He hailed from Ilin in Volhynia. He arrived in Łódź in 1892, during the so-called emigration of “Litvaks”. Initially, he ran a plush fabrics manufacturing plant, also working as an insurance agent. In 1925, he was appointed the president of the board for the Jewish Children’s Boarding and Farm in Helenówek. On October 13, the Chief of the Civil Administration Board in Łódź, Dr. D. Leister appointed Rumkowski the Eldest of the Jews in Łódź (Der Ältester der Juden in Lodsch). He was a controversial figure. He was accused of collaboration with the Germans. He was guided by the motto “Labor is our only way”. His defenders argue that thanks to the m organization and economic benefits that it brought the Germans, the ghetto managed to survive until the summer of 1944. On August 28, 1944, Rumkowski was sent on the penultimate transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he died under unknown circumstances.
“It was difficult to find motives that justified Rumkowski’s nomination as the Eldest of the Jews in Łódź, unlike in the case of the chairman of the Jewish Community in Warsaw: Czerniaków meant something, after all, while Rumkowski meant nothing in Łódź. He had never enjoyed any particular esteem among community activists in Łódź. Certain social work experience sufficed and he quickly adapted for the new role. It fir him perfectly. He compensated for his previous inferior position. "
Arnold Mostowicz
