Izrael Chaim Wilner, nom de guerre "Arie" and "Jurek" (November 14, 1917 – May 8, 1943) was a Jewish resistance fighter during World War II,[1] member of the Jewish Fighting Organization's (ŻOB) leadership, a liaison between ŻOB and the Polish Home Army, a poet, and a participant in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
There, he met Henryk Grabowski (nom de guerre "Słonina", or "Salo" due to the fact that he ran a meat store), a courier for the Polish Home Army (AK).
Grabowski himself was unaware of Jurek's role due to the conspiratorial need to keep information compartmentalized in case of arrest and interrogation by the Gestapo.
[3] "Wacław" and the AK supplied Wilner with weapons and ammunition, with Jurek and Tosia Altman serving as contact persons.
On occasions when there was too much material to carry in one trip Jurek would hide the remainder at the Carmelite convent on Wolska Street in Warsaw.
He joined a column of prisoners being taken for hard labor to the Grochowo concentration camp, hoping that this way he would die more quickly and thus avoid further interrogation by the Gestapo.
[7] According to one of the last ZOP reports, it was precisely Jurek who called on the fighters to commit mass suicide on May 8th in the bunker at 18 Mila Street.