The story of Abram Tauber – a Jew saved by the Home Army who after the war became the head of the UB in Chodel (B-communist Security Office). This story shows that in the case of Polish-Jewish relations – especially in the post-war period – there can be no simple, zero-one narrative.

Just like there were some Poles who told to Germans about hiding Jews, so were the Poles who were hiding themselves from terror carried by communist tormentors, most of whom were Jews (depending on department between 70%-90%). Abram Tauber was hidden by soldiers of the Home Army (AK) during the war. When Soviet troops appeared in the vicinity of Lublin, he turned to their side. Soon he became the head of the UB in Chodel and personally murdered 4 AK soldiers. Abram Tauber, due to his Jewish origin, did not have an easy life under the German occupation. He had to hide .

He received help from the Home Army (AK) soldiers who were commanded by Major Hieronim Dekutowski (“Zapora”).  Many times he could count on a refuge in locations controlled by the “Zaporczyków” [AK soldiers who never accepted soviet occupation after 1945]. In the second half of 1944, when the Soviet soldiers took over the area of the Lublin region, Tauber decided to go to their side. He decided that the threat to his life would be much smaller when he got to the areas from which the Germans were driven out.

Already at the beginning of 1945, Tauber was appointed as commander of the MO [communist police] station and the head of the UB in Chodel. As the head of this communist unit, he contacted four Home Army (AK ) soldiers whom he knew from the period of hiding from the Germans (one of them was the one who saved him directly). The soldiers went to meet Tauber completely voluntarily and without weapons.

It is not out of the question that they were convinced that Tauber, who had been saved earlier by them, would like to repay them, set the vodka or give some good advice for a new reality. What turned out in reality? The meeting with Tauber was a classic UB trap. Tauber had them first bound with barbed wire, and then he shot everyone in person. Hearing about this, Hieronim Dekutowski (“Zapora”) decided to return to the conspiracy.

He organized a group of several dozen Polish soldiers and – as part of revenge for Tauber’s deed – on the night of 5 to 6 February 1945 he broke out the MO / UB station in Chodel. The Dekutowski group, however, did not find Tauber in place. According to the testimony of one of the “zaporczyków” of Stanisław Wnuk (pseudonym “Opal”), Tauber was soon transferred to the UB in Szczecin. Later on he emigrated to Israel.

Abram Tauber was undoubtedly a victim of the anti-Semitic policy of Nazi Germany. However, when the opportunity arose, he became an officer of a criminal regime, for whom the enemy he was fighting for the freedom of the Poles.

Here is a link honoring this War Criminal. 

How many more like that were there? 

https://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/90-years-and-counting/