The Leadership of the Jewish Combat Organization during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: A Reassessment

Abstract

Mordechai Anielewicz is generally known as the commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. However, a reexamination of documents and testimonies raises a number of fundamental questions as to Anielewicz's role and authority within the Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, ŻOB). On the basis of her close reading of these sources, the author of this article places Anielewicz in historical context and sheds light on the ŻOB's modes of operation both before and during the Uprising, thus facilitating a broader reevaluation of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto.