A yearlong series of events in tribute to Marek Edelman, a co-founder of the Jewish Combat Organisation during World War II, was set to open in the central Polish city of Łódź on Friday.

Edelman was one of three commanders of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He lived in Łódź after the war.

Members of his family, friends, co-workers and politicians were expected to attend a meeting featuring excerpts from interviews with Edelman and reminiscences by journalists Witold Bereś and Krzysztof Burnetko, and by Janina Ochojska, founder of the Polish Humanitarian Action NGO.

Edelman was born on January 1, 1919 in Gomel, present-day Belarus. This year marks the centenary of his birth and the 10th anniversary of his death.

Dozens of cultural and educational projects focusing on Edelman’s life and activities are planned for 2019, including exhibitions, films and theatre performances.

The main organiser of the events is the Marek Edelman Centre for Dialogue in Łódź. Its director, Joanna Podolska, has said that Edelman used to say that it was love that enabled people to survive the war and retain their dignity.

A film based on Edelman’s book There Was Love in the Ghetto, directed by Joanna Dylewska, is due to be premiered in May. In it, Edelman recounts youthful romances but also love between children and parents, including the sacrifice of a mother who resolved not to abandon her daughter who was being sent to the Treblinka death camp.

Having miraculously survived the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto, Edelman managed to escape, joined the Polish underground Home Army and fought in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.

After the war, he settled in Łódź and graduated from the city’s Medical Academy, developing a career as a cardiologist.

In 1976, he joined the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR) and was later an activist of the Solidarity movement. He was interned by the communists under martial law. Following the partially free elections in June 1989, he served as a member of parliament until 1993.

In addition to the highest Polish state distinction, the Order of the White Eagle, he received the French Legion of Honour.

Edelman died on October 2, 2009 in Warsaw, aged 87.

(mk/gs)