Marek Edelman: Death of a hero

When asked what he thought was most important in life, Marek Edelman, the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, who died on 2 October at the age of 87, replied, “Basically, it is life itself that is most important. And if there is life, then most important is freedom. And then one gives one’s life for freedom. It is hard to say which is more important after that.” This response “reflects his philosophy of life: uncompromising, resolutely honest, unshakable in his principles”, writes Gazeta Wyborcza, paying homage to Edelman on the front page of its 3 October edition. During the uprising against the German forces in 1943, Edelman “boosted people’s morale in a desperate fight – not for their lives, since precious few were to survive – but for a worthy death”. After the war he became a leading cardiologist and, later on, a member of the Solidarnosc trade union: he was arrested when martial law was imposed in 1981. During the antisemitic campaign in 1968, recalls Gazeta Wyborcza, he refused to leave the country because he considered himself “the guardian of the tombs of the Jews”.