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'''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 [[Wehrmacht]] 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 [[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 book |last=Dombrowska |first=Danuta |chapter=Chaim Mordechai Rumkowski |title=Encyclopaedia Judaica |editor1-first=Michael |editor1-last=Berenbaum |editor1-link=Michael Berenbaum |editor2-first=Fred |editor2-last=Skolnik |editor2-link=Fred Skolnik |edition=2nd |location=[[Detroit]] |publisher=[[Macmillan Reference USA]] |year=2007 |accessdate=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 |id=fee, via Fairfax County Public Library}} [[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] Biography In Context</ref> and he was murdered there on August 28, 1944 by Jewish ''[[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]] |location= |time=58:29}} © MMX, World Media Rights Limited</ref>
== Background ==
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