Jews trained and built bunkers in preparation for the final liquidation. Altman and Wilner were also able to buy a few weapons on the black market. Wilner was arrested in March, but he did not betray the resistance even under torture. Afraid that the Germans had tracked her down, Altman returned to the ghetto, replaced by Yitzhak Zuckerman as liaison to the Polish resistance. On 18 April, German forces surrounded the ghetto in preparation for its liquidation. Altman, whose function was still to relay messages, reported the initial success of the resistance to Zuckerman via telephone. On 21 April, as the Germans began to burn the ghetto, Anielewicz took refuge in a bunker at 18 Mila Street; Altman became the courier between the command bunker and another bunker where the wounded were held. She also rescued some fighters from the fires. At this time, the fighters decided to try to escape via the sewer system. When the Germans discovered the Mila Street bunker on 8 May, they filled it with gas to force the inhabitants to leave. Anielewicz and many other resistance fighters committed suicide. Altman, although wounded, was one of six who managed to escape and was found by Zivia Lubetkin and Marek Edelman, who smuggled her out to the Aryan side. Altman hid with other Jewish fighters in a celluloid factory. On 24 May, an accidental fire broke out. Severely burned, Altman was forced into the open where she was captured by police who turned her over to the Gestapo. She died of her injuries two days later. Legacy Altman was posthumously awarded the Silver Cross of the Military Order of Virtuti Militari by the decision of the President of the Polish People's Republic on April 1, 1948, for her merits in the underground struggle during the occupation. She was portrayed by American actress Leelee Sobieski in the 2001 television film Uprising. Notes References 1918 births 1943 deaths Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust Polish female soldiers Jewish Combat Organization members People who died in the Warsaw Ghetto Warsaw Ghetto Uprising insurgents Hashomer Hatzair members People from Włocławek Polish women in World War II resistance Polish civilians killed in World War II Recipients of the Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari