WARSAW, Poland, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Polish patriot Marek Edelman, a leader of World War II's Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and an early Solidarity activist, has died at the age of 87, Polish Radio said.
Edelman was the last surviving leader of the ill-fated uprising against the German occupation of Warsaw and went on to be an outspoken critic of Poland's post-war communist government.
A cardiologist by training, Edelman took up the Solidarity banner and spent some time in jail under martial law. He later served four years in Poland's parliament.
Tributes poured in after the announcement of Edelman's death.
The United States expressed its official condolences.
"We extend our sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Edelman and salute his life dedicated to the defense of human dignity and freedom," U.S. State Dept. spokesman Ian Kelly said in a written statement Saturday. "The United States stands with Poland as it mourns the loss of a great man."
Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek called Edelman "an icon of the presence of the Jewish world in Polish history and culture."
Shewah Weiss, former Israeli ambassador in Poland, called Edelman "a man of great courage, a hero of the struggle for freedom during the war who has never given up the struggle for human rights and Poland's freedom."
