He was the head of the Judenrat in the Sosnowiec ghetto during the Nazi occupation. In January 1940, Merin was installed by the Nazis as leader of the Central Office of the Jewish Council of Elders in East Upper Silesia responsible for some 45 Jewish communities of approximately 100,000PolishJews. Within a year, he controlled dozens of Judenrate. Merin's approach was similar to that of Chaim Rumkowski's, Judenälteste of the Łódź Ghetto, in that he was convinced that by tying the Jews in his ghettos to forced labor, some would survive the war. However, Merin engaged in extortions going far beyond what other ghetto leaders would ever attempt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moshe_Merin

page of testimony about him at Yad Vashem: http://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?itemId=3968401

Moniek Moshe Merin was born in Sosnovitz, Poland. He was a head of jewish community council and divorced. Prior to WWII he lived in Sosnovitz, Poland. During the war he was in Sosnowiec Srodula, Poland.

Moniek Moshe was murdered in the Shoah (according to this source).

This information is based on a Page of Testimony (displayed here) submitted by his community member, Sara Khana Unger Kleiner