WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

In 1943, resistance fighters in the Polish capital attacked German soldiers, sent to round up and transport the city’s Jews to concentration camps

- MAREK SOBIERALSKI

“When flames engulfed the upper parts of a building, Jews appeared on the top floors. These were their last minutes. They ran from window to window. They gestured vigorously. They climbed onto the windowsills. Their black silhouettes stood out against the fiery background, against the moving wall of flames.

“To save themselves from a painful death by fire, they jumped down. Not onto pillows, but onto the asphalt of courtyards and streets below. There lies some black suicidal mannequin with a red head. The skull is cracked. Piles of brain next to it. The house continues to burn. The roof collapses with a crash and the house is on fire. And it continues to glow for many days. Only the May rain choked everything that smouldered.”

These were the recollections of Jürgen Stroop, the SS commander who served as SS and police leader in occupied Poland and Greece. He is remembered primarily as the liquidator of the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw. The final result of his orders was its complete demolition and liquidation, during which his forces committed terrible crimes. He described the action in his report: “Jewish residential district in Warsaw no longer exists”

The uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto raged between 19 April and 16 May 1943 and is recognised around the world as a symbol of great heroism. It was also the first largescale armed action undertaken by Polish underground organisations against the Germans, and the first urban uprising in Nazi-occupied Europe.