Idel Korman

Judas Barsczewski, known as Idel Korman, was born on May 14, 1905, in Warsaw, Poland. He was the brother of Léa, who would later become the mother of Henri Krasucki.

In the 1930s, he fled Poland—where poverty and anti-Semitism were rampant—and made his way to France. In Paris, he worked as an upholsterer. By the end of September 1940, he had joined the central leadership of “Solidarité,” the first Jewish Resistance organization (founded by the Jewish section of the M.O.I.).

On September 29, he was arrested by police; they found a copy of *Unzer Wort* (*Our Word*), an underground Yiddish newspaper, on him. He was imprisoned as a suspected communist at the Tourelles barracks, from which he was released in January 1941.

On May 14, 1941, like all foreign Jews (Germans, Czechs, Poles, etc.), he was summoned to the Police Prefecture but did not appear there: this was the “Green Ticket” roundup.

In September 1941, a strike by glove workers was organized, and Idel Korman quickly became its leader. The strike resulted in the sabotage of 160,000 pairs of gloves intended for German soldiers. “It was a disgrace to work for Hitler’s war machine.”

Korman then resumed his involvement with “Solidarité” and became treasurer of the 11th arrondissement committee.

In the spring of 1943, he took part in a meeting in Paris that brought together representatives of the Jewish Resistance centers of the M.O.I. from both zones; the goal was to unite all Jews involved in the struggle against the Occupying Forces. The Union of Jews for Resistance and Mutual Aid (UJRE) was founded in the spring of 1943. It brought together all the underground organizations: “Solidarité,” and its counterpart in the southern zone, “Secours populaire,” the Union of Jewish Women (UFJ), the Union of Young Jews (UJJ), the UJRE combat groups in the South, the FTP-M.O.I. in both the North and South, and the Jewish Inter-Union Commission.

Idel Korman, deputy to Adam Rayski (national director), is in charge of organization and technical services for the Jewish section in Paris.

After several months of surveillance, he was arrested on June 28, 1943, along with about fifty activists from the political leadership of the Jewish section of the M.O.I. At the Police Prefecture, he was subjected to interrogation and torture by the Special Brigades, interned at the Drancy camp, and then deported to Auschwitz on October 7, 1943.

On May 7, 1945, he was liberated by Soviet troops.

After the Liberation, he became a full-time staff member at the UJRE.

In 1954, he left for Poland. In the 1970s, he returned—driven out by anti-Semitism—with his partner and comrade-in-arms, Techka Tenenbaum.

He died in Paris in 1977.