The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

75 years ago in April/May, a struggle born of desperation took place in Warsaw. After years of horrific conditions in the ghetto, Jewish fighters chose to show the world they would not go quietly to their deaths. Read on to learn about the tragic events of spring 1943.

If you are in Warsaw during April/May, you will be here during the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Throughout the city, official commemorations will be held, there will be discussions in the media about the historical importance of the event, but most importantly, there will be symbols of remembrance dotted around the city that citizens of the world can visit and pay respect to the people that perished on the streets of Warsaw.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943, although inevitably destined to fail, has gone down in history as an act of defiance, an act of protest against the inaction of the world in helping the Jewish people in their plight during the Second World War. This was their time to fight. And so it was to be that from 19 April to 16 May 1943, following years of torment, the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto rose up, vastly outmatched by the superior numbers and weaponry of the German war machine. The fighters had a simple choice: go quietly and die anyway, facing extermination in a camp, or die fighting, defying the barbaric system which had spread across Europe.

In 1942 there came a tipping point in the until-then passive resistance of Jewish people, as they were moved from ghetto to ghetto, camp to camp, under the pretences of resettlement or being made to work. Some believed resettlement was taking place, others that they were needed as labour for the German war effort, others simply accepted they could do nothing to get away. But by now word was spreading, initially through rumours, then from witness accounts, that Jews were being exterminated in camps. Between July and September of 1942 alone, around 280,000 Jews were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka extermination camp, another 11,000 were sent to labour camps, and around 10,000 were killed in the ghetto itself during the deportation process. On 28 July 1942, amidst deportations, members of Jewish youth organisations formed the Jewish Fighting Organisation (ŻOB - Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa), with a young Mordechai Anielewicz appointed as its leader.

German troops on patrol in the ghetto as buildings burn.

The first act of defiance actually took place on 18 January 1943, prior to the uprising itself, which saw fighters armed with pistols infiltrate a column of Jews being marched to the Umschlagplatz by German escorts. They attacked the Germans, which allowed people to scatter. Of the planned 8,000 deportations, 3,000 were prevented from taking place as the Germans suspended further deportations until further notice. There now remained around 50,000 Jews in the ghetto. They knew what was to come, and so they built bunkers wherever they could.

The fighters were buoyed by the apparent success of the January action, however, when the Germans planned to liquidate the ghetto on 19 April 1943, they came much better prepared with tanks and heavy artillery. This did not prevent the Germans from receiving a nasty surprise, however, as they entered to find the streets deserted (everyone hiding in bunkers) and the fighters, armed with pistols, grenades, and some automatic weapons and rifles, attacked. Numbering only around 700 fighters, the Germans were stunned on the first day of fighting, losing 12 men while the rest were forced to retreat beyond the walls of the ghetto. The fighters continued their dogged resistance, and though the Germans quickly broke the military organisation of the Jewish fighters, pockets of resistance couldn’t be easily dealt with, so the Germans began to use heavy artillery and even Stuka dive bombers. It was a doomed struggle. Vicious street-to-street, house-tohouse battles ensued, with insurgents often burnt out of their boltholes by flamethrowers and gas. On 8 May, German forces surrounded the principal command post of the rebels on ul. Miła 18 and though some did escape, rather than face capture, Anielewicz and his cabal opted for mass suicide. By 16 May the Uprising was over, with German commander Jurgen Stroop announcing, “The former Jewish quarter of Warsaw is no longer in existence.” With the fighting over, the rest of the ghetto was levelled, and its inmates either sent to Treblinka or assigned to Gęsiówka (ul. Gęsia), a small concentration camp nearby. As a final, symbolic act of Jewish Warsaw’s demise, the Germans blew up the Great Synagogue on ul. Tłomackie.

Resettlement of Jews to the Warsaw Ghetto

It is estimated 7,000 Jews and roughly 300 Germans were killed during the Ghetto Uprising. The survivors of the Ghetto liquidation, some 42,000, were transported to the Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin.

Very little remains of the former ghetto today, however, to give you an idea of scale, the area consisted of 1/3 the size of the city of Warsaw (mainly the Mirów/Muranów and Wola districts, plus parts of the city centre). Despite the destruction, small parts of the ghetto remain, from buildings that somehow survived destruction and even fragments of the ghetto wall.

A FOOTBRIDGE OF MEMORY

One of the most recognisable images of the Warsaw Ghetto is that of the footbridge constructed over ul. Chłodna to connect the large and small ghettos. To commemorate that spot is one of Warsaw’s newest memorials: a pair of metal poles connected via optical fibres which, after the sun sets, project the shape of the footbridge over the road via light. Designed by Tomasz de Tusch-Lec and installed in September 2011, the memorial also has viewing windows inside the poles where visitors can flip through images of life in the Warsaw Ghetto. By now you’ve also probably noticed the pavement outline that symbolises the ghetto’s borders, which can be found on the sidewalk as you tromp down ul. Chłodna.QC‐6, Intersection of ul. Chłodna and ul. Żelazna, MRondo ONZ.

GHETTO HEROES MONUMENT

In the middle of a large, attractive square beside the POLIN Museum, you’ll find the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, which commemorates the first Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Designed by Leon Suzin and sculpted by Nathan Rapoport in 1948, close by stands an earlier memorial tablet to the Ghetto Heroes, also by Suzin, which was unveiled in 1946. Interestingly, stone used in the monument had been brought to Warsaw by the Nazis and was to be used in architectural projects planned for a new Warsaw by Hitler’s architect, Albert Speer. In the square, you’ll also find a statue of Jan Karski, a Polish resistance fighter famed for informing the allies about the existence of Nazi death camps and the systematic destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto.QD‐4, ul. Zamenhofa, MRatusz Arsenał.

JEWISH GHETTO WALL FRAGMENT

Following the Ghetto Uprising the whole area was levelled so few traces remain. If you duck into the courtyard at ul. Sienna 55 (or from ul. Złota 62) you will see a remaining part of the ghetto wall complete with a commemorative plaque. Somewhat impressively, the local government have decided to honour Warsaw’s Holocaust history by introducing a ‘Ghetto Trail.’ Developed with the help of the Jewish Historical Institute the route has seen the boundary of the former Warsaw Ghetto outlined on pavements, as well as the appearance of 21 dual language information boards positioned in places of particular interest.QD‐8, ul. Sienna 55, MRondo ONZ.

MEMORIAL TO THE EVACUATION OF WARSAW GHETTO FIGHTERS

Unveiled in 2010, this monument is located on ul. Prosta 51, right next to the sewer entrance where a group of around 50 fighters from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising escaped on 10 May 1943 when ordered to get out of the ghetto by the leaders of the Jewish Combat Organisation. On 01 May, Symcha Ratajzer-Rotem (codename ‘Kazik’) was ordered to get to the ‘Aryan’ side of the wall and make contact with one of the leaders of the Uprising, Yitzhak Zuckerman, who would help in aiding the evacuation of fighters from the ghetto. Kazik returned to the ghetto on the night of 08 May to aid the escape of fighters from the bunker HQ at ul. Miła 18. The escape could not happen immediately, as German patrols were above, however, on 10 May, many of the fighters exited the sewer and into a waiting truck which took them to the outskirts of Warsaw in the direction of Łomianki. Most of the fighters would later go on to fight in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 in the ranks of the partisan People’s Army (Armia Ludowa). Some of those to escape the ghetto on this day were Cywia Lubetkin, Tosia Altman, Michał Rozenfeld and Marek Edelman.QC‐8, ul. Prosta 51, MRondo Daszyńskiego.

ul. Waliców 14 - Ghetto Remnant

MIŁA 18 BUNKER

A grass mound and monument now marks the spot from where the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was lead by the Jewish Combat Organisation, and where many of its fighters, including commander-in-chief Mordechai Anielewicz, are buried. Three weeks after the start of the uprising, the bunker was discovered by the Nazis on 08 May and tear gas was used to try and force the fighting command out. Some did escape, however, the majority chose to commit suicide by ingesting poison rather than surrender. Their bodies were never exhumed after 1945 and the site became a war memorial. Due to post-war changes in Warsaw’s urban landscape, the current site no longer holds the address ‘Miła 18’ and can now be found on the corner of ul. Miła 2 and ul. Dubois.QD‐3, ul. Miła 2.

RUINS OF THE RISING

Between 1939 and 1944 85% of left-bank Warsaw was completely destroyed, with the city centre bearing the brunt of the damage. In spite of the Herculean rebuilding work that has since taken place, bullet scarred walls on pre-war tenements can still be found in relative abundance round the few parts of the centre that escaped total destruction. Perhaps most obvious of all is the building at ul. Waliców 14, which was part of the Warsaw Ghetto, featuring shell-pocked facades and a wall half-tumbling down. Amazingly, this building survived the invasion of September 1939, The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 and the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 (when it took a hit during an air raid). Directly across the street from the building is one of the few remaining pieces of the Ghetto wall, marked by a plaque.QD‐7, ul. Waliców 14, MRondo ONZ.

UMSCHLAGPLATZ

Found on ul. Stawki, close to the intersection with ul. Dzika, Umschlagplatz is a bleak, slightly disappointing monument marking the spot where around 300,000 Jews were loaded on cattle wagons bound for Treblinka. The Nazi commandant in charge of the deportations lived directly opposite on ul. Stawki 5/7.QC‐3, MDworzec Gdański.