After an internal dispute over responsibilities that arose as a result of the order issued by the Ghettoverwaltung (Biebow), on November 15, 1943, the crucial function in the ghetto, specifically the distribution of provisions, was delegated from the Eldest to following three men: Marek Kliger, Zygmunt Reingold, and Dr. Miller (vide all three). In the ghetto vernacular, this triple-headed committee was called “triumvirate,” principally referring to the position of influence given to them.

Oskar Rosenfeld

The ghetto humor invented a word made up from the first letters of those names. Firstly, the Hebrew letters M-R-K could be interpreted as “marak” (soup), which was to say that “marak” would take care of better quality of soup. In Polish, the first letters ordered as R-K-M are an acronym for “ręczny karabin maszynowy” [“light machine gun”], which had to mean the “triumvirate” would shoot food toward people.

Oskar Singer