March of Remembrance 2019

On 22 July 1942, the Germans began so-called Great Action (Grossaktion Warschau). Once locked in the Warsaw ghetto, the Jews were now being deported to an extermination camp in Treblinka. On the 77th anniversary of this tragic event, a March of Remembrance will be held today along a symbolic route.

Every day, for more than two months, the Germans were deporting from the Umschlagplatz as many as seven thousand Jews from the Warsaw ghetto and the capital city’s suburbs.

Setting off at 6 pm in front of the Umschlagplatz monument, the marchers will go along Stawki, Karmelicka, Nowolipki, Jana Pawła II, Elektoralna, and Chłodna streets, and finally conclude on Waliców 14 street where a concert of Władysław Szlengel’s works will take place. Known as a poet of the Jewish fate, Władysław Szlengel lived in this part of Warsaw until August 1942. He was among the 40 thousand people who remained in the ghetto following Grossaktion Warschau. Szlengel and his wife were executed by a firing squad on 8 May 1943.

The March has been organised by the Jewish Historical Institute since 2012. The Honorary Patronage is granted by Aleksander Ferens – Mayor of the Śródmieście District of the Capital City of Warsaw, and Krzysztof Strzałkowski – Mayor of the Wola District of the Capital City of Warsaw. March of Remembrance Partners: Forum for Dialogue, Taube Centre for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Poland Foundation, the Memory of Treblinka, Jewish Community of Warsaw, Hillel Warszawa, JCC Warszawa, the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, Second Generation Association, “Children of the Holocaust” Association in Poland, the Jewish Theatre. Media partners: Chidusz, Dzieje.pl, Jewish.pl, Midrasz, Polskie Radio RDC.

Anna Kilian