Editing Chaim Rumkowski (section)

{{Short description|Head of Judenrat in Lodz Ghetto}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Chaim Rumkowski
| image              = File:Chaim Rumkowski Hans Biebow.jpg
| caption            = Chaim Rumkowski (left) and [[Hans Biebow]] (right) in the [[Łódź Ghetto]]
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1877|02|27}}
| birth_place        = Ilyino, [[Velikoluksky District]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1944|08|28|1877|02|27}}
| death_place        = [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz-Birkenau]], [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|German-occupied Poland]]
| death_cause        = [[Lynching]]
| nationality        = [[Poland|Polish]]
| other_names        = 
| known_for          = Head of [[Judenrat]], [[Łódź Ghetto]]
}}

'''Chaim Mordechaj Rumkowski''' (February 27, 1877 – August 28, 1944) was the head of the [[Judenrat|Jewish Council of Elders]] in the [[Łódź Ghetto]] appointed by [[Nazi Germany]] during the [[German occupation of Poland]].

Rumkowski accrued much power by transforming the ghetto into an industrial base manufacturing war supplies for the {{lang|de|[[Wehrmacht]]|italic=no}} 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 camp]]s in the wake of military defeats on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]].

As the head of the {{lang|de|Judenrat}}, 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 concentration camp|Auschwitz]],<ref name=Dombrowska>{{cite EJ |last=Dombrowska |first=Danuta |title=Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski |access-date=2011-11-21 |chapter-url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=BIC2&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CK2587517182&mode=view&userGroupName=fairfax_main&jsid=b63a7cf564cca9033dbfc67e1d69d091}}</ref> and he was murdered there on August 28, 1944, by Jewish {{lang|de|[[Sonderkommando]]}} inmates who beat him to death as revenge for his role in [[the Holocaust]]. This account of his final moments is confirmed by witness testimonies of the [[Frankfurt Auschwitz trials]].<ref name="Unger2004" /><ref>{{cite video |people=Helen Aronson |date=21 November 2011 |title=Nazi Collaborators: Hitler's Inside Man |url=http://press.discovery.com/us/mil/press-releases/2011/military-channels-new-series-nazi-collaborato-1542/ | medium=Television production |publisher=[[Military Channel]] |time=58:29}} © MMX, World Media Rights Limited</ref>