Jakub Lejkin

Jakub Lejkin (1906 – 29 October 1942)^[1] was a Polish lawyer, deputy commander of the Jewish Ghetto Police^[2] subordinate to the Germans at the Warsaw Ghetto. He was the administrator from May to July 1942 (after the temporary arrest by the Gestapo of Józef Szeryński). Lejkin played a leading role in the deportation of local Jews to extermination camps. The Germans nicknamed him “little Napoleon” and adored his brutality.^[3]

Jakub Lejkin reporting to the commandant Szeryński, May 1941

His father was a wealthy tradesman. Lejkin graduated from the Polish military school in Jarocin.^[4] Before the war, he worked as a lawyer in Warsaw.

The grave of Lejkin

On 29 October 1942, at 18:10, he died as a result of the execution carried out by the Jewish Combat Organization.^[5] Lejkin was shot in broad daylight on Gęsia Street in Warsaw by the Jewish resistance fighter Eliasz Różański.^[6][7] His route was tracked down earlier by other resistance soldiers, Emilia Landau and Israel Gutman. Lejkin was buried in the Warsaw Jewish cemetery.^[8]