by Dr. Israel Jamitovsky
Despite the passage of time, stories and personalities continue to emerge that are worth knowing in their true dimension. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that began on April 19, 1943, the Jewish organizations involved, and the diverse fates suffered by its leaders and promoters are well known. It was a genuine symbol and reference point for Jewish resistance during the Holocaust.
A few days ago I learned about the work of a couple who not only fought in the aforementioned rebellion, but also survived it, a story that is completely or at best barely known. Although the information I had access to is not abundant, it is certainly worth knowing at least in general terms the valuable career of Boruch and Chaike Spiegel.
Let's start with the woman. Chaike Belchatowska was born on November 11, 1920 in Warsaw, Poland. Her mother, a socialist activist, influenced her worldview to such an extent that she joined the ranks of the Bund (a non-Zionist Jewish socialist party). In 1939, Poland was conquered by Nazi Germany and the systematic expulsion of Jews began. In this context, in November 1942 Chaike was deported to the Treblinka extermination camp, but displaying courage and daring she managed to escape and joined the Jewish Combat Organization known by its Polish acronym ZOB.
It is estimated that during the military uprising, some 7.000 Jews were killed, some 30.000 were sent to extermination camps, while 50 to 100 fighters managed to survive the rebellion and flee to the forests outside Warsaw. Among them were Chaike and her future husband Boruch Spiegel.
Boruch Spiegel was born on 4 October 1919 in Warsaw, the son of an Orthodox Jewish mother and a leather worker who ran a small factory specialising in the manufacture of briefcases and leggings. In the face of the German invasion of Poland, Boruch and his brother Beryl headed for Bialystok, in eastern Poland, which had been occupied by the Soviets.
Beryl returned to Warsaw, looking after the fate of her parents and two sisters, and joined the Bund, which was already operating underground. Boruch did the same. At the same time, the Jews were rounded up for deportation, but the Spiegel family held out for a long time, given that their apartment had a steel door that the Germans could not break through and get around this obstacle.
However, the efforts of his family were in vain. His father died of malnutrition, while his mother, two sisters and Beryl himself perished from causes that Boruch Spiegel never fully understood. Boruch himself nearly died in a forced labour camp to which he was sent before being deported to the Treblinka extermination camp, but, showing his courage and intrepidity, he managed to escape and returned to the Warsaw Ghetto.
Fighters without truce
Both Boruch and Chaike, whom he married years later, returned to Warsaw, joined the Polish partisans and took part in the Polish uprising of 1944. The German repression was tremendous, destroying 90% of Warsaw. Boruch, Chaike and other Jews hid in the bunker located in the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto. The group remained hidden until the liberation of the city on January 17, 1945.
The couple later moved to Sweden because Boruch felt that there was no future for a full Jewish life in Poland and they got married there, had a daughter and a son as well as four grandchildren. Years later the family moved to Montreal. Boruch followed his father's path in the leather and handbag making business, first as a salaried employee and later as the owner of his own establishment.
In 2003, on the XNUMXth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Boruch Spiegel and five other ZOB fighters were honored by the Polish government. Only two of them - Simcha Rotem and Pnina Greenspan, who were living in Israel at the time - attended the ceremony.
Chaike Belchatowska Spiegel died in Montreal in 2002 at the age of 81, while Boruch Spiegel died in Montreal in 93 at the age of 2013, also one of the last combatants of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. His figure and career were discussed in the press organs of the hierarchy of the New York Times y Los Angeles Times.
Like so many others, Chaike Belchatowska Spiegel and Baruch Spiegel set a benchmark of commitment, courage and bravery.
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kol hakavod