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| A letter signed by Eugeniusz, the moniker of Eliezer Geller, to his comrades in Mandate Palestine. He describes his situation. Warsaw, June 7, 1943. See the translation below. |
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| Eliezer Geller's letter to friends in Eretz Israel. He describes Celina (Lubetkin) and Tosia (Altman). He also mentions Regards from Haganska, which is a kind of code related to Hagana (?). In the same way, the name of Celina (Lubetkin) was used in several letters. As mentioned, Tosia Altman was captured two weeks later when the factory where she and others (also Eliezer) were sheltering caught fire. Severely burned, she was handed over to the Gestapo and died two days later. |
Stroop writes in his report, “Even though huge blocks of houses were completely burned down, Jews still survive in bunkers located 2–3 meters underground,” which are very difficult to detect. The Germans wipe out 30 bunkers and destroy all escape routes to the “Aryan side”. 1,599 Jews are captured, 179 of whom are “shot in combat”. 3,855 people are loaded onto trains at the Umschlagplatz. Stroop reports to his superiors that 37,359 Jews have been captured since the operation began. He assures them the operation will continue the next day.
Eliazer Geller was born in Opoczno in 1919. He was among the initiators in setting up fighting underground in Częstochowa and Zaglebie. Geller served in the Polish army in 1939 and, along with many of his comrades, fell prisoner to the Germans and was freed after four months. He then went to Warsaw, where he was called upon by Yisrael Zeltzer, the only one of the Gordonia leadership still alive, to take on extensive movement activities. Geller distributed the movement's publications in the underground, visited Gordonia branches throughout Poland, and made contact with the Gordonia office in Geneva. Geller and Zeltzer did not work well together, and they turned for mediation to Dr. Natan Eck to decide which of them would step down from Gordonia's leadership. Eck decided in favor of Geller, who was made a member of the movement's directorate.
In the January 1943 fighting in the ghetto, Geller fought in the Dror/Gordonia combat group and was made commander of a squad in the Toebbens - Schultz "shop" area. In the Warsaw ghetto uprising in April 1943, Geller commanded a combat squad at 76 Leszno Street.
On May 10, 1943, he left the burning ghetto via the sewers to the "Aryan" side of Warsaw. He and other fighters took refuge at a celluloid factory at 10 Listopadowa 11 Street (November 11th, Poland's Independence Day). Geller was burned in the fire that broke out there on May 24, 1943 -- he was the only survivor -- and succeeded in escaping from the Polish police. In the summer of 1943, he tried to leave Poland with forged documents of a South American national, but was caught and sent to Auschwitz, where he perished.
Translation of the Letter from Eliezer Geller ("Eugeniusz")
Warsaw, July 7, 1943
My Dear One,
I hasten to inform you of a change in my address; I am currently living at Olwerta 14 m 12. I ask that you continue to send me both small and larger food parcels. Especially – of course – I am anxious to receive a large parcel and that, as far as possible, as soon as possible; I trust that you will satisfy my request.
Certain small changes have occurred in my life. I have been ill and had another hemorrhage. How it will go with my health in the future, I do not know. Celina is living together with me, and Tosia died a short while ago. You have surely received greetings from Hagańska. I am being looked after by Toczkowski.
I ask you very much to cordially greet Zahirski. I know that you are busy and that you do not have time for writing. So write me very short letters; just a few words will be enough for me – but write. I greet you and Moładecka cordially.
Yours,
Eugeniusz.
Eugeniusz.
This letter, written by Eliezer Geller (using the pseudonym Eugeniusz), is a rare and profound document from the aftermath of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Geller, a leading figure in the ZOB (Jewish Fighting Organization) and the Gordonia movement, was hiding on the "Aryan side" of Warsaw when this was written. The letter serves as a clandestine status report to the Jewish leadership in Mandatory Palestine.
Key Figures and Coded References:
- Eliezer Geller ("Eugeniusz"): A group commander during the uprising, Geller was a key link between the underground in occupied Poland and the outside world. He was eventually caught during the "Hotel Polski" affair and murdered in Auschwitz.
- "Celina" (Cywia Lubetkin): One of the most famous female leaders of the Jewish underground. By stating that "Celina is living with me," Geller was providing critical intelligence that one of the movement's most important symbols had survived the bunker at Miła 18 and the uprising.
- "Tosia" (Tosia Altman): Another legendary courier and ZOB commander. The sentence "Tosia died a short while ago" confirms her tragic end. In May 1943, she was severely burned in a factory fire at Listopadowa Street while in hiding. Captured by the Gestapo in a state of agony, she died shortly after. Geller’s words are a direct, somber confirmation of this loss to the resistance.
- "Hagańska" (The Haganah): The reference to greetings from "Hagańska" was a vital signal of continued loyalty and connection to the Haganah, the Jewish paramilitary organization in Palestine. It symbolized that despite the destruction of the Ghetto, the bridge to Eretz Israel remained unbroken.
At a time when the Germans were attempting to finalize the "liquidation" of the Jewish presence in Poland—both by erasing sites like Treblinka death camp (80 km from Warsaw) and by hunting down survivors—this letter is a testament to the persistence of the spirit and the organization. It highlights the fragile network of safe houses and the desperate importance of international support (the "parcels") in the continued struggle for survival and memory.
