About the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (19/04/1943 – 16/05/1943)

In mid-May 1943, the fighting ended. The aftermath of this battle was tragic. A drop in the ocean of blood in the Holocaust era. Most of the combatants died. A few survivors – like commanders Icchak Cukierman and Marek Edelman – managed to break through to the Aryan side. In his "Report," Jürgen Stroop summarized the fighting in the ghetto from April 19 to May 16, 1943, statistically: there were approximately 56 Jews in the Warsaw ghetto during this period; of those who resisted, approximately 6 were killed, approximately 7 civilians were murdered on the spot, and 631 bunkers were discovered and liquidated. The surviving civilian population was deported by the Nazi authorities to extermination and concentration camps scattered across occupied Poland: 7 to Treblinka, the remaining 36 to Majdanek, Auschwitz, and others. All figures—both those above and below—are relative. J. Stroop underestimated his own losses—only 16 soldiers were reportedly killed and 85 wounded. The Polish clandestine press ("Dzień Warszawy") likely overestimated the figures, reporting that 86 Germans were killed and 420 wounded.

The German command considered the blowing up of the symbol of the Jewish district – the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie Street – to be the symbolic end of the uprising. Officially, Warsaw was declared "Judenrein." J. Stroop's "Report" concludes with the statement: "The Jewish residential district in Warsaw has ceased to exist." Unofficially, however, German troops spent many subsequent weeks literally liquidating the remnants of the now-vanished "Jewish district." German authorities encouraged Poles to participate in hunts for those who, despite everything, managed to survive in the ruins or on the Aryan side. For a captured Jew, a Polish "hunter" (from the ranks of the Blue Police, collaborators, blackmailers, and "ordinary" civilians) was to be entitled to keep half of the "property" found on the Jew. Stanisław Sznapman wrote in his diary about overzealous policemen: "They looked passersby in the eye and checked their IDs, pulled people out of cabs and trams. If there was even the slightest suspicion, men were dragged to the gates, their trousers were unbuttoned, and a summary examination was conducted. They were killed on the spot if there were any doubts about their race. It was enough that a woman resembled a Jew to shoot her on the spot without checking her documents."

The German actions taken in early April 1943 indicated that the end of the Warsaw Ghetto was approaching. Special SS units were stationed in front of the walls several days before the liquidation operation began: "Machine gun barrels protruded from the balconies, windows, and roofs of houses on the Aryan side adjacent to the wall. German scouts observed the area through holes bored in the ghetto wall. Nearby streets were closed to traffic, patrolled by German police on motorcycles." At the same time, on the opposite side, on the eve of the uprising, posters appeared on the walls of buildings. The Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB) appealed to everyone not to trust the occupying authorities, to respond to their calls without hesitation, and to actively participate in the resistance whenever possible. The recommendation was to hold out at all costs: in a bunker, a basement, an attic, in the ruins. With the hope of survival...

The reckoning with the enemy – the Jewish mass trapped in the ghetto – was to be brief. The Germans assumed that within three days the "Jewish settlement" would be liquidated, the sheds operating in the area would be relocated to the Lublin region, and the Jews would be deported. If necessary, they would be liquidated on the spot. That was the assumption. The armed forces, numbering just over 2, consisted of SS and Wehrmacht soldiers. Furthermore, Gestapo officers, gendarmerie, police, Lithuanians, Latvians, and Ukrainians participated in the ghetto's extermination. On the opposing side stood just under 1,5 fighters, primarily from the Jewish Combat Organization (women and men) and the Jewish Military Union (men). The five-member ŻOB command had a combined age of 110, so the average age of each commander was 22. The youngest ŻOB member, Lusiek Błones , was only thirteen when he joined the fighting. The individual units were composed primarily of youth aged 17-21. They hadn't yet reached academic maturity. The circumstances of war, terror, and mass murder meant that there was no future for anyone. Only today and only here mattered to everyone. Young people were condemned to grow up…

The first combatants – the Germans and their subordinate ethnic units – had a disproportionate advantage over the Jews in terms of age and experience gained on the frontlines and during genocidal operations. The commander-in-chief of the operation, Jürgen Stroop, was 48 years old at the time. The disparity in weaponry was striking. The German forces' arsenal included modern rifles, pistols, and flamethrowers. The Germans demonstrated their superiority using cannons, armored vehicles, and tanks. They were doomed to victory. The state of the Jewish side's weapons on the eve of the uprising is unknown. Apart from a small number of firearms, grenades, and explosives (mines), they independently manufactured so-called Molotov cocktails. The Jews – doomed to defeat – had to be brave. Symcha Rotem (Kazik Ratajzer) spotted German troops entering the ghetto early in the morning of April 19th. He said to the woman who was watching with him, "The Germans are marching as if to war." Years later, he recalled that day: "I felt how weak we were, how feeble our strength was." The uprising broke out...

Jews. Everyone – fighters and civilians – had a common denominator: inevitable death. But each died differently. The case of Meilah Perelman . He participated in a skirmish with the Germans. Seriously wounded, he failed to reach the bunker. He surrendered his weapon to his comrades. The Germans didn't dare enter the building where he had taken refuge. They set the building on fire, and the fighter burned alive: "His screams could be heard even in the bunker all day long." One of the few survivors who witnessed it recalled: "To this day – in the evening, when the sun sets – I can hear his screams." The case of Staś Brillianstein . He defended the bunker. There were few fighters, and weapons were scarce. They counted every bullet. And this fighter perished. A comrade crawled to his body. He seized the rifle and continued the fight: "The Germans withdrew, unaware that the Jews had used up all their ammunition." They had enough time to escape. The case of Szymon Heller . He had a rifle, while the rest of the unit only had pistols and Molotov cocktails: "When we saw Germans, we signaled him, and then he shot. After each such attack, we moved to the next building, and the Germans thought we were many and had many rifles." However, the Germans managed to surround another building. Heller attempted to descend the rope. It broke, and he was killed. The case of Henach Gutman . As German troops entered the workshop, he signaled Kazik Ratajzer to detonate a mine: "It exploded at the right moment." The Germans withdrew. Several days later, Gutman was seriously wounded in a fight for the bunker. His fate is unknown... He likely rested in the rubble. Another case... The building is burning. Everyone flees in panic to the top floor. There is no way out. The fighters are shooting. Some jump from the window. Under fire, they die in mid-flight or are finished off in the street. Others lowered the rope. The Germans were waiting for them at the bottom. They started shooting. They killed them.

Many took their own lives. Nameless, unable to bear the burden of the reality surrounding them. Some in solitude, others in public, some collectively. The first case. How different was the decision to commit suicide made by Chairman Adam Czerniaków when the Nazi authorities – as part of Grossaktion – were just launching the process of liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto. Hundreds of thousands of Jews had been sentenced to death. Marek Edelman claimed that the helpless Czerniaków had made a cardinal error: "He made his death his own, private affair." Edelman was concerned with the manner of dying. "We knew," he said, "that one must die publicly, before the eyes of the world." The second case. This is what Szmul Zygielbojm did . Although he was living and working in London at the time, his thoughts were certainly on the burning ghetto. Aware that the Holocaust was a public secret, in a farewell letter to Prime Minister Sikorski and President Raczkiewicz, he expressed his outrage at the inaction and indifference of his allies, who were aware of this tragedy. He also wrote about his last hope: "Perhaps with my death I will contribute to shaking the indifference of those who can and should act, to save now, at the last moment, from certain extermination the handful of Polish Jews still alive." The third case. The attitude of the ŻOB men was still different. The uprising was drawing to a close. The Germans managed to find the command bunker on Miła Street. They surrounded it. The civilians inside obeyed the order, left the bunker, and surrendered to the Germans. The fighters remained. Cywia Lubetkin witnessed Arie Wilner shout, "We will commit suicide! We will not be taken alive!" And she saw most of her comrades obey this call. They took their own lives. En masse. Collectively...

Everything was happening on the verge of life and death. There was no alternative. The longer the Jewish resistance lasted, the harder it became for civilians to endure in the bunkers. They spent the lingering hours in conditions that humiliated human dignity, excruciating: nervously and physically exhausted, in silence, unable to perform any activity. "Nerves were strained to the limit," Leon Najberg stated , "any sound would send people into hysterics." Case One. Stella Fidelseid recalled her experiences "underground" thus: "People stared at each other with a kind of madness in their eyes. You weren't even hungry. It was a feeling of utter helplessness, like an animal struggling in a trap. It was already a slow death, fully aware of what was happening." Case Two. Every sound, any noise, threatened the Germans with discovery of the hideout and the murder of those inside. A determined person who wanted to endure had to engage in a battle with themselves—with their weaknesses, conscience, and morality. And at the same time, be responsible for the individual and the collective. As in the case of Fred Orlean's child : "You can hear the baby whimpering; it's clearly very hungry or wet. They whisper curses. The child will doom us. 'We have to strangle it.' Some shuffling, struggling. After a few minutes, it's completely silent..." Case number three. The situation was hopeless – the need to decide the fate of the "fellow prisoners" in the shelter: "There's a woman with two children. The boy is mad. He's having fits and screams horribly. He could lure the Germans. The shelter's 'Presidium' decides to remove the woman and the boy. Forty people can't die because of one child. However, they want to keep the girl as a guarantee that the mother won't betray the shelter for having been expelled." There were as many death sentences as there were for people sentenced to death by the Germans...

The Germans. Contrary to the assumptions that the "liquidation action" would be lightning-fast, on the second day of fighting, Joseph Goebbels noted with disgust in his "Diary": "The fighting in the Warsaw Ghetto continues, and with military means." Because the Jews, he stated, "are putting up desperate resistance." However, he had no doubt that this resistance would ultimately be broken. He justified the situation thus: "The reason for this desperate defense is probably also that the Jews are fully aware of what awaits them. They are deprived of the possibility of capitulation." Stroop echoed this narrative. Aware that one of the means enabling the Jews to persist and resist was a network of underground bunkers, he decided that the only solution would be to raze the ghetto to the ground, and the leading means to achieve this was fire. He implemented this plan ruthlessly and ruthlessly, stating: "[Arson is] the only and final method to force this rabble and subhumans to appear on the surface."

From the very first days of the uprising, the terror and—as Benjamin Horowitz , a would-be victim, noted in his diary—"murder frenzy" had its interruptions. These were orders, threats, instructions, and promises given "for the future" to imprisoned Jews. On the one hand, those who voluntarily reported to the Umschlagplatz were guaranteed passage to a labor camp. On the other, Friedrich Wilhelm Kruger's order was made public, its essence encapsulating the need for "the complete cleansing of the ghetto with the greatest and unrelenting severity." Jews were to be fearful and aware of what the future held for them...

Poles. The voices of witnesses to the crimes unfolding in Warsaw were mixed. Writers in the underground press, regardless of political affiliation and ideology, expressed admiration and outrage. They were capable of showing respect for the victims of the crime, Jews – fellow citizens. They maintained their dignity as Poles. The Home Army's "Information Bulletin" wrote at the end of April: "Death by force of arms can bring new values ​​to the life of the Jewish nation, lending the suffering of Jews in Poland the luster of an armed struggle for the right to life." At the turn of April and May, the Catholic magazine of the Front for the Rebirth of Poland, "Prawda," spoke of the moral victory of the losers: "Jews are fighting. They are fighting not for life, for the fight against the Germans is too unequal and hopeless – but for the price of life. Not for saving themselves from death, but for the kind of death they will die. To die like people, not like vermin." This argument also contained a note of hope that Jewish heroism would bring yet another value to the postwar era: "The Warsaw Ghetto may become not the end, but the beginning, because nothing that perishes humanly perishes in vain..." As the uprising was drawing to a close, the Polish People's Party (PPE) magazine "Wolność" (Freedom) expressed a highly critical opinion of those who, more or less openly, expressed sympathy for the crimes committed by the Germans against the Jews, profiting from them: "It is our duty to stigmatize all those who, in their degradation, resort to, among other things, blackmail against Jews in hiding." It continued with a note of the passivity of the remaining majority: "A large segment of our society behaves in this matter like an indifferent spectator, failing to grasp the full enormity of the degradation that is the incitement of Jews who are already persecuted enough." In the press from this period, one can also encounter yet another type of content, a kind of voice of the Warsaw people, as in the article "Around the Burning Ghetto," published on behalf of the FOP. The quoted dialogue between a Polish woman and a Polish man likely served to indicate that Poles—despite everything—were more supportive of their former neighbors, acquaintances, or Jewish craftsmen than of the Germans: "[he] Lifting his head, he states objectively: Well, well, the fire is worse again today... My Mrs. Kowalska, did you see it at night...? The glow reached halfway up the sky... [she] They are fiercely defending themselves, even though it's Jews... [he] Jews are Jews, lady, but Warsaw Jews." In the first days of the uprising, comments often stemmed from the ignorance or naivety of Polish viewers. Władka Meed, who witnessed the fighting, put it this way in her memoirs: "The spectators are moved, delighted, and thrilled. They comment that it was 'ours' who organized the uprising; 'our' officers must have been there, inside." Poles also needed hope and faith...

The attitude of Poles was also not uniform. Janina David , who survived the massacre in the Warsaw Ghetto on the Aryan side solely thanks to the support of her Polish family, in her diary dated April 19th quoted a saying repeated by some of her compatriots: "If Hitler did one good thing, it was certainly getting rid of the Jews."

Another survivor, Helena Merenholc , also stayed on the Aryan side. She recounted the Easter holidays in Warsaw: "Crowds walk the streets. I hear from passersby: 'The Jewish women are frying, they're ruining our holidays, we have to walk because of them.'" Among the fighters were those who, as "liaisons," alternated between the hell on earth – the ghetto – and the Aryan side. They were forced to become spectators. Beyond the tragedy, their narrative also featured another thread – eyes that could betray Jews. This was evidence of a sense of connection with those who were not destined to "live yet."

Maria Lewi-Kurowska recounted: "Among the crowds of observers, I could clearly identify people like me – hiding Jews. They were dressed up as best as they could – just like me. But… the faces! The expression in their eyes! These were observers of the spectacle, they were – like me – people whose hearts were bleeding." Marek Edelman repeated the words of the liaison officer with the Aryan side, Inka. She reportedly said: "We were afraid to show our eyes; they were the kind of eyes that betrayed us." In her account, Wladka Meed recalled a group of several dozen Jews captured on the Aryan side – men, women, and children – standing against a wall, surrounded by guards with pointed rifles: "The unfortunates, including very small children, looked exhausted, frightened, ragged, their gazes wild. The children were exhausted and from time to time their arms dropped, and a German bayonet struck them until they raised them. Despite this, not a single one of them cried." There was no shortage of spectators praising the occupier's efficiency. Meed also recounted the hunt for escapees from the ghetto: "[The Jews] hid in the attic of a Polish house. The Germans found them and attacked them. The Jews returned fire and tried to escape through neighboring roofs. Shortly afterward, a German tank arrived and shot them all down. The onlookers admired the rare sight: the arms and legs of the dead hung like garlands from the roof."

Maria Czapska , an active member of Żegota, wrote with undisguised indignation about the behavior of many Poles on the eve of Easter: "Holy Week services are underway in Warsaw churches. On Good Friday, after venerating the cross, the faithful pray for prisoners, travelers, the sick, heretics, Jews, and pagans. After the prayer for the Jews (that God would enlighten the faithless), no kneeling was performed."

Jews and Poles. Another theme recurred in the underground press, discussions, and reports while the uprising was still ongoing. On the one hand, it pointed to solidarity, and on the other, to the fear and premonition that the liquidation of the ghetto presented the Nazi occupiers with another problem—the Poles. "The tragedy the Jews are experiencing is part of the tragedy of the entire Polish state," wrote a late-April issue of "Iskra," the periodical of the Polish Syndicalists Union. "Therefore, at any moment, we must be ready to defend ourselves in the same way that the Jews have today." In a report to the Polish Government in London, the head of the clandestine State Security Corps reported: "Fears of a Polish uprising are constantly growing among the German authorities." Witness Leon Najberg wrote about the symbol of the ties between the Polish and Jewish nations—the flags flying from the roof of a building on Muranowska Street in the first days of the uprising. The Germans treated this as a provocation. It was – Stroop stated unequivocally – "a call to arms against us." However, for many bystanders, it could also have been evidence of German weakness, or even fear of endless fighting with Jewish urban guerrillas. This is confirmed by another comment from the German commander: "On the second day, a special unit managed to capture these two banners." The perception of Jewish fighters and Polish observers alike was likely different: only after two days…

Instead of an ending. In October 1943, an underground publishing house published a several-dozen-page book titled "Before the Eyes of the World." It discusses the final destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto. The author, Maria Kann , concluded the work with an excellent, moving reflection: "Before the eyes of the world, before our eyes, before the eyes of our youth – a nation was being murdered. We watched it happen idly. Despite all the outrage, we are becoming accustomed to the idea that murder is allowed, that crematoria can be built for living people. The concept begins to germinate in children's minds: that there are different kinds of nations: 'masters,' 'servants,' and finally 'dogs,' who can be killed with impunity. Hitler will pass like a bad dream; he will fall at the hands of his own debased nation. The world will cease to be a slaughterhouse. Order and peace will return. And many years later, a child will ask: 'Was it a man or a Jew, Mother?' This is what the hearts of Polish mothers fear." The question remains open: did the content provide proper teaching?

Time should heal wounds, teach openness and reflective thinking. So, have mentalities or moral considerations changed in Polish society and civil society? The history of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising has "always" been accompanied by various forms of interpretation and reinterpretation. In the postwar period, it was often used as a means of political struggle, depending on the needs of those in power and the party. The intonation of speeches, the content of articles, and studies devoted to the Ghetto Uprising were adapted accordingly. These also largely served to silence another uprising: the Warsaw Uprising. Since 1989, the era of real socialism has become a closed chapter in the history of the Polish state and Polish citizens. Hence, the conclusion is that, along with this, the fraudulent actions of the authorities should be forgotten. And the hope that social engineering will be merely a form of political fiction . The fight for memory will now be replaced only by the memory of this fight. Unfortunately, the attitudes of some public figures, journalists, and commentators on public life provoke doubt...

Dr. Paweł Wieczorek. Edited by Anna Kilian