardia Ludowa
Gwardia Ludowa
Gwardia Ludowa or GL was a communist armed organisation in Poland, organised by the Soviet created Polish Workers Party. It was the largest military organization which refused to join the structures of the Polish Underground State. It was created in 1942 and in 1944 it was incorporated by the...
resistance) which focused on forcefully obtaining provisions from the local populace and clashed with the Polish resistance. Blaichman also mentions that at one point he shot dead two AK soldiers,which has led to demands for this case to be investigated as a murder.. The spokesman for the Polish Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...
has declared that Blaichman's book will be investigated to determine whether he is guilty of what Polish legal system describes as "communist crime
Communist crime
Communist crimes , is a legal definition used notably in Polish criminal law. The concept is also used more broadly internationally, and is employed by human rights NGOs as well as government agencies such as the Foundation for the Investigation of Communist Crimes, the Institute for Information on...
s".