This is a list of notable members of the Irgun

Irgun

The Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...

, either having been listed by the Irgun's website or by reputable independent sources .

Former Irgun members have held positions of highest influence in the Israeli political and security establishments since independence, and the lasting effect of the ideology espoused by extremist groups such as the Irgun and the Lehi

Lehi (group)

Lehi , commonly referred to in English as the Stern Group or Stern Gang, was a militant Zionist group founded by Avraham Stern in the British Mandate of Palestine...

continues to be a source of active research and debate among responsible historians and political observers to this day.

Irgun Chief Commanders

• Jabotinsky, Zeev – Leader of the Irgun (1880–1940)
• Tehomi, Avraham
  Avraham Tehomi
  Avraham T'homi was a noted Jewish militant, and a key figure in the history of the Hebrew National Military Organization and allegedly in the killing of Jacob Israël de Haan. His nickname in the Irgun was 'Gideon'....
  
   – First Commander in Chief (1903–1990)
• Bitker, Robert – Second Commander in Chief (1907–1977)
• Rozenberg, Moshe – Third Commander in Chief (1890–1989)
• Raziel, David
  David Raziel
  thumb|David RazielDavid Raziel was a fighter of the Jewish underground during the British mandate, and one of the founders of the Irgun.-Biography:...
  
   – Fourth Commander in Chief (1910–1941)
• Kalai, Hanoch
  Hanoch Kalai
  Hanoch Kalai was a member of Irgun and Lehi , and an expert on the Hebrew language. He spent three months as Irgun's Commander in Chief while David Raziel was imprisoned by the British Mandate for Palestine police, until his own arrest.-Early Life:Kalai was born in Lithuania, the son of Joseph...
  
   – Fifth Commander in Chief (1910-1979)
• Meridor, Yaakov – Sixth Commander in Chief (1913–1995); Likud
  Likud
  Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
  
   member of the 10th Knesset
  Knesset
  The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
  
  .
• Begin, Menachem
  Menachem Begin
  ' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
  
   – The Last Commander in Chief (1913–1992); first Likud
  Likud
  Likud is the major center-right political party in Israel. It was founded in 1973 by Menachem Begin in an alliance with several right-wing and liberal parties. Likud's victory in the 1977 elections was a major turning point in the country's political history, marking the first time the left had...
  
   Prime Minister of Israel
  Prime Minister of Israel
  The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful political figure in Israel . The prime minister is the country's chief executive. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala is in Jerusalem...
  
  .

The Gallows

The Irgun website lists the following as having been executed during the British occupation; though many were indeed hanged at places such Acre Prison

Acre, Israel

Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....

, others were killed during firefights, or committed suicide to avoid capture.

• Alkahi, Mordechai (1925–1947)
• Barazani, Moshe (1926–1947)
• Beit-Tzuri, Eliyahu
  Eliyahu Bet-Zuri
  Eliyahu Bet-Zuri was a member of Lehi, who was executed in Egypt for assassinating Lord Moyne, the British Minister Resident in the Middle East....
  
   (1922–1945)
• Ben-Yosef, Shlomo
  Shlomo Ben-Yosef
  Shlomo Ben-Yosef was a noted member of the Revisionist Zionist underground Irgun...
  
   (1913–1938)
• Dresner, Yehiel (1922–1947)
• Feinstein, Meir
  Meir Feinstein
  Meir Feinstein was born in the Old City of Jerusalem. His parents, Bela and Eliezer, immigrated from Brisk. He was an Irgun operative who lost an arm on Oct. 30, 1946 while planting an Improvised Explosive Device in the railway station in Jerusalem, and was subsequently captured and sentenced to...
  
   (1927–1947)
• Gruner, Dov
  Dov Gruner
  Dov Gruner was a Jewish Zionist leader born in Kisvárda, Hungary on December 6, 1912. On April 19, 1947, he was executed by the British Mandatory authorities in Palestine on the charge of "firing on policemen, and setting explosive charges with the intent of killing personnel on His Majesty's...
  
   (1912–1947)
• Hakim, Eliyahu
  Eliyahu Hakim
  Eliyahu Hakim was a Lehi member who took part in the 1944 assassination of Lord Moyne, the British Minister Resident in the Middle East.Born in Beirut, Hakim moved to Mandatory Palestine with his family when he was seven. He grew up in the port city of Haifa. As a teenager, he joined Lehi, but...
  
   (1925–1945)
• Haviv, Avshalom (1926–1947)
• Kashani, Eliezer (1923–1947)
• Nakar, Meir (1926–1947)
• Weiss, Yaakov (1924–1947)

Senior Commanders

• Aharoni, Yaakov-Sika
• Allis, Shraga – "took part in planning the blowing up of the King David Hotel
  King David Hotel bombing
  The King David Hotel bombing was an attack carried out by themilitant right-wing Zionist underground organization Irgun on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946...
  
  , the attack on the British officers club and other operations."
• Amitai, Shmuel (1920–1998)
• Amitzur, Bezalel – later chairman of the board of directors of Maman Aerospace, and founded the Irgun Museum at Jabotinsky House.
• Amrami, Yaakov (1916–1996) – set up the Hadar publishing house, which mainly published books connected with the anti-British underground. Wrote a book entitled Hadvarim Gdolim Hem Me-itanu (Hadar, 1994).
• Ashbel Michael (1922–1947) known as Mike. At first sentenced to death by hanging together with IZL member Yosef Simchon. After the IZL captured two British officers their sentence was lightened to lifetime in prison. Michael was killed during the Acre prison breakout - for six hours the British let him bleed to death in the Acre police courtyard. He wrote several songs which became well-known throughout Israel ('Little Sarah - Upon Barricades' etc.)
• Assaf, Avraham (1914–1980)
• Avinoam, Yitzhak – anticipated in KDH bombing and Goldschmidt House operations.
• Avni, Yosef
  Yosef Avni
  Yosef Avni is a former Irgun activist. He was born Yosef Danochin in Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine, changing his name to Avni after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948....
  
   – "took part in the conquest of Deir Yassin
  Deir Yassin
  Deir Yassin was a Palestinian Arab village of around 600 people near Jerusalem. It had declared its neutrality during the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine between Arabs and Jews...
  
  , where he was wounded upon attacking the Muchtar's house." Commanded the first group ("the porters") that arrived at the King David Hotel prior to Yisrael Levi's "strike force".
• Ben-Eliezer, Aryeh
  Aryeh Ben-Eliezer
  Aryeh Ben-Eliezer was a Revisionist Zionist leader, Irgun member and Israeli politician.-Biography:Ben-Eliezer was born in 1913 in Vilnius in the Russian Empire . His family immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1920, and he attended high schools in Tel Aviv...
  
   (1913–1970) – co-founder, Committee for the Rescue of European Jewry and later on the Committee for National Liberation. Elected to the Knesset as a Herut
  Herut
  Herut was the major right-wing political party in Israel from the 1940s until its formal merger into Likud in 1988, and an adherent of Revisionist Zionism.-History:...
  
   member and served as Deputy Speaker.
• Cohen Dov ("Shimshon") (1915–1947) Served in the British army until 1945. An excellent officer. Joined the IZL and commanded the Acre prison break-in in which he was killed while trying to save his men.
• Cohen, Ben-Zion ("Giora") – "[c]ommanded the capture of the village of Dir Yassin and served as deputy commander in the capture of Malha." Later joined the IDF and attained the rank of Major, and "participated in various security projects within the framework of Raphael (The Authority for Development of Weapons)
  RAFAEL Armament Development Authority
  Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. , known as RAFAEL or Rafael, is an Israeli defense technology company...
  
  ."
• Cohen, Rahamim ("Gad")
• Efrat, Dov
• Eliav, Yaakov ("Yashka") (1917–1985) – during the split the Irgun, sided with Avraham Stern and became one of the founders of the Lehi, and later, its Chief Operating Officer for several years.
• Fallan, Chaim
• Germant, Natan-Niko ("Shimshon")
• Gershoni, Shalom ("Nachum") (1916–1991)
• Globman-Naot, Yehuda ("Avitagar")
• Goldshmid, Yehoshua ('Gal") (1925–1948) – took part in KDH bombing, attack on Camp Schneller
  Schneller Orphanage
  Schneller Orphanage was a Christian orphanage that operated in Jerusalem from 1860 until World War II. The orphanage grounds, located on Malchei Yisrael Street in central Jerusalem, became a British military base known as Camp Schneller. After 1948, the compound housed offices of the Israel...
  
   and planned the attack on Deir Yassin. The youngest IZL member to be commander of Jerusalem. Admired by all who knew him.
• Grosbard, David (1915–1990) – served as a member of the central institutions of the Herut movement and manager of the Herut newspaper.
• Heichman, Aharon – listed by other sources as a High Commander; later a manager of ZOA House
  Zionist Organization of America
  The Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...
  
   in Tel Aviv.
• Hillel, Yaakov ("Asher") – according to the Irgun website, "took part in reprisals against Arabs rioters", in the blowing up of income tax offices in Haifa and in the embarkation of the Altalena from France.
• Katz, Shmuel (b. 1914) – one of the founders of the Herut movement and a member of the First Knesset; was later inivited by Menachim Begin to be his propaganda advisor.
• Koenig, Zvi ("Yishai") (1924–1948)
• Kook, Hillel
  Hillel Kook
  Hillel Kook , also known as Peter Bergson , was a Revisionist Zionist activist, politician, and prominent member of the Irgun.-Early life:...
  
   – operating within the U.S. during WW II, set up the Committee for the Rescue of European Jewry, and the Hebrew Committee for National Liberation. Elected to the First Knesset as a Herut member.
• Landau, Haim
  Haim Landau
  Haim Landau was an Israeli independence fighter, Knesset member and Minister in the government of Menachem Begin.-Career:Landau was born in Kraków, Austria-Hungary and made aliyah to Mandate Palestine in 1935...
  
   ("Avraham") (1916–1981) – Herut founder, Knesset member, held positions in the Begin government.
• Lapidot, Yehuda
  Yehuda Lapidot
  Yehuda "Nimrod" Lapidot is an Israeli historian and former professor of biochemistry. Lapidot was a member of the Irgun and an officer in the Israel Defense Forces. In 1980 he was appointed head of Lishkat Hakesher by former Irgun commander and then Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Lapidot...
  
   ("Nimrod") – commanding roles in the assault on Ramat Rachel
  Ramat Rachel
  Ramat Rachel is a kibbutz located south of Jerusalem in Israel, as an enclave within Jerusalem's municipal boundaries. Overlooking Bethlehem and Rachel's Tomb and situated within the Green Line, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council...
  
   and in Operation Kedem
  Operation Kedem
  Operation Kedem was an action planned and carried out in July 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war. Its purpose was to capture East Jerusalem . After the first cease-fire of the Arab–Israeli war, which lasted for four weeks, the balance in power in Jerusalem had shifted dramatically...
  
  ; later an advisor to Begin and noted author.
• Lenkin, Eliyahu ("Benyamin") (1914–1994) – commanded the Altalena; later a battalion commander in the IDF, and a member of the first Knesset.
• Lev-Ami, Shlomo
• Levi, Yisrael ("Gideon") (1926–1990) – commanded the "strike force" that delivered explosives to the King David Hotel.
• Levi, Yosef ("Uzi") (1916–1948)
• Livni, Eitan
  Eitan Livni
  Yeruham "Eitan" Livni was a Revisionist Zionist activist, Irgun commander and Israeli politician, father of Israeli politician Tzipi Livni, who is the current leader of the largest party in the Knesset, Kadima.-Biography:...
  
   (1919–1992) – took part in the Night of the Trains
  Night of the Trains
  The Night of the Trains was a sabotage operation of the British railroads in Palestine on November 1, 1945...
  
   attack, a joint Irgun-Lehi-Haganah bombing of the country's railroad network on October 31-November 1, 1945. Later active in the Herut movement and served as member of the Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Knessets; father of Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni
  Tzipi Livni
  Tzipporah Malkah "Tzipi" Livni is an Israeli lawyer and politician. She is the current Israeli Opposition Leader and leader of Kadima, the largest party in the Knesset. Raised an ardent nationalist, Livni has become one of her nation's leading voices for the two-state solution. In Israel she has...
  
  . Eitan's gravestone bears a map of Greater Israel
  Greater Israel
  Greater Israel is a controversial expression with several different Biblical and political meanings over time.Currently, the most common definition of the land encompassed by the term is the territory of the State of Israel together with the Palestinian territories...
  
   with borders extending out to the Jordan River.
• Malatzky, Menahem
• Mazali (Pshadetzky) Aryeh (1917–1983)
• Meiten, Shmuel
• Meridor (Vizhvolovsky) Eliyahu
  Eliyahu Meridor
  Eliyahu Meridor was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Herut and Gahal from 1959 until his death in 1966.-Biography:...
  
   ("Dan") (1914–1966) – active in the Herut movement and member of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Knesset; father of Finance Minister Dan Meridor
  Dan Meridor
  Dan Meridor is an Israeli politician and minister. A longtime member of the Likud party, in the late 1990s he became one of the founders of the Centre Party. He rejoined Likud in the early 2000s, and returned to the Knesset following the 2009 elections...
  
  .
• Nathanson, Isser (1916–1977) – later joined the Department of Physics at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
• Nehmad, Moshe ("Shimshon") (1912–1963)
• Paglin Amichai
  Amichai Paglin
  Amichai Paglin, code name “Gidi” , was the Chief Operations Officer of the Irgun, the commander of the battle to conquer Jaffa in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and, following independence, Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s counter-terrorism advisor.-Early life :Paglin's family immigrated from Lithuania...
  
   ("Gidi") (1922–1978) – became the IZL chief of operations from 1944 when Eitan was exiled to Africa. A tactic genius - he planned major operations, including the KDH bombing, the break-in to the Acre prison and the Capture of Jaffa in 1948. The IDF refused to enlist him in 1948 - they refused to enlist many key IZL men; politics above defense. Therefore returned to the family oven business. He built the oven in which Eichman's body was burnt. Was very dear to Begin, and upon Begin's election to Prime Minister was appointed National Advisor for Arab Relations. Tragically, Gidi and his wife Tzipporah (also an IZL member) were killed in a suspicious car crash in 1978.
• Pedahzur Eliezer ("Gad")
• Raanan-Kaufman, Mordechai – had a key role in planning the Deir Yassin assault.
• Raz, Yaakov (1919–1938) Among the first IZL to fall. He was attempting to plant a bomb in an Arab market in retaliation to Arab murderous attacks on Jews. Israel National Poet, Uri Zvi Greenberg, wrote a song in his honor.
• Russo, Nissim ben Yaacov (1933–2006) – "Participated in the blowing up of the King David Hotel
  King David Hotel bombing
  The King David Hotel bombing was an attack carried out by themilitant right-wing Zionist underground organization Irgun on the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946...
  
  , the attack on the British officers club and many other operations. Was seriously wounded in ambush by British military while attempting to carry out another operation."
• Salomon, Dov ("Yishai")
• Schiff, Menahem ("Zeev") (1926–1983)
• Shamir, Petachia – Herut founder, serving as head of its Organizational Division; also served as Betar commissioner
• Simchon, Yosef (1926–1955)
• Stern, Avraham ("Yair")
  Avraham Stern
  Avraham Stern , alias Yair was a Jewish paramilitary leader who founded and led the militant Zionist organization later known as Lehi .-Early life:Stern was born in Suwałki, Poland...
  
   (1907–1942) Split with the IZL in 1940 following the IZL decision for a unilateral cease-fire during the war. Founded the Lehi and gave it its anthem and ideology.
• Sudit-Sharon, Eliezer ("Kabtzan") (1925-)
• Tahori, David ("Yitzhak") – took part in the September 29, 1947 Haifa police station bombing, in which 4 British policement, 4 Arab policemen and 2 Arab civilians were killed, and 46 persons injured.
• Tamler, Eliyahu ("Yehoshua") (1919–1948)
• Tamir, Shmuel
  Shmuel Tamir
  Shmuel M. Tamir was a prominent Israeli independence fighter, lawyer, Knesset member from 1965 to 1980, and Minister of Justice in the government of Menachem Begin from 1977 until 1980-Irgun:...
  
   (1923–1987) – lawyer in the Rudolf Kastner
  Rudolf Kastner
  Rudolf Israel Kastner was a Jewish-Hungarian journalist and lawyer who became known for facilitating the departure of Jews out of Nazi-occupied Hungary during the Holocaust...
  
   case, Knesset member (1965–1980), Minister of Justice in the Begin government (1977–1980)
• Tavin, Eliezer-Yaakov (1919–1994)
• Verner-Vered, Shalom ("Shimshon", "Giora")
• Virnick, Yisrael ("Zvi") (1921–1948)
• Zeroni, Benyamin (1914-2008)

Persons cited in other sources

The Irgun's exact membership roster is not known, and like many paramilitary and clandestine organizations, was somewhat nebulous; and in any case certain highly notable early Irgun members (such as Yitzhak Shamir) simply are not listed on the Irgun website. The following persons have been attributed by reputable sources as having significant roles, either as bona fide

Bona Fide

Bona Fide is a studio album from rock band Wishbone Ash. It is the first studio album in six years and is the only studio album to feature guitarist Ben Granfelt...

IZL members, assets or close affiliates.

• Yitzhak Shamir
  Yitzhak Shamir
  ' is a former Israeli politician, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, in 1983–84 and 1986–92.-Biography:Icchak Jeziernicky was born in Ruzhany , Russian Empire . He studied at a Hebrew High School in Białystok, Poland. As a youth he joined Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement...
  
  , joined the Irgun in 1937; joined the Stern faction in 1940; commander of the Lehi after Stern's assassination.
• Uri Avnery
  Uri Avnery
  Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and founder of the Gush Shalom peace movement.A member of the Irgun as a teenager, Avnery sat in the Knesset from 1965–74 and 1979–81...
  
  , joined as a teenager (1938–1942); later became a radical socialist activist. In 1945 he would publish a pamphlet, "Terrorism: the infantile disease of the Hebrew revolution".
• Israel Eldad
  Israel Eldad
  Israel Eldad , was a noted Israeli independence fighter and Revisionist Zionist philosopher...
  
  
• Benjamin M. Emanuel, passed "secret codes" to Menachem Begin
  Menachem Begin
  ' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
  
  . A Chicago pediatrician, he is father to Rahm Emanuel
  Rahm Emanuel
  Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
  
  , Ari Emanuel
  Ari Emanuel
  Ariel "Ari" Zev Emanuel is an American talent agent, founder of the Endeavor Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, California, and now co-CEO of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Endeavor's successor by merger...
  
   and Ezekiel J. Emanuel
  Ezekiel J. Emanuel
  Ezekiel "Zeke" Jonathan Emanuel M.D. Ph.D. is an American bioethicist and fellow at the nonprofit bioethics research institute The Hastings Center. He opposes legalized euthanasia, sometimes called state-assisted suicide, and is a proponent of a voucher-based universal health care...
  
  .
• Natan Yellin-Mor
• Sarah Agassi, b. 1926, who reminisced about her experiences casing the King David Hotel in preparation for the famous bombing attack, at a 2006 commemoration of the event.
• Zippora Levi-Kessel, staff secretary at the time of the Altalena affair
  Altalena Affair
  The Altalena Affair was a violent confrontation that took place in June 1948 between the newly formed Israel Defense Forces and the Irgun, a right-wing Jewish paramilitary group...
  
  
• Moshe Hason, also listed by Lapidot as a High Commander during the Altalena Affair.
• Abraham Stavsky
  Abraham Stavsky
  Abraham Stavsky was an activist member of Betar, the youth movement of a Revisionsit Zionist group founded by Vladimir Jabotinsky....
  
  , who procured the Altalena for the Irgun (though not a member); also said to be active in the so-called Bergson Group (the Irgun delegation to the U.S.)
• Victor Ben-Nahum, also part of the Bergson Group.
• Uzzi Ornan
  Uzzi Ornan
  Uzzi Ornan is an Israeli linguist and social activist. Ornan is a member of the Academy of the Hebrew Language, professor of natural languages computing at the Technion and professor emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ornan was a member of the Israeli Canaanite movement, founded by...
  
  , detained by the British in 1944. Later became a linguist and a political activist
• Elie Wiesel
  Elie Wiesel
  Sir Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBE; born September 30, 1928) is a Hungarian-born Jewish-American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and...
  
  . As a student in Sorbonne
  Sorbonne
  The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
  
  , Wiesel translated from Hebrew to Yiddish for the Irgun newspaper (November 1947 – January 1949). He later was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in appreciation for his lifelong activities on behalf of persecuted peoples of the world as well as for his educational activities regarding the Holocaust, of which he himself was a victim.
• Zvee Aroni, internationally renowned cantor, recounts his time with the Irgun here.

Contract affiliates

Persons of notable affiliation to the Irgun, but who were probably not members in any formal sense.

• Lt. Monroe Fein
  Monroe Fein
  Lieutenant Monroe Fein, was U.S. Naval Officer and decorated veteran of the Pacific campaign; later notable as the captain of the ill-fated Altalena on behalf of the Irgun at the beginning of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War....
  
  , the U.S. naval officer who captained the Altalena.

ZZW / IZL issues

The whole issue of the Żydowski Związek Wojskowy

Zydowski Zwiazek Wojskowy

Żydowski Związek Wojskowy was an underground resistance organization operating during World War II in the area of the Warsaw Ghetto which fought during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising...

 (known in Hebrew as Irgun Zvai Leumi and in English as the National Military Organization), the Revisionist Zionist resistance organization in Warsaw under the time of the German occupation, is rather complicated due the ZZW's being largely ignored by the "mainstream" Irgun in Israel, while all the same there are ZZW members such as Dawid Wdowinski

Dawid Wdowinski

Dawid Wdowiński was a psychiatrist and doctor of neurology. He was a member of the right-wing Jewish organization Hatzohar and political leader of the Żydowski Związek Wojskowy resistance organization before and during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.Before World War II, Wdowiński was a chairman of...

who pointedly describe theirs as a bonafide IZL faction.