Yitzhak Zuckerman

Yitzhak Zuckerman was not afraid to stand up for his rights, even if Hitler didn't agree
with them. From an early age he was involved in Zionist movements. When the
Dror-He-Haluts was formed, he was appointed to the position of secretary general.
He visited Jewish communities in order to organize branches of the movement and
spread the messages of Socialist Zionism. During World War II Zuckerman used the
code name "Antek" to help found and edit the underground press and promote the
political ideas of the movement, as well as establish the Dror high school. He made
many trips to ghettos, and was in the Warsaw Ghetto during the uprising. During a
meeting of a Zionist collective in the Warsaw Ghetto, Zuckerman was arrested and
taken to a camp in the Kampinos forest where he was forced to dig canals and drain
swamps. Zuckerman described the camp:

"I think up to ten people died daily, together with those who were shot because they were
suspected of being about to escape… I encountered death from starvation there for the
first time. People were talking amongst themselves and suddenly one of them, without any
warning, would die. And I was thinking all the time how I was going to die. But I was
younger, possibly also stronger, and I did not die of starvation."

After paying a large bribe, Yitzhak Zuckerman was released from the camp. He returned to Warsaw and began to organize a resistance movement. He became one fo the three co-commanders of the ZOB. In this position, he negotiated the acquisition of weapons and smuggled in messages. After many leaders, including Anielewicz, died in the Warsaw Ghetto, Zuckerman continued to lead a Jewish group of fighters in the Polish undergroud and to alert Jewish leaders elsewhere to the situation of Jews inside Nazi Europe. There is no doubt that Zuckerman should be recognized as a hero for his efforts, but he tends to disagree. Yitzhak, who is married to Zivia Lebetkin, says, "If you could lick my heart, it would poison you."