Szama Grajer

The Second World War - Criminals

Szama (Shlomo) Grajer – a hairdresser, or rather an assistant in a barbershop on Ruska Street, “owned by a crippled young man nicknamed “Dus bekl” (cheek). As if to irony, the beautiful Szama Grajer was working for him (…)” – wrote in her memoirs “My Lublin” Róża Fiszman-Sznajdman.

He was also a well-known figure of the Lublin underworld, sentenced for pimping. During the German occupation, he became a Gestapo informant. He soon became one of the most influential personalities in the ghetto, earning himself the nickname of the “Jewish King”. He committed extortion on a large scale, sharing the profits with the Germans. The restaurant he ran was a favorite meeting place for collaborators and representatives of the underworld, also eagerly visited by German officials and SS officers. After the beginning of Aktion Reinhardt (plan of the extermination of Jews from the General Government and the Białystok District), he actively cooperated with the Germans during the liquidation actions in the Lublin and Warsaw ghettos. As an inconvenient witness of the financial machinations, he was murdered by the Germans shortly after the final liquidation of the Lublin ghetto.

Szama Grajer was one of the most infamous Jewish collaborators of the II World War, and many myths and legends grew up around him.

At the beginning of the occupation, he was imprisoned in the Lublin Castle, because – while he was drunk – he punched a Volksdeutsch (a person whose language and culture had German roots, but did not have German citizenship). Thanks to the hairdressing skills, he was quickly released from the German prison at the Lublin Castle. The Germans who used his services saw him as excellent material for a Gestapo informant.

After being released from prison, Grajer soon developed the opinion of a fraud, traitor and slanderer. He served the Germans by showing them where the Jews were hiding their goods. He was informing them who was doing what, who was not working, who was hiding their belongings, etc. He sent people to prison and the Germans paid him for it. He then tried to free his victims from arrest, and their families again paid for it.

The Germans, appreciated the informer’s efforts, granting him many privileges. One of them was the opening of a restaurant. It featured a very specific social mix, made up of prostitutes with their pimps, SS-men and Jewish elites. The latter once did not appear at Grajer restaurant on their own accord. The collaborator was able to accost passers-by and force their presence in the premises. Grajer’s question “Won’t you have a drink with me?” was an offer that could not be refused. That’s why everyone was drinking. Even abstainers.

It is believed to be the only surviving photo of Grajer. It is unclear who the smiling patrons are. Grajer is believed to be in the middle with his arm around the woman. Nechama Tec in "Dry Tears" writes that when Grajer put on a tailor-made suit - in his favorite colors, white or beige - he looked like Rudolf Valentino.

After the ghetto was moved to Majdan Tatarski, Grajer opened another restaurant to which he again invited the richest Jews. One evening, when the guests were seated comfortably, he announced to them that they owed him a large sum of money. Some even as much as PLN 20,000! Of course, no one ever borrowed any money. But also no one was going to delay the payment of “debt”.

During the selection at Majdan Tatarski, Grajer can be used by users to play and play games, which can be played on podcasts, and are not accessible to anyone. This is an example of how to translate and move: “Chodź kolego. Dosyć się już nażyłeś”. At the same time, customers of the company Niemcom are working hard and fast. Stryj Ireny Gewerc (przed wojną współwłaściciel składu żelaza) na koniec musiał jeszcze wysłuchać ostatni komentarz triumfującego Grajera: “A ja mówiłem panu, panie Gewerc, że pan będzie miał”.

During the spring “displacement action”, Grajer helped the Germans in spreading disinformation, catching refugees and extorting or extorting money and valuables from Lublin Jews. In exchange for large bribes, Grajer was supposed to get several people out of transports to Bełżec. With the consent of the Germans, he brokered the sale of documents that were to protect against removal. Many times, however, that despite receiving payment, he did not deliver the promised documents or they turned out to be worthless. For example, he went to the Maharshal synagogue, where Jews awaiting deportation were gathered, and offered to arrange work permits in return for a fee of PLN 500 per person. To those who paid, he provided the promised documents, but they turned out to be false and did not protect the holders from being transported to Bełżec. Together with some representatives of the Judenrat and functionaries of the Jewish Order Service, he also took part in collecting money and valuables for “contributions”, which allegedly would lead to an end to deportation. Some witnesses mentioned that Grajer, on the orders of the Germans, calmed down the Jews waiting to be transported to Bełżec, ensuring that they had nothing to fear as they would be “settled in the East”. He was also supposed to circle the streets of the ghetto with a megaphone, calling the inhabitants to leave their hiding places. Moreover, according to one account, Grajer was supposed to patrol the Lublin railway station together with the plainclothes Gestapo men, looking for Jews trying to escape from the city. The captured fugitives were to be killed in the basement in the station area. According to another account, Jews caught at the train station were taken to the ghetto and shot in the Grajer restaurant.

Lublin ghetto, 1941

On November 9, 1942, the Germans began the final liquidation of the Majdan Tatarski ghetto. Grajer sensed the danger he was in, but he made no attempt to escape or hide. Perhaps he hoped that in return for his “merits” his patrons would let him live.

The execution of the “Jewish king” and other prominent figures was most likely ordered by an Austrian Nazi officer Globocnik (a high-ranking NSDAP and SS officer, a war criminal, one of the main organizers and executors of the Holocaust), thus wanting to get rid of inconvenient witnesses of his illegal interests. According to some sources, Globocnik recommended that Grajer, Alten and Goldfarb be photographed to have proof that they were indeed killed. According to another account, he was supposed to go personally to the deserted ghetto to make sure that his order was carried out.

Grajer was buried in a mass grave in Majdan Tatarski, along with other ghetto inhabitants. After the war, all of them were exhumed to the Lublin Jewish cemetery at Waleczna St. Supposedly, the surviving Jews resigned from inscribing the names of the murdered on the monument, because they would have to mention Szama Grajer.

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