Abraham Gancwajch was one of the most powerful figures in the Ghetto. Born in Czestochova, he was a Zionist in his youth and travelled a great deal in Europe, on mysterious business. When he arrived in Warsaw, in January 1941, he attracted notice by claiming that the Germans would win the war.
He rapidly earned the reputation of one able to efficiently intervene with the Occupation authorities. Having established a parallel police force, he was feared by the population. Known as a big mouth, he posed as the defender of the weak, and as a patron of the arts. The SS came looking for him and other Jewish informers on the night of April 19th, 1942. But he escaped and hid in the Aryan sector of Warsaw.
