78 years ago today, April 19, 1943, Polish citizens of Jewish descent started their own Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.

This place of confinement (Germans called it "Jewish residential district") was est. in 1940 to separate the Jewish pop. of Warsaw for the purpose of more concentrated and swift deportations to German death camps. This Jewish attempt to stand up to Germans was the largest example of their armed resistance during WWII. The German announcement to eliminate the Ghetto and mass exterminate its residents (part of German plan for the annihilation of European Jews) was the direct cause of the Jewish decision to fight their oppressors. The leader of the Jewish Combat Org. (pol. ZOB) was Mordechai Anielewicz. As Ghetto veterans put it they wanted to fight for their freedom and dignity and not die on their knees. They secretly built bunkers already in 1942. The Polish Home Army's C-in-Chief Gen. Stefan Rowecki-Grot approved support for them incl. sabotage & bomb/grenade assembly instruction. By March 1943, each Jewish partisan was armed with a pistol, ammunition, 4-5 grenades. Polish Home Army staged attacks on German positions along the Ghetto walls. This Jewish insurrection lasted from April 19 to May 15, 1943. Today the Jewish POLIN Museum in Warsaw @polinmuseum invites all to join their Daffodils (pol. zonkile) socio-educational campaign-to mark this heroic struggle of the human spirit for Life and Freedom.

B. Czerkawski

Photos show PMA Collection woodcut masterpiece series Ghetto in Warsaw (1954-56) by Stefan Mrozewski illustrating book "Fighting Poland and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising".

#powstaniewgetciewarszawskim #warsawghettouprising #mordechaianielewicz #polinmuseum #rememberingtogether #ŁączyNasPamięć #stefanmrożewski #onthisday