From the New York Times by MICHAEL T. KAUFMAN  Published: October 3, 2009

Marek Edelman, a cardiologist who was the last surviving commander of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising against the Germans, died Friday in Warsaw. He was 90.

(Photo: Pawel Kula/European Pressphoto Agency, 2006 Marek Edelman at the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes memorial)

A friend, Paula Sawicka, told The Associated Press that Dr. Edelman had died “among friends, among his close people,” at her home, where he had lived for the past two years. For many years he lived in Lodz, Poland’s second largest city.

Dr. Edelman was one of a handful of young leaders who in April 1943 led a force of 220 poorly armed young Jewish men and women in a desperate and hopeless struggle against the Germans. READ MORE:  www.nytimes.com

An amazing story I have somehow missed through the years comes to my attention because of the death of its principle character.

Dr. Marek Edelman made choices no one should have to make in a time of bitter darkness. He led a stand against barbarism, tyranny, and evil with a handful of fighters and a strong will to survive.

He had the belief that he was in a race against God, where God was blowing out a flame and he and his resistance fighters were trying to save as many lives as possible before the fire went out.

Whether or not that expressed his theology, it drove his resolve. Like many who have to make tough choices in tough times, he was hard on himself in later years.