Tosia Altman

Tosia Altman was born on 24 August 1918 in Lipno, a satellite city of Włocławek. As an eleven-year-old, Tosia joined Hashomer Hatzair, a secular Jewish Zionist youth movement that encouraged immigration (aliyah) to Palestine where the immigrant would live and work on a kibbutz. Instead of immigrating to Palestine, however, Tosia became involved as a leader in youth education in Warsaw.

After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Tosia moved eastward. In June 1940 she again moved to avoid the Soviet invasion of Poland. As a member of Hashomer Hatzair, Tosia became involved in unsuccessful and illegal attempts to send Jewish youth to Palestine.

Tosia eventually became a courier and smuggler of weapons and explosives for Hashomer Hatzair and the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB). She was also a liaison to the Home Army, the primary Polish underground resisitance movement.

During the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Tosia continued her risky job as courier and smuggler, moving from bunker to bunker as the uprising continued. Tosia was at the command bunker at 18 Mila Street (Leon Uris wrote the novel "Mila 18" that is based on the uprising) when the Nazis discovered the bunker; Tosia, wounded, was one of six who made their escape through the sewers. Not long afterward, Tosia was trapped in her hideout when it caught fire forcing her to escape again, but with severe burns. The Gestapo captured her. She died a few days later in Warsaw on 26 May 1943.

Learn more about Tosia Altman:

• Jewish Women's Archive
• Warsaw Ghetto Museum
• Wikipedia
• Yad Vashem