Alter Mojze Goldman

Who was Alter Mojze Goldman?

Alter Mojze Goldman was a Polish Jew who was active in the French Résistance during World War II.

He was born in Lublin after the death of his father. He fled to France at the age of fifteen because of anti-Semitism. However, he was disappointed with reality in France and tried Germany. There, he was horrified by what he saw and returned to France, becoming a miner. He joined a military unit in Algeria and thus obtained French citizenship. He was disgusted by the violence he witnessed and returned to France, becoming a tailor and playing basketball in a Jewish sports club. There, he became a communist and a militant, but he was revolted by the assassination of Leon Trotsky and the excesses of Joseph Stalin.

He went to Spain, where he tried to join the French unit in the International Brigades fighting with the Spanish Republicans, but was rejected. In 1939, he was mobilized in the French military and was decorated. When he was demobilized, he went south to the unoccupied part of France, where he joined the FTP-MOI Resistant Communist movement, composed of immigrants. His unit was involved in urban sabotage efforts.