Szama Grajer – „żydowski król” z Lublina
Szama Grajer – ‘Jewish King’ from Lublin

Summary/Abstract: This text presents the biography of Szama Gajer, the main collaborator in the Lublin ghetto. It discusses his prewar criminal activity (pimping, activity in the underworld, and incarceration), details of his activity during the occupation (predominantly the mechanisms of his collaboration with the Germans: collection of confidential information, blackmail, looting of property, spreading of disinformation and propaganda, participation in deportation campaigns from the Lublin and Warsaw ghettoes) as well as the circumstances of his death in the ghetto at Majdan Tatarski in the autumn of 1942. The figure of the ‘Jewish king’ from Lublin is presented in a wider context by recreating and describing, for instance, the composition, organizational structure, and specificity of the local network of Jewish informers. In the final part of the text the author attempts to explain Grajer’s motivation, including the reasons why he engaged in collaboration with the Germans and both sides’ expectations and requirements. Kopciowski also presents the ways of constructing the narration on Grajer in the testimonies of witnesses and the reference literature published so far as well as the evaluations of his figure present in both those sources.

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