Memorial for Pawel Frenkel
Memorial for Pawel FrenkelCourtesy

On a bitingly cold morning in Warsaw in April 2015, I attended a small but moving memorial service to honor the man who started and led the main battle of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

I joined the somber gathering, along with representatives from the German and Israeli diplomatic corps, to pay our respects to Pawel Frenkel and his group of brave fighters in the ZZW (Jewish Military Organization), a Betar affiliated Zionist group.

We gathered in front of a small plaque placed on the side of a commercial building near the Noyzik Synagogue in the area where Frenkel and his fellow fighters died. Kaddish was said along with a few words by the diplomats and then we dispersed in silence.

It was the weekend of the yearly anniversary of the Uprising. Groups of Israeli teens, participants on the March of the Living and an array of tourists walked the streets searching for vapors of Jewish life. Across the city people wore small, yellow paper boutonnieres -store employees, news anchors, international guests, even images in posters on the ubiquitous circular bulletin boards- to acknowledge the annual event.

Later that day, in contrast, a large, respectful group of politicians, Polish military members, journalists, visitors, and Holocaust survivors, some dressed in striped prisoner uniforms, assembled on the plaza next to the Polin Museum. The speeches commemorated the Uprising, Mordechai Anielewicz and his fellow fighters of the Socialist Zionist ZOB (Jewish Fighting Organization).

Over the years, when the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising has been mentioned, Anielewicz and the ZOB usually first come to mind. So how is it that Frenkel and his group have remained relatively unknown and their contributions to the resistance have been diminished or entirely ignored?

There were few survivors from the ZZW. Minimal documentation of these events exist. In fact, much of what we know comes from SS General Jurgen Stroop's reports on his assignment to liquidate the ghetto. Lastly, some students of history opine that the story of Frenkel and his ZZW fighters has been intentionally suppressed by Labor Party members for political reasons. Socialist Zionist ZOB survivors arrived in the nascent State of Israel, then dominated by the Labor Party. With some exceptions, the Labor Party's version of these tragic events became the permanent record as there were no dissenting voices to bear witness to the accomplishments of the ZZW.

In the Ghetto, members of the ZZW and the ZOB were at ideological odds concerning military and social justice matters. Ultimately, the Polish Underground gave the better trained ZZW weapons. Frenkel and his colleagues initiated the struggle against the Nazis at Muranowski Square. For four incredible days the Polish and future Israeli flags flew above Muranowski Square in an act of defiance and courage by the ZZW fighters.

Little by little, more people have learned of Frenkel's actions. Professor Moshe Arens published his well researched book, "Flags over the Warsaw Ghetto" in 2011. Arens methodically engaged Israeli artist Gil Gibli to sketch the only known likeness of Frenkel. In 2017 Israeli filmmakers Yuval Haimovich Zuser and Simon Schechter directed the informative documentary "Ghetto Uprising-The Untold Story.”

According to Professor Arens, Frenkel told his fighters "We live as long as Jewish history continues to live on." The accepted history must be corrected so that the memory of these courageous Jewish fighters lives on.

Loren Greenberg has been a healthcare professional, corporate executive and entrepreneur. She has degrees from UCLA and Harvard University.