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Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski (February 27, 1877 - August 28, 1944) was a Polish Jew and wartime businessman appointed by Nazi Germany as the head of the Council of Elders in the Łódź Ghetto during the occupation of Poland in World War II.〔 He accrued exponentially more power by transforming the Ghetto into an industrial base manufacturing war supplies for the Wehrmacht army in the mistaken belief that productivity was the key to Jewish survival beyond the Holocaust. The Germans liquidated the ghetto in 1944. All remaining prisoners were sent to death camps in the wake of military defeats on the Eastern Front of World War II.〔 Rumkowski is remembered for his speech ''Give Me Your Children'', delivered at a time when the Germans demanded his compliance with the deportation of 20,000 children to Chełmno extermination camp. In August 1944, Rumkowski and his family joined the last transport to Auschwitz,〔 Gale Biography In Context〕 and was murdered there on August 28, 1944 by the Jewish ''Sonderkommando'' inmates who beat him to death in revenge for his role in the Holocaust. This account of his final moments is confirmed by witness testimonies of the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials.〔〔 © MMX, World Media Rights Limited〕 ==Background== Before the Nazi German invasion of Poland, Mordechaj (in Polish) Rumkowski was an insurance agent in Łódź; member of Qahal, and in 1925–1939 head of a Jewish orphanage at Krajowa 15 Street. The invading Germans have annexed Łódź into the Reich as part of the territory of new ''Reichsgaue'' away from the ''Generalgouvernement'' in the rest of occupied Poland. The Jewish communities were dissolved in the countryside and forced into brand new metropolitan Nazi ghettos. The occupation authority ordered the creation of the new Jewish Councils known as the ''Judenräte'' which acted as bridges between the Nazis and the inmate population of the ghettos. In addition to managing basic services such as communal kitchens, infirmaries, post offices and vocational schools, common tasks of the ''Judenräte'' included providing the Nazi regime with slave labor, and rounding up quotas of Jews for "resettlement in the East," a euphemism for deportations to extermination camps in the deadliest phase of the Holocaust.〔 On October 13, 1939, the Nazi ''Amtsleiter'' in Łódź appointed Rumkowski the ''Judenälteste'' ("Chief Elder of the Jews"), head of the ''Ältestenrat'' ("Council of Elders"). In this position, Rumkowski reported directly to the Nazi ghetto administration, headed by Hans Biebow.〔("Rumkowski, Mordechai Chaim" ). ''Yad Vashem School for Holocaust Studies''. Retrieved: 01.10.2011.〕 When the rabbinate was dissolved, Rumkowski performed weddings. The ghetto's money or scrip, the so-called ''Rumki'' (sometimes ''Chaimki''), was derived from his name, as it had been his idea.〔S.J. (H.E.A.R.T 2007), ("The Lodz Ghetto" ). ''Holocaust Research Project'', 2010. Retrieved: 01.10.2011.〕 His face was put on the ghetto postage stamps.〔Carmello Lisciotto (H.E.A.R.T 2007), ("Chaim Rumkowski" ). ''Holocaust Research Project'', 2007. Retrieved: 01.10.2011.〕 As the ''Judenrat'' leader, Rumkowski was swayed by the slogan "''Arbeit macht frei'' - Work sets you free" that appeared on the gates of several concentration camps. By industrializing the Łódź ghetto, he hoped to make the community indispensable to the Germans and save the people of Łódź. On April 5, 1940, Rumkowski petitioned the Germans for materials for the Jews to manufacture in exchange for desperately needed food and money. By the end of the month, the Germans had acquiesced in part, agreeing to provide food, but not money.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 The Lodz Ghetto )〕 Although Rumkowski and other "Jewish elders" of the Nazi era came to be regarded as collaborators and traitors, historians have reassessed this judgement since the late 20th century in light of the terrible conditions of the time. A survivor of the Łódź ghetto, Arnold Mostowicz, noted in his memoir that Rumkowski gave a percentage of his people a chance to survive two years longer than the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto, destroyed in the Uprising.〔Unger 2004, ''Reassessment'', p. 11.〕 However, as noted by Lucjan Dobroszycki, the ultimate decision on the future was not his to make.〔Dobroszycki 1984, ''( The Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto, )'' page lxi.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chaim Rumkowski」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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