The first day of Passover, April 19th, 1943

[rockymountaindem]

A small, digital memorial, which I believe is apropos today as Passover is again beginning on April 19th:







"Listen you, the German God,
how the Jews pray in the "wild" houses,
while holding a crowbar or a pole in their hands.
We pray you, oh God, for a bloody battle.
We implore you, oh God, a violent death for us.
But before we die, let us have that our eyes,
do not see how the rail-tracks are dragging on.
Give the marksmanship to our palms, o Lord,
To make the grey uniform full of blood"
-Wladyslaw Szlengel, killed in the uprising

Mordecai Anielewicz, leader of the ZOB, also killed in the uprising


"The dream of my life has risen to become fact. Self-defense in the ghetto will have been a reality. Jewish armed resistance and revenge are facts. I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men in battle."

The battle lasted for nearly a month, much to the surprise of the Germans. Resistance was finally crushed on the 16th of May, 1943, buy German and Ukrainian units.


German commander Jurgen Stroop reported:
"180 Jews, bandits and sub-humans, were destroyed. The former Jewish quarter of Warsaw is no longer in existence. The large-scale action was terminated at 20:15 hours by blowing up the Warsaw Synagogue... Total number of Jews dealt with 56,065, including both Jews caught and Jews whose extermination can be proved... Apart from 8 buildings (police barracks, hospital, and accommodations for housing working-parties) the former Ghetto is completely destroyed. Only the dividing walls are left standing where no explosions were carried out."

The remains of the Warsaw Ghetto synagogue


Today's monument in Warsaw to the Ghetto resistance, with Anielewicz depicted in the center


On this first day of Passover, 65 years later, their memory lives on.

[joeybee12]

1. Absolutely horrific...what scares me

is that many people still haven't learned. If you want to weep, take a look at some photos of people starving in the Warsaw ghetto. I won't post them...they're easy to find, though.

[rockymountaindem]

2. Yeah

It really gives you an idea of how desperate the fighters were. I read that among 60,000 people left in the Ghetto at the outset of the fighting (from an original population of 1.5 million two years prior) the only arms available were about 600 pistols and a handful of grenades and Molotov cocktails. The fact that they held out for over 3 weeks is a miracle IMHO.

[joeybee12]

3. The will to survive is very strong...esepcially when you feel you

have no other option. Thanks for posting this!

[rockymountaindem]

4. My pleasure n/t

[laylah]

5. I weep! yet have no other words! nt

[TheCentepedeShoes]

6. Two fiction books I read in HS

about the Warsaw uprising, from the school library, not assigned.
Mila 18 by Leon Uris and The Wall by John Hersey.