On this day in 1918, Jewish partisan fighter Eta Wrobel (born Eta Chajit) was born in Lokov, Poland. Described as a rebel since the early days of her youth, Wrobel was the only child in her 10-person family to survive the Holocaust. Eta’s father was a resistance fighter and a member of the Polish underground, who instilled in her the value of providing help to those who needed it most. In 1940, Wrobel began working as a clerk for a Polish employment agency. Following Germany’s invasion of Poland, she soon began falsifying the identity papers of Jews. She was enclosed in a Polish ghetto with her father until it was liquidated in October 1942, at which point they were able to separate themselves from the rest of the Jews sent to concentration camps and escape into the woods. It was there that Wrobel took the lead in forming a Jewish partisan unit of around 80 people. Eta suffered a bullet to the leg which she managed to excavate with a knife. The partisan unit was also responsible for the establishment of mines meant to subvert German transport, destroying supply routes in the process. Wrobel was one of seven women in the unit and refused to have herself delegated to housekeeping chores like cooking and cleaning. Her refusal was honored by the unit due to her tactical military skills and expansive personality. She worked best alongside her fellow male comrades, aiding in various military decisions and challenges that came their way. It is unclear how much of the unit survived or how long they lingered in the woods. Eventually, Wrobel entered hiding where she remained until 1944 following Germany’s exit from Lokov. Upon returning to public life, her presence was requested as Lokov’s mayor, a position she accepted. She would go on to marry Henry Wrobel, whom she met shortly after accepting the mayorship. The two of them immigrated to the United States in 1947 and resided in New Jersey. She died on May 26, 2008. Later in life, Wrobel described her time with the partisans by saying, “The biggest resistance that we could have done to the Germans was to survive.”