Known as the Gaon of Warsaw, the Warsaw Gaon, or Menachem Pragier, one of the rabbis of the Warsaw Ghetto, author of religious works and a scribe, and activist of Agudos Yisroel.
Rabbi Menachem Ziemba was born in 1883 in the Praga district of Warsaw. From a young age, he was recognized as an outstanding Torah scholar. At the age of nine, he lost his father and from then on was raised by his grandfather, who encouraged him to travel to the tzaddik of Góra Kalwaria, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Alter. After marrying, he moved into his father-in-law's house at 34 Brukowa Street in Praga. In 1935, he was elected Chief Rabbi of Warsaw.
After the Germans occupied Warsaw, Ziemba expressed a desire to join the Council of Elders, but this was met with opposition from other chief rabbis. In the winter of 1940, he was arrested by the Germans, who tortured him to force him to reveal information about the whereabouts of wealthy Jews. Ziemba refused to provide any details and was severely beaten. The Germans then went to his home, where a group of Jews had gathered, planning to raise money for a ransom to free the rabbi. The Germans accepted the money and released the prisoner.
The rabbi then moved from one residence to another until the establishment of the ghetto. Unable to transport the thousands of pages of the manuscript from house to house, he hid most of them in the attic of the building at 15 Karmelicka Street. During the so-called Great Action, a deportation carried out in the summer of 1942, his wife and daughters were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp. Rabbi Menachem was forced to change his residence again and moved to Muranowska Street. A visa to Paraguay was sent from Switzerland for the rabbi, but he refused. In the final period of the ghetto's existence, many sought Rabbi Menachem's wisdom. He advised those who could escape to hide outside the ghetto, while those who were unable to do so to hide in bunkers.
On Passover Eve, in preparation for the final liquidation, the Warsaw Ghetto was surrounded. Upon entering the ghetto, the Germans encountered resistance from Jewish militia groups. Rabbi Menachem and a group of about a hundred people hid in a "bunker" in the attic. That evening, the first night of Passover, Rabbi Ziemba emerged from his hiding place and held a traditional Seder meal in his apartment.
On Shabbat, April 24, the flames of the ghetto, which the Germans were destroying and burning, reached Kupiecka Street. The fire, approaching the bunker where Rabbi Menachem was staying, forced those in hiding to flee. They decided to attempt to cross the street to number 4, where Rabbi Dov Ber of Ozorków was hiding with others. During this attempt, Rabbi Menachem was shot by the Germans waiting in the ruins of the building at 39 Nalewki Street. That evening, under cover of darkness, Rabbi Menachem Ziemba's body was discovered and buried in the courtyard of the house at 4 Kupiecka Street.
In 1958, the rabbi's grave was found and the remains were transported to Jerusalem and buried at the Har Ha-Menuchot cemetery.
