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Mira Fuchrer
View on WikipediaMira Fuchrer (Hebrew: מירה פוכרר; 1920 – 8 May 1943) was a Polish Jewish activist of the Jewish resistance movement in the Warsaw Ghetto during the occupation of Poland in World War II; member of the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB), and resistance fighter during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Surrounded by the Germans and their Trawniki auxiliaries in the Anielewicz Bunker, she refused to surrender and committed suicide with the other members of the Jewish resistance.[1][2]
Key Information
Life
[edit]Mira Fuchrer was born to Jewish parents in Warsaw in 1920. She was active in Hashomer Hatzair youth organization in the interwar period, where she met the future commander of ŻOB Mordechai Anielewicz. During the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, Mira and Mordechai got together and fled to Wilno in northeastern part of prewar Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania) in September 1939.[3] They returned to Warsaw in January 1940, and began transforming Hashomer Hatzair into the resistance movement.[1] In November of the same year, they joined the fate of other Jewish citizens of Warsaw trapped in the newly formed ghetto.[4] In the Warsaw Ghetto, Mira worked in a small tailor's shop along with her friends Towa Frenkel and Rachel Zilberberg. In 1942, she visited other ghettos in occupied Poland as a clandestine courier on behalf of ŻOB.[4][5] During the Ghetto Uprising, which began on 19 April 1943, she fought in the so-called central ghetto sector. On May 8, 1943, she was in a bunker at 18 Mila Street together with Mordechai Anielewicz, Rachel Zilberberg,[1] and a group of about 120 ZOB fighters when the bunker was discovered and surrounded by the Germans. Arie Wilner was the first to urge the fighters to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Germans. Most of the fighters shot themselves or took poison, including Mira and ZOB commander Mordechai Anielewicz.[3]
Memorial
[edit]Fuchrer was posthumously awarded the Silver Cross of the Military Order of Virtuti Militari by the decision of the President of the Polish People's Republic Bolesław Bierut in 1948.[6] Mira Fuchrer's name was engraved on the obelisk set at the steps of the memorial known as Anielewicz Mound in 2006. Her name is listed among the 51 names of fighters whose identities were established by postwar historians.[citation needed]
In the 2001 television film Uprising, she was portrayed by Australian actress Radha Mitchell.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Bartrop, Paul R. (2016). Resisting the Holocaust: Upstanders, Partisans, and Survivors. ABC-CLIO. pp. 11–12. ISBN 978-1610698795.
- ^ Moshe Arens. Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto. Jerusalem. 2011. page 264
- ^ a b Engelking, Barbara; Leociak, Jacek (2013). Getto warszawskie. Przewodnik po nieistniejącym mieście. Warsaw: Stowarzyszenie Centrum Badań nad Zagładą Żydów. p. 807. ISBN 978-83-63444-27-3.
- ^ a b Grupińska, Anka (2003). Odczytanie Listy. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie. p. 65. ISBN 83-08-03314-8.
- ^ Kurzman, Dan (1993). The Bravest Battle: The 28 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. New York: De Capo Publications. p. 169.
- ^ Monitor Polski 1948, No. 43, Pg. 192
Bibliography
[edit]- Grupińska, Anka (2000). Ciągle po kole. Rozmowy z żołnierzami getta warszawskiego. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Twój Styl. p. 381. ISBN 83-7163-187-1.
- Lubetkin, Cywia (1999). Zagłada i powstanie. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo "Książka i Wiedza". p. 172. ISBN 83-05-13041-X.
- Kurzman, Dan (1993). The Bravest Battle: The 28 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Da Campo Press.
- Arens, Moshe (2019). Flags Over the Warsaw Ghetto. Independently published.
Media related to Mira Fuchrer at Wikimedia Commons
Mira Fuchrer
View on GrokipediaMira Fuchrer (1920 – 8 May 1943) was a Polish Jewish resistance fighter active in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Nazi occupation, serving as a leader in the Ha-Shomer Ha-Tzair Zionist youth movement and a member of the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB).[1][2]
Born in Warsaw, she joined Ha-Shomer Ha-Tzair at an early age and rose to become a counselor, fostering Zionist ideals among Jewish youth.[3] At the outset of World War II, Fuchrer traveled to Vilnius with other movement leaders in an attempt to emigrate to Palestine but returned to Warsaw amid escalating persecution.[1] In the ghetto, she maintained a close relationship with Mordechai Anielewicz, the ŻOB commander, and contributed to organizing armed resistance against deportations and liquidation efforts.[4] During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April–May 1943, Fuchrer fought alongside ŻOB fighters, embodying the defiance against German forces intent on total extermination.[1] She perished on 8 May 1943, likely in the command bunker at 18 Miła Street during the final German assault.[2] Posthumously, on 19 April 1948, she was awarded the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari by Polish President Bolesław Bierut, cited for "merit in fighting with the German invader."[1] Her actions highlight the organized Jewish armed struggle, prioritizing empirical resistance over passive victimhood in the face of systematic genocide.[5]
