Talk:Leon Felhendler

Death

Please note that:

1) It is impossible for Feldhandler to have been accidentally shot by an Armia Krajowa partisan during an execution in April 1945. That is because the Armia Krajowa disbanded in January 1945. 2) Nobody named Hersh Blank escaped from Sobibor. 3) Googling the name "Hersh Blank" produces two results: both are from this article. There is no other trace of the name. 4) If you would like to make statements regarding the death of Feldhandler, please provide links to sources. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 13:04, January 22, 2009 (talk) 62.190.36.11 (UTC)

Your "anti-sEmetic" Poles are just in violation of NPOV. Hersh Blank was a collaborant of UB and NKVD like majority of Jews who survived horror German occupation in Poland. Do some research, if you base your knowledge on what Google shows you, you are in trouble. Try to kee your bias towards Poles to your personal life. Being a bigot in XXI century is really strange. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.42.78.192 (talk) 22:37, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Do you happen to have any sources which support your claims? Or do you just expect us to blindly believe your outlandish fantasies? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.158.196.107 (talk) 00:26, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

• The Polish counterpart to this article asserts a different cause of death, and sources are cited. Those sources, as well as at least some of the sources inserted here, should be reviewed for reliabilty. If there is well-sourced support for a different cause of death than that now stated in this article, it should be represented, and all sources should be vetted under the criteria of WP:RS. This article should not be a battleground, but an objective restatement of the facts, or what is known of them, and if histories differ, the differences should be mentioned. Kablammo (talk) 13:33, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

The sources in Polish article are antisemitic. I did however found one source from museum about Holocaust that calls his death causes unclear. Additionally there is a scholary work dedicated to his death and its circumstances but I couldn't find what it writes Leon Felhendler, zapomniany bohater, „Biuletyn Gminy Wyznaniowej Żydowskiej w Warszawie” 2003, nr 18-19(21). . --Molobo (talk) 17:48, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

How do you know the sources in Polish version are antisemitic if you could not find what the scholarly work writes ? Are you able to read "antisemitic" Polish, but not scientific Polish ?

As is now, article shows possible causes of his killing and cites sources connected with Feldhandler. It does not contain previously inserted references to articles about so called Polish Antisemitism which did not mention Feldhandler at all. This article is not about Antisemitism and we do not know if they killed him because they did not like his yarmulke or because he was there with collaborator Blank. 200.193.129.125 (talk) 02:48, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Nine sources say that Feldhandler was killed by antisemites, and one source says he was killed by a Home Army partisan. I've edited the article to reflect what the sources say. If you have any questions, please read WP:UNDUE. — [[::User:Malik Shabazz|Malik Shabazz]] ([[::User talk:Malik Shabazz|talk]] · [[::Special:Contributions/Malik Shabazz|contribs]]) 03:07, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

As a matter of fact, the books listed as sources all state that Feldhendler was killed by Polish anti-semites. All of them are available on google books and thus the content regarding Feldhendler can be easily checked.62.190.36.11 (talk) 12:17, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Nonsense and bias. I will report socketpuppetry for Malik Shabbaz. 200.193.129.125 (talk) 01:22, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Death: references

I've attempted to improve the sourcing on the matter of who killed Feldhendler. Here is a summary of the changes:

• Reformatted existing references, giving fuller bibliographical details
• Added sources that specifically state that:

• Feldhendler was killed by the NSZ
• The NSZ was a right-wing, anti-semitic organization

• Removed sources that don't specifically mention who killed Feldhendler -- except those that are from books whose contents I've been unable to verify. If in fact these sources don't relate to the issue of who the perpetrators were, feel free to remove the references.
• Removed an EL to an MS-Word doc off a discussion board. Please see Wikipedia:External links:Links normally to be avoided:

• 10. Links to... chat or discussion forums/groups.

If this is a legitimate published source that would meet Wikipedia:Reliable sources, Wikipedia:Verifiability, Wikipedia:No original research, please restore it along with its publication information. A translation would also be helpful.

--Rrburke^(talk) 15:53, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Recent references

Seeing the controversy in this article, I will use the discussion page before editing. Here is some translation from a recent (January 17, 2008) Gazeta Wyborcza article that has some new information on the death of Feldhendler. Follow this link to see the article in Polish. I paraphrase key passages below.

When human life lost its value

First the article states that between the summer of 1944 and fall of 1946 at least 118 Jews were killed in the Lublin district, mostly in robberies or antisemitic killings. The subject was studied by Dr Adam Kopciowski. He explains about the murder of Leon Feldhendler: "I tried to explain mysterious murder of Leon Feldhendler in Lublin, one of the leaders of the revolt in Sobibor. I realised that there were more cases like that. Hence my publication"

In the spring 1945 Feldhendler lived with his wife in Number 6 building on Zlota street. He rented a room there. On April 2 he was shot and wounded by unknown perpetrators. The shot was fired through the doors of the flat. He died three days later in hospital. The only official document related to this event, found by the Lublin historian, is the admissions list of the "Wincenty a Paulo" hospital listing the wounded man. Dr Kopciowski does not exclude that the murder may have been a robbery - from testimony of a friend of Feldhendler it emerges that he traded in gold. However, nothing was missing from the flat.

The historian states that right after the war the Lublin district was one of the most dangerous regions of Poland for Jews.

What follows from this is interesting. Was there a wave of antisemitic murders in Lublin in those years? Yes. Could Leon Feldhendler been a victim of such a murder? Certainly, and even likely. Nevertheless, it is not known who killed him, so the exact motive will never be known. It will be tricky to rewrite the article to reflect this, but we must try. 70.48.217.40 (talk) 17:42, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Bit more info. The newspaper article refers to the article by Adam Kopciowski entitled Zajścia antyżydowskie na Lubelszczyźnie w pierwszych latach po drugiej wojnie światowej (Anti-Jewish Incidents in the Lublin Region in the Early Years after World War II) that was published in Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały (The Holocaust of the Jews, Studies and Materials). Kopciowski's credentials are given as historian, assistant prof. in the Department of Culture and History of the Jews , Lublin University This scholarly publication also has an English edition, and the article abstract in English can be accessed here.

Overall, this looks like a reputable scholarly publication that at this point should be used as our primary source for the circumstances of Feldhendler's death. It would be good to have the original article in the long run, but for now the information from the article and the interview with Kopciowski in reputable and reliable Gazeta Wyborcza, a major Polish newspaper, should be sufficient. 70.48.217.40 (talk) 18:25, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Good news, I have managed to get my hands on the original article by Kopciowski, through www.ceeol.com site. I will translate key passages below.70.48.217.40 (talk) 18:56, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Kopciowski article

First, I will paste the Polish text here. Then I will translate. Start quote:

Podejmowane czasem wysiłki zmierzające do ustalenia rzeczywistych motywów zajść antyżydowskich zwykle kończą się fiaskiem, a dysponującym ograniczoną liczbą źródeł historykom pozostaje budowanie bardziej lub mniej słusznych hipotez. Bardzo wyraźną egzemplifikacją tego problemu badawczego jest chociażby sprawa zamordowania w Lublinie jednego z przywódców powstania w Sobiborze Leona (Lejba) Felhendlera. Jak dotychczas sprawa ta nie doczekała się poważniejszego i wyczerpującego opracowania historycznego.

Felhendler70 przybył do Lublina latem 1944 roku po wyparciu Niemców z Lubelszczyzny. Zamieszkał wraz z innymi uciekinierami z Sobiboru w kamienicy przy ulicy Kowalskiej 4. Zaczął prowadzić różne interesy, handlował, a po pewnym czasie uruchomił w dzielnicy Kalinowszczyzna garbarnię, w której znaleźli zatrudnienie Żydzi ocaleli z pożogi wojennej.

Jakiś czas później Felhendler ożenił się z wdową po zamordowanym Herszu Blanku, Żydówką pochodzącą z Krasnegostawu71. Dążąc zapewne do życiowej stabilizacji wyprowadził się z przepełnionego mieszkania przy ulicy Kowalskiej i przeniósł na ulicę Złotą 672. Tragedia wydarzyła się na początku kwietnia 1945 roku. Jak relacjonowa- ła żona Felhendlera:

Drugiego kwietnia, o godzinie przed siódmą wieczór, siedzieliśmy w naszym pokoju. Był to ostatni pokój, mieszkaliśmy w sublokatorstwie. Usłyszałam ruch w pokoju gospodarzy. Leżałam na tapczanie czytając książkę. On coś pisał. Coś mnie tknęło. Powiedziałam tylko „Leon, to oni”. Doszedł do drzwi. Ujął za klamkę. Padł strzał. Jeden strzał przez drzwi. Stał blady. Zerwałam się, nie rozumiejąc. „Uciekajmy drugimi drzwiami”, powiedziałam. „Nie mogę”. „Bo co?”. „Mam kulę, o tu”. [...] Ciągnąc go za rękę, uciekliśmy na ulicę. Złapałam dorożkę. Po- jechaliśmy do szpitala. Za kilka godzin operowali go. Operacja udała się, lecz doktorzy ani przez chwilę nie wierzyli w możliwość wyzdrowienia. [...] Męczył się jeszcze trzy dni, nie chciałam mu dawać wody, nie pozwolili. I tak skończył się jeszcze jeden rozdział Sobiboru73.

Według księgi przyjęć szpitala im. Wincentego a Paulo, Leona Felhendlera przyjęto na oddział chirurgiczny 3 kwietnia 1945 roku z rozpoznaniem „przestrzał przez dolną część klatki piersiowej, jelita, żołądek”74. Pacjent zmarł trzy dni później, 6 kwietnia. Ten zapis jest jedynym znalezionym przez autora dokumentem archiwalnym pośred- nio dotyczącym zabójstwa Felhendlera75. Nic nie wskazuje, aby po morderstwie wszczęto w tej sprawie dochodzenie. W raportach sytuacyjnych lubelskiego MO za rok 1945, przechowywanych w Archiwum IPN w Lublinie, nie ma żadnego śladu relacjonujące- go to wydarzenie, choć przypadki morderstw popełnionych na obszarze miasta były w nich skrupulatnie odnotowywane. Co ciekawe, w raporcie z 5 kwietnia figuruje zapis o zabójstwie dokonanym w mieszkaniu przy ulicy Złotej 6/4 (czyli lokalu zajmo- wanym przez małżeństwo Felhendlerów), jednak ofiarą jest niejaka Hanna Gil76.

Ponieważ nie wykryto sprawców, motywy zabójstwa Leona Felhendlera pozostają tajemnicą. Według relacji przedwojennego mieszkańca Żółkiewki, Jerzego Kołodziejczyka, mógł to być mord na tle rabunkowym.

W 1944 r. czy też na początku 1945 r. spotkałem L. Felhendlera w Lublinie. Zaprosił mnie do kawiarni i opowiedział o swoich przeżyciach związanych z ucieczką z obozu zagłady. Mieszkał wówczas w Lublinie i zajmował się nielegalnie handlem złotem. Był bardzo nieostrożny, gdyż podczas spotkania ze mną chełpił się posiadaniem złota, pokazując mi w pełnej ludzi kawiarni pełną garść złotych monet. [...] według wersji, jaką słyszałem w Lublinie, Felhendler został zamordowany przez bandytów na tle rabunkowym, a zatem przypuszczam, że jego morderstwo nie było związane z antysemityzmem77. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.48.217.40 (talk) 19:02, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

---

And now my translation, sometimes very literal, as some Polish terms are difficult to render adequately.

---

Efforts undertaken sometimes aiming at establishing real motives for anti-jewish incidents often end in fiasco, and historians having at their disposal limited number of sources are left with building more or less plausible hypothetical explanations. A very clear example of this research problem is for one the case of the murder in Lublin of one of the leaders of the Sobibor revolt Leon (Lejb) Feldendler. To this day the case has not received a serious and exhaustive study from a historian.

Felhendler arrived in Lublin in the summer of 1944 after the Germans were expelled from the Lublin region. He moved in with other escapees from Sobibor to a #4 house on Kowalska street. He started to run various business ventures, traded, and after some time started a tannery in Kalinowszczyzna district, which employed Jews that survived the war calamity.

A short time later Felhendler married a widow of murdered Hersz Blank, a Jewish woman from Krasnystaw. In search of stability in his life he moved out of the overfull flat on Kowalska Street and went to live on #6 Zlota street. The tragedy happened at the beginning of April 1945. As related by the wife of Felhendler:

On April 2nd, at 7 o'clock in the evening, we were sitting in our room. This was the furthest room (my comment:from the main door to flat?), and we were subletting. I heard some movement in the room of our landlords. I was laying down on a couch reading a book. He was writing something. Something startled me. I said "Leon, it's them". He went to the door. Took hold of the doorhandle. A single shot rang out, through the door. He stood there ashen faced. I stood up, not understanding. "Let's escape through the second door", I said. "I can't". "Why?" "I took a bullet, right here". [...] Tugging his hand, we fled to the street. I hailed a horse taxi. We went to the hosptal. A few hours later he was operated on. The operation was successful, but the doctors not for a moment believed in the possibility of recovery. [...] He suffered for three days, I did not want to give him water, the doctors forbade it. And so ended one more chapter of Sobibor.

According to the admissions book in the Wincenty a Paulo hospital, Leon Felhendler was admitted to the surgery ward on April 3 1945 with diagnosis "shot through lower chest, intestines, stomach". The Patient died 3 days later, on April 6. This record is the only archival document found by the author related to the murder of Felhendler. There is no indication that after the murder any investigation was carried out. In the reports of the Lublin police for the year 1945, stored in the IPN Archive in Lublin, there is no trace related to this event, even though the cases of murders committed in the city were routinely, meticulously noted. What is interesting, in a report from April 5 there is a record of a murder carried out in a flat on Zlota street 6/4 (in other words in the flat where Felhenlers lived), but the victim is given as Hanna Gil.

Because the perpetrators were never found, the motives for the murder of Leon Felhendler remain a mystery. According to the testimony of a prewar inhabitant of Żółkiewka, Jerzy Kołodziejczyk, it could have been a murder motivated by robbery. He states:

In 1944 or at the start of 1945 I met L. Felhendler in Lublin. He invited me to a cafe and related his experiences during the escape from the death camp. He lived at that time in Lublin and was trading gold illegally. He was sloppy, for during the meeting with me he gloated that he had gold, showing me in the filled cafe a full handful of gold coins. [...] According to a version that I heard in Lublin, Felhendler was killed by bandits for motives related to robbery, so I assume that the murder was not connected to anti-semitism.

---

Sorry for the long text, but this complex matter should receive adequate treatment in Wikipedia. 70.48.217.40 (talk) 19:21, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, this is really interesting information.--Jacurek (talk) 19:34, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Indeed, it is very interesting and it should now be the main basis for describing the circumstances of Feldhendler's murder, as it is the most recent scholarly study with the best access to the few sources that are available in Lublin. The date of death has to be changed in the first sentence as well.

As is made clear in the article, nobody knows who killed him. His fellow Sobibor survivors must have assumed the worst, that he was killed for anti-semitic reasons, and that is the version they give in their testimony and memoirs. Under the circumstances, that is actually quite probable, so their assumption was reasonable. Anti-semitism must be given as a possible motive for his murder, given the anti-Jewish violence prevalent in the city at the time. But the article should not state that it is certain this was so. And the specific mention of NSZ should not be there, as there is no strong indication at all that they were involved, and not some other underground organisation. Personally, I don't think he was killed by the underground because he was not involved in the Communist apparatus, so there would have been no motive for the underground to kill him (as happened to other Communist functionaries) 70.48.217.40 (talk) 20:19, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Can you do some editing into an article itself ? Hopefully other editors will soon comment. Thanks again.--Jacurek (talk) 20:54, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

To the IP: Thank you for the interesting information. Could you provide more detailed information about the article so we can properly cite it: a direct link to the article (even if it's only available by subscription), the author's name, the title, the date, and the name of the publication. Thank you very much.

Jacurek, the IP can't edit the article because it's been semi-protected. Only registered users can edit it. — [[::User:Malik Shabazz|Malik Shabazz]] ([[::User talk:Malik Shabazz|talk]] · [[::Special:Contributions/Malik Shabazz|contribs]]) 21:10, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry, it looks like we have the source information here. Thank you. — [[::User:Malik Shabazz|Malik Shabazz]] ([[::User talk:Malik Shabazz|talk]] · [[::Special:Contributions/Malik Shabazz|contribs]]) 21:15, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Indeed, I am not allowed to edit. Also, I want a lengthy discussion to happen first before any changes are made, so any further edit warring is avoided.

I should also correct something I said above. Further in his article, the author states that of the 118 murdered Jews he has clearly identified for the 1944-1946, most of them were killed in the countryside of the Lublin district, and only 7 were murdered in the city of Lublin itself (at the time it had about 100,000 inhabitants, a very rough estimate). Thus the murder of Feldhendler was probably somewhat notorious, but to say that murders of Jews were prevalent in the city, as I said above, is probably too strong. The rather low number is rather unsurprising, as the Communist authorities had a rather strong grip on a large city such as Lublin and could maintain law and order.

On the other hand, Kopciowski states that of the 118 murdered Jews on his list, at most 24 (about 20%) were killed for political, and not racial reasons. Those 24 included 9 soldiers, 8 policemen, 3 suspected informers, 3 security guards and 1 prosecutor. In other words the motives for the murder of 80% of the Jews were anti-semitic or robbery related (or of course both, as one could have antisemitic robbers).

From this one may conclude (without too much OR) that the chances that Feldhendler was killed by an underground operation are rather low, as he was not a member of the Communist regime apparatus. Hence the chances that NSZ targeted him are low, and our article at present is incorrect. 70.48.217.40 (talk) 21:56, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Also note that the Thomas Blatt source does not say that Feldhendler was killed by NSZ but rather by "anti-semitic Poles". The source right before it, by Mushkat and Swiatkowski links to a short Google Books excerpt and there it does say NSZ but it's got an asterisk on it indicating a footnote or something of that sort which means that that statement could be qualified. Anyone have the actual book? The Arad source says "right wing Poles" not NSZ but I guess that's probably what he means.radek (talk) 22:56, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Kopciowski published his work in 2007, the books that says NSZ was responsible in 1948 and 1952. More recent scholarship should take precedence here, for fairly obvious reasons. To give just one, consider the bias of Communist publications at the time against anti-communist underground.

Let me be clear. In my personal opinion NSZ was a very nasty, anti-semitic organisation, but blaming them in this case is just not correct. The perpetrators were unidentified. It may have been any one of the underground groups operating at the time, or just random (possibly antisemitic) robbers. We will probably never know. Our article makes it sound almost certain that NSZ was involved. 70.48.217.40 (talk) 23:23, 29 January 2009 (UTC)