Edward Kossoy

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Edward Kossoy
Edward Kossoy in Warsaw in May 2007
Edward Kossoy in Warsaw in May 2007
Born(1913-06-04)4 June 1913
Radom, Poland
Died11 October 2012(2012-10-11) (aged 99)
Switzerland
Other namesMarcinak
Occupation(s)Holocaust survivor, Irgun guerrilla; lawyer, attorney, activist, essayist, memoirist

Edward Kossoy (used the

nom de guerre Marcinak; 4 June 1913 – 11 October 2012) was a Polish lawyer, publicist and an activist for victims of Nazism.[1]

Early life

Kossoy was born in Radom but spent his childhood in

Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire,[2] where his parents relocated during World War I.[1]

World War II

After the

Polish army that was being recreated there. In 1940, he was arrested by the Soviet militia, charged with smuggling watches he was trying to sell to raise money for his family and for travel to France. During interrogation he admitted to having had a higher education[1] and was handed over to the NKVD which charged him with espionage and "counter-revolutionary activity".[2]

He was sentenced, according to the famous

Urals, according to the Russian inmates, the railway had two dead bodies under every rail. According to Kossoy, who contracted typhus
in the camp, out of the 20,000 Poles who arrived at the camp in 1941, only 6,000 were alive two years later.

He was released after two years because of the

Teheran due to illness; in addition to typhus he had also contracted malaria. By late 1943 he had made his way to the British Mandate of Palestine, where he would remain.[1] In Tel Aviv
in 1944, he wrote and published a series of essays, Stołypinka (named after the rail cars used to transport prisoners to the gulag), based on his experiences, but these essays weren't published in book form until 2003.

1947–1949 war

Kossoy was a member of

Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, earning his Ph.D. in law and political science
.

Geneva

In Geneva he met

Gęsiówka concentration camp by Polish resistance during the Warsaw Uprising. At first Kossoy was sceptical but he decided to investigate the matter farther and located some survivors of the camp among his clients, who confirmed Micuta's story. Kossoy wrote several historical articles on the subject, which were published by Yad Vashem and in the Polish emigre press (with the help from Jerzy Giedroyc).[3]

Work as an attorney

As an attorney, he represented around 60,000 victims of the

Holocaust, involving restitution and reparations from the German government.[2] His clients included Jews, Poles and Romani.[3]

Publications

He has published several books in various languages (English, German and Polish) and historical articles related to restitution for Nazi crimes, contemporary international relations and Polish-Jewish dialogue. Many were published in Zeszyty Historyczne (Historical Journals), published by the Literary Institute of Paris. His memoirs, entitled On the Margin..., were published in 2006,[4] and nominated for the Nike Award in 2007.[5] At the time of his death he was an honorary senator of the University of Tübingen.[6] Until his death, he lived in Conches, Geneva, Switzerland.

References

(Edward Kossoy). The Gęsiówka Story: A Little Known Page of Jewish Fighting History Yad Vashem Studies Volume 32 Edited by David Silberklang (2004),

Kossoy E & Ohry A. The Feldsher: Medical, Sociological and Historical Aspects of Practitioners of Medicine with below University Level Education, the Magnes Press, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, 1992. (

ISBN 965-223-789-2
).

  1. ^ a b c d e Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego (Warsaw Uprising Museum), Archiwum Historii Mowionej (Archive of Oral History), Edward Kossoy, aka "Marcinak", pg. 1, [1]
  2. ^ a b c d Marek Radziwon, Polish Culture section of Gazeta Wyborcza, "EDWARD KOSSOY, 'NA MARGINESIE.../ON THE MARGIN...'", [2]
  3. ^ a b c Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego (Warsaw Uprising Museum), Archiwum Historii Mowionej (Archive of Oral History), Edward Kossoy, aka "Marcinak", pg. 2, [3]
  4. ISBN 9788374536776
    . Retrieved 2014-11-18.
  5. ^ Marek Radziwon. "Nike 2007: nominowana dwudziestka" (Nike 2007: "The 20 Nominees"), Gazeta Wyborcza, 17 May 2007, [4]
  6. ^ "PORTAL KSIĘGARSKI - Edward Kossoy - Na marginesie - nowość słowa/ obraz terytoria". ksiazka.net.pl. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
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