Obituaries Obituaries from page 89 EDITH WYMAN, 94, of Oak Park, died Oct. 7, 2009. She was a secretary at Sinai Hopsitars walk-in psychiatric unit. She was also an 8 over 80 recipient and a lunch lady at Workman's Circle Nursery. Mrs. Wyman is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Dr. Larry and Wyman Dr. Carole Black of Massachusetts; daughters and son-in-law, Shirlee Wyman Harris of Commerce Township, Carol Wyman and Doug Brzak of Farmington Hills; grandchil- dren, Julie Black and Matt Piotrowski, Jason Harris and Jordan Harris; brother and sister-in-law, David and Jean Blau of Commerce Township; sister, Esther Morger of West Bloomfield; sister-in-law, Florence Blau; brother-in-law, Allen Buch. Mrs. Wyman was the beloved wife of the late Irving Wyman; the loving sister of the late Edward Blau and the late Elizabeth Buch; dear sister-in-law of the late Maury Morger; mother-in-law of the late Richard A. Harris. Interment at Beth Abraham Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Yad Ezra, 2850 W. 11 Mile Road, Berkley, MI 48072, www.yadezra.org ; JARC, 30301 Northwestern Highway, Suite 100, Farmington Hills, MI 48334 www.jarc.org ; Tri-County Celiac Support Group, 42193 Old Pond Circle, Plymouth, MI 48170, www. tccsg. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. Remembering Marek Edelman Shana Penn Jewish Telegraphic Agency M arek Edelman could be said to embody both Poland's Holocaust his- tory and its modern Jewish revival. The last surviving leader of Warsaw's ghetto uprising, a man credited with "awakening" Poland's postwar generation to its proud Jewish leg- acy, Edelman was a hero to Polish Marek Jews and gentiles. Edelman His death Oct. 2, 2009, in Warsaw at age 90 brings to a close his gen- eration's contributions to Poland's democratic culture. Edelman's role in the Warsaw ghetto uprising elevated him to a place of honor among Jewish and gentile resisters. A fighter of unusual skill and courage, this 24-year-old commander survived the 1943 upris- ing to participate in the valiant 1944 Warsaw uprising against the Nazis. Only 280,000 of Poland's 3.5 mil- lion Jews survived the Holocaust and returned. By 1970, that number was down to 20,000-30,000, as many fled the communist regime. Edelman's wife and children left Poland during the Cold War anti-Semitism of the late 1960s, but he stayed. "Warsaw is my city:' he said. "Someone has to stay here with all those who died." By the 1970s, few Poles knew any- thing about the Warsaw ghetto or its uprising. The communist govern- ment had made a point of systemati- cally erasing Poland's past. Then in 1976, the anti-communist underground published a book- length interview with Edelman. Forty thousand copies sold with remarkable speed. Edelman became Poland's only famous living Jew, and the postwar generation began to learn about its Jewish history. In the late 1970s, together with interested gentiles, Jewish activ- ists organized secret, underground groups that sought to supplant the negative stigma around Jewishness. They studied Jewish history, held Holocaust commemorations and practiced religious observances. This reclamation of Jewish iden- tity and culture became a meaning- ful expression of anti-communist resistance, and it imbued the 1980s Solidarity movement with respect for Poland's Jewish heritage. With communism's collapse in 1989, the Jewish activists came out of hiding and began to revitalize Jewish com- munities in a free Poland. I Shana Penn is the executive director of the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture in San Francisco. Are you one who reads the obituaries along Ivith your morninc, coffee? obituaries by email Even if some local newspapers are no longer delivered to your home every day, you can count on the Ira Kaufman Chapel emailing You each morning the current and new services we are arranging. Sign up at www.fraKaufman.com for a daily email. We also will provide a link to the death notices in those daily papers. If another funeral establishment is holding a service and has placed an announcement, you will learn about it in plenty of time. THE IRA KAUFMAN CHAPEL Bringing Together Family, Faith & Community 18325 WEST NINE MILE ROAD, SOUTHFIELD. Mt 48075 90 October 15 • 2009 JN Obituaries 248.569.0020 I FAX 248.569.2502 I WVVW.IRAKAUFtvIAN.COM