Background
Czerniakow was born on November 18, 1880 in Warsaw, Poland.
Czerniakow was born on November 18, 1880 in Warsaw, Poland.
Shortly after World War I Czerniakow cast off the assimilationist attitude of his family and became involved in Jewish life. A chemical engineer by profession, he dedicated himself to promoting the interests of Jewish craftsmen and taught in Warsaw’s Jewish vocational school network. From 1927 until 1934 he was a member of the Warsaw city council and before World War II was elected to the executive council of the Warsaw Jewish community.
On September 23, 1939, the mayor of Warsaw, Stefan Starzynski, appointed Czerniakow head of the Jewish Community Council. Early in October the Nazis named him head of the Judenrat (Jewish council). In many quarters, the Jewish council was severely criticized for its activities and some groups in the ghetto tried to oust Czerniakow.
Historians have shown that Czerniakow strove to run the ghetto with as little outside interference as possible, thus making it possible for illegal underground economic activities, like food smuggling, to be carried out.
Czerniakow himself was in close contact with the German authorities in Warsaw. He tried unsuccessfully to arouse their concern for the ghetto population and felt he had built a working relationship with the ghetto commissar, Heinz Auerswald.
On the eve of the great deportation from the ghetto, which began on July 22, 1942, Czerniakow asked Auerswald if a deportation was about to take place and was told no such thing was in the offing. On the following day, when he discovered the truth, Czerniakow committed suicide, rather than collaborate with the Germans in the deportation drive.
From September 6, 1939, until the day of his suicide, Czerniakow kept a diary of events in Warsaw. His writings are of inestimable value in understanding not only his activities and those of the Jewish council, but also the general situation in the Warsaw ghetto.
According to one account his suicide note said: “They are demanding that I kill the children of my people with my own hands. There is nothing for me to do but to die.”