Mordechai Anielewicz (1919-1943), the commander of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, is amongst the most famous Jewish individuals in the history of the Holocaust. His bravery, determination, and devotion to the cause of Jewish resistance against the Nazis undoubtedly make him a hero. Yet, we still do not know how one out of many leaders of Hashomer Hatzair had become 'the Anielewicz' we know today? In my paper, I am going to look closely at the memory of Anielewicz in the 5 years immediately following the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto to give preliminary answers to this question.
The story of Anielewicz was written in this period by people who personally knew him, saw him as a friend and as a hero. Anielewicz's story as we know it is governed by the master-narrative of Jewish resistance and heroic, yet hopeless, defiance. It is narrated as if the main path in his life was to become the commander of the ghetto uprising. Some say that history is written by the victors – in this case, it was written by the survivors of one of the most tragic events in human history who wanted to commemorate the heroism of their friend but also to show that Jews did not go 'like sheep to slaughter', but fought heroically, killed Nazis and took righteous revenge for the murdered. In my paper, I will show the pre-uprising context in which this narrative emerged and I will point out to main patterns used to narrate Anielewicz's story in an immediate post-war context. I will also try to address the issue of how the memory of heroic events is being constructed.
