DECEMBER 7 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

DECEMBER 7

1939

Gestapo-NKVD Conferences:  From December 6 to 7, 1939 the Gestapo and Soviet NKVD held conferences in Krakow, located in the General Gouvernment in central Poland (Nazi-German administrative center). The second round of conferences were held from December 8 to 9, 1939 in  Zakopane, a resort town in the Tatra Mountains of southern Poland.  Top officials from the Gestapo and NKVD met to discuss mutual cooperation the tactics to use for dealing with Polish resistance and the exchange of prisoners of war. There were seven Gestapo-NKVD Conferences; the first was held on September 27, 1939 in Brzesc, and the last in March 1940 in Krakow. The German-Soviet alliance was established with the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on August  23, 1939. On September 1, Nazi  Germany invaded Poland on three fronts, and on September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east.

1941

Nazi German Commander of Chelmno Death Camp.  On December 7, 1941, Herbert Lange became the first commandant of the Chelmno, a Nazi German Death Camp. He organized this camp by orders of Himmler and Greiser. According to some sources, it was Lange who selected Chelmno as the location. The Death Camp was situated about 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the Polish city of Lodz, which the Nazi Germans renamed Litzmannstadt.  It operated from December 8, 1941, coinciding with Operation Reinhard during the most deadly phase of the Holocaust, and again from June 23, 1944 to January 18, 1945.  Up to 340,000 men, women, and children were gassed at Chelmno. On January 17, 1945 Russian troops captured the town of Chełmno but by then, the Nazi Germans had destroyed evidence of the camp's existence, leaving no prisoners behind.


Pearl Harbor Attack:  On December 7, 1941, without any formal declaration of war, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a suprise attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor. Twenty-one American ships were attacked and either lost or damaged during the attack. Of the 402 American aircraft stationed in Hawaii, 188 were destroyed and 159 damaged, 155 of them on the ground. Hardly any aircraft were ready to defend the base except for eight Army Air Forces pilots. They succeeded in getting airborne during the attack and each of them were credited with downing at least one Japanese aircraft during the attack: 1st Lt. Lewis M. Sanders, 2nd Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen, 2nd Lt. Kenneth M. Taylor, 2nd Lt. George S. Welch, 2nd Lt. Harry W. Brown, and 2nd Lt. Gordon H. Sterling Jr. Sterling was shot down by Lt. Fujita over Kaneohe Bay and is listed as Body Not Recovered (not Missing In Action). Lt. John L. Dains was killed by friendly fire returning from a victory over Kaawa. Of 33 PBYs in Hawaii, 24 were destroyed, and six others damaged beyond repair. (The three on patrol returned undamaged.) Friendly fire brought down some U.S. planes on top of that, including five from an inbound flight from Enterprise. Japanese attacks on barracks killed additional personnel.  American casualties were 2,335 killed,  and 1,143 wounded. The next day the United States and Great Britain declared war on Japan, and the US entered WWII.

1970

Treaty between West Germany and Poland:  On December 7, 1970, the Treaty of Warsaw was signed by Chancellor Willy Brandt of West Germany and Prime Minister Jozef Cyrankiewicz of the People's Republic of Poland. (It was ratified by the German Bundestag on May 17,1972.)  West Germany and Poland agreed to the stipulations of the Warsaw Treaty,  that is, the acceptance of the existing border between Germany and Poland - the Oder-Neisse line, which was imposed on Germany by the Allied powers after the end of World War Two at the Potsdam Conference.  The subject had been a very sensitive topic since 1945, as Poland was concerned that a German government might attempt to reclaim some of the former eastern territories.  Willy Brandt was vehemently criticised by the conservative CDU/CSU opposition, who preceived his policy as a betrayal of German national interests, but were consoled with the belief that the Treaty was not a final arbiter.  According to Article IV of the Warsaw Treaty, it stated that previous treaties, such as the Potsdam Agreement, were not superseded by this latest agreement. Therefore the provisions of this treaty could be changed by a final peace treaty between Germany and the Allies of World War II—as provided for in the Potsdam Agreement.


Warschauer Kniefall:  On December 7, 1970 German Chancellor Willy Brandt visited the monument to the victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.  After Brandt laid a wreath at the monument, he surprised everyone present when he knelt before the monument, and remained silent (for about half a minute).  During the Nazi German occupation, Willy Brandt had actively resisted the early Nazi regime, and had been in exile most of the time. Brandt's visit to Poland at the time was for the signing of the Treaty of Warsaw between West Germany and the People's Republic of Poland, guaranteeing German acceptance of the new borders of Poland. The treaty was one of the Brandt-initiated policy steps (the 'Ostpolitik') to ease tensions between West and East during the Cold War.  At the time positive reactions may have been limited, but his demonstration of  humility was an important step in bridging the gaps World War II had left between Germany and Eastern Europe. Brandt's act was remarkable and thought to be one of the reasons he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1971.

MAY 16 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

MAY 16

1648

Battle of Zhovti Vody was the first significant battle of the Khmelnytsky Uprising, between the forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, led by Stefan Potocki, and the Ukrainian Cossacks and Crimean Tatars, under the joint command of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Tuhaj Bej. (The Khmelnytsky Uprising was a cossack uprising within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.) The battle raged on for eighteen days,and resulted in a defeat of Commonwealth forces. The Registered Cossacks initially pledged their allegiance to the Commonwealth,  but after having arrived they unexpectedly sided with the Khmelnytsky forces.  In the attempt to retreat the Commonwealth forces were annihilated just days before reinforcements were expected to arrive.  Stefan Potocki was wounded, taken prisoner, and died from gangrene on May 19, 1648. His military advisor, Stefan Czarniecki, was also taken prisoner though he managed to escape shortly afterwards.

1939

General Wacław Stachiewicz was one of the most promising officers in the Polish army.  He was the brainchild of Plan Zachod (Plan West) which established a defensive plan along the Polish-German border in case of attack from Germany.  (Conversely, he also created Plan Wschod (Plan East) to prepare a defense in case of attack from the Soviet Union.)  When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the headquarters of the Polish commander-in-chief but he was unable to exert influence during the Polish Defensive War, because of lack of communication. Consequently, he and Rydz-Śmigły withdrew to south-eastern Poland. But on September 17, 1939,  they evacuated when Soviets invaded Poland from the east.  Stachiewicz, along with many other Polish military crossed the border into Romania where he and Rydz-Smigly were immediately interned. When Poland was defeated on October 6, 1939, Stachiewicz was accused for having failed in his mission to defend Poland. Plan West was fairly accurate in terms of estimating the location and most directions of attack by German forces, but did not fully develop secondary Polish defensive lines. One of the major faults of the Plan was that Polish forces thought they could hold out for several months during a defensive campaign, but they overestimated their own military readiness, complicated by their expectation that the British and French (who had signed a mutual defense pact with Poland) would join the Poles in launching an offensive from the West.  Moreover, the Poles underestimated  the Germans, whose military strength exceeded that of the Poles, in numbers and technical strength.

1940

Nazi German AB-Aktion in Poland: The AB-Aktion was the second stage in the Nazi campaign of the destruction of the intelligentsia in Poland.  Tens of thousands of Polish elite from towns and cities were arrested  by the Nazis and were never seen again. This cleared the way for Nazis to annex territories, or build concentration camps that would be far from prying eyes.  In the spring and summer of 1940,  of the 30,000 or more Polish people arrested by the Nazi regime, 7,000 of them included community leaders, professors, teachers and priests (all accused of criminal activities) and subsequently massacred at secret locations near Palmiry forest.  Other prisoners were sent to German concentration camps.  According to many historians, including Norman Davies, the action against Polish leaders was coordinated with the authorities of the Soviet Union, who at the same time perpetrated the mass murder of 22,000 Polish military officers at Katyń and other places. (see April 13, 1943)

1941

French Marshal Petain issued a radio broadcast approving collaboration with Hitler, " Frenchmen - You have learned that Admiral Darlan recently conferred with Chancellor Hitler. I had approved this meeting in principle. The new interview permits us to light up the road into the future and to continue the conversations that had been begun with the German Government."

1942

Sobibór extermination camp began mass gassing operations. The camp was fitted with three gas chambers using carbon monoxide piped in from engines, but would later substitute Zyklon-B.  500 prisoners were murdered at a time. The camp was constructed in March and April 1942, soon after the Wannsee Conference. It was located near the Sobibór railway station because of its proximity to the Chełm – Włodawa railway line connecting General Government with Reichs kommissariat Ukraine. (After WW2, SS Kurt Bolender, one of the commanders of the camp, was captured and tried in Hagen, West Germany. He confessed to his crimes and described the killing operations as follows:  "...Before the Jews undressed, Oberscharführer Hermann Michel made a speech to them. On these occasions, he used to wear a white coat to give the impression he was a physician. Michel announced to the Jews that they would be sent to work. But before this they would have to take baths and undergo disinfection, so as to prevent the spread of diseases. After undressing, the Jews were taken through the "Tube", by an SS man leading the way, with five or six Ukrainians at the back hastening the Jews along. After the Jews entered the gas chambers, the Ukrainians closed the doors. The motor was switched on by the former Soviet soldier Emil Kostenko and by the German driver Erich Bauer from Berlin. After the gassing, the doors were opened, and the corpses were removed by a group of Jewish workers...." (Prior to the end of the trial, Kurt Bolender committed suicide by hanging himself in his prison cell. In his suicide note, he insisted that he was innocent.)

 1943

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended:  The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was an act of Jewish resistance that which opposed the Nazi's final effort to deport the remaining Jew to Treblinka. The Uprising started on April 19 when the Ghetto refused to surrender to the police commander Jürgen Stroop. He then ordered the burning of the Ghetto, block by block.  It was the largest single revolt by Jews during World War II. A total of 13,000 Jews were killed, about half of them burnt alive or suffocated.  German casualties are not known, but were estimated to be at most 300. Of the remaining 50,000 Jews who survived the Nazi action, most were captured and deported to Treblinka.  After the Ghetto Uprising was over, most of the incinerated houses were razed to the ground, and the Warsaw concentration camp complex was established in their place.

1944

Hungarian Jews were deported to Auschwitz. Eichmann was present to personally oversee and speed up the extermination process. By May 24, an estimated 100,000 had been gassed. Between May 16 and May 31, the SS report collecting 88 pounds of gold and white metal from the teeth of the Jewish prisoners who were gassed. By the end of June, 381,661 persons - half of the Jews in Hungary - had been sent to Auschwitz.

APRIL 19 - DAILY CHRONICLES OF HISTORY

APRIL 19

1938

The inhabitants of Wilno celebrated the 19th anniversary of city's liberation from the Soviets. Dar Pomorza returned to the port of Gdynia, after a 216 -day cruise.  The Dar Pomorza was a Polish full-rigged sailing ship, constructed in 1909 by Blohm & Voss to be a German training ship and named in tribute to the German Prinzess Eitel Friedrich. Following WW1, Friedrich was taken as reparations by Britain and brought to France. Eventually it was sold to the Pomerania community of Poland for 7,000 British pounds, and renamed Dar Pomorza.  Dar Pomorza won the Cutty Sark Trophy in 1980.  She is now preserved at Gdynia as a museum ship.

1943

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising:  In response to the Nazi's attempt to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto and deport the remaining Jews to Treblinka,  Jewish prisoners instigated an armed resistance from within the walls of the Ghetto.  The Jews refused to surrender. When the SS troops tried to liquidate the Ghetto, the Jews drove them back with gunfire.  Nazi police commander Jurgen Stroop then ordered the burning of the Ghetto, block by block.The aktion ended on May 16, 1943.  It was the largest single revolt by Jews during World War II.  A total of 13,000 Jews died, about half of them burnt alive or suffocated.  The surviving 56,000 inhabitants were deported to Treblinka for extermination.  German casualties were not more than 300.


Dawid Moryc Apfelbaum was commander of the Jewish Military Union (Żydowski Związek Wojskowy, ŻZW), during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He was reportedly killed in the first few days of the Uprising.  (He also fought for Poland, during the German invasion of Poland, joining the troops in defence of Warsaw.) After his death he was promoted to the rank of Major in the Polish Army by the the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa,) AK command. In 2004, the mayor of Warsaw Lech Kaczyński had a square named for Apfelbaum in the city's Wola district.


Mordechai Anielewicz was the leader of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB), which led the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; the largest Jewish insurrection during the Second World War, which inspired further rebellions in ghettos and extermination camps. His character was engraved as a symbol of courage and sacrifice, and to this day his image represents Jewish resistance during the Holocaust. In July 1944, Anielewicz was posthumously awarded the Cross of Valour by the Polish Government in Exile, and in 1945 he was also awarded the Cross of Grunwald, 3rd Class by the Polish People's Army. Numerous other awards and memorials were made in his name by the State of Israel and many Jewish organizations.

1945

The Battle of the Seelow Heights ended in Soviet-Polish victory. It was a pitched battle, and one of the last assaults on large entrenched defensive positions. The Battle was fought over three days ending on  the 19th of April 1945.  The road to Berlin lay open -  90 km (56 mi) to the west. By April 23, the city was completely surrounded, and the Battle of Berlin was soon at an end. Within 2 weeks, Adolf Hitler committed suicide and the war in Europe was essentially over.  Close to one million Soviet soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front (including 78,556 soldiers of the Polish 1st Army), commanded by Marshal Georgi Zhukov, attacked the position known as the "Gates of Berlin".  They were opposed by about 110,000 soldiers of the German 9th Army, commanded by General Theodor Busse, as part of the Army Group Vistula. The defensive line on the Seelow Heights was the last major defensive line outside Berlin.


German submarines were sunk:  U-251 was sunk by rockets from no less than eight British and Norwegian Mosquitos of 143, 235 and 248 squadrons in the Kattegat; U-548 was sunk by depth charges from the American destroyer escorts Reuben James and Buckley; (it is not certain whether U-879 or U-857 was sunk, as both were in the vicinity at the time of the Allied attack.)

1947

The Flick Trial was the fifth of 12 trials of the United States Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (not to be confused with the Nuremberg Trials). It was also called the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials". The trial was held from April 19 to December 22, 1947 and most well-known of all the trials which tried 22 of the most important captured Nazi Germans. Among the accused were Frederich Flick and five high-ranking directors of a group of companies under his control. The charges were implementing slave labor and plundering. In addition, Flick and Otto Steinbrinck, his senior director, were both charged for their membership in what was named the "Circle of Friends of Himmler". This group was established in 1932, and consisted of many powerful German industrialists and bankers who had given about 1 million Reichsmarks to a special account of Himmler.  Flick was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, Steinbrinck to 5 years, Weiss to 2 and a half years, and three were acquitted. 

WARSAW GHETTO 1943: THE JEWISH UPRISING - 28 DAYS OF RESISTANCE

Warsaw Ghetto Burning

On April 19 sixty-nine years ago, hundreds of Jewish men, women and even children of the Warsaw Ghetto launched an Uprising against the Nazi Germans. For twenty-seven days, the Jews fought with all their might bearing what few weapons and arms they had against the overwhelming Aktion of the German Wehrmacht. It was the largest Jewish resistance movement of World War Two.

On April 20, 1943, the SS Police Leader of Warsaw Ghetto sent a telegram to the High SS and Police Leader East, Cracow. It read as follows:

GERMAN TANK USED AGAINST WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

Progress of the Ghetto Aktion on April 19, 1943. Closing of ghetto commenced at 03.00 hrs.

At 06.00 hrs. the Waffen-SS was ordered to comb out the remainder of the ghetto at a strength of 16/850.(referring to officers and men)

As soon as the units had entered, strong concerted fire was directed at them by the Jews and bandits.  The tank employed in this operation and the two SPW [heavy armored cars] were attacked with Molotov cocktails. The tank was twice set on fire. This attack with fire by the enemy caused the units employed to withdraw in the first stage. Losses in the first attack were 12 men (6 SS men, 6 Trawnicki men**).

About 08.00 hrs. the units were sent in again under the command of the undersigned. Although there was again a counterattack, in lesser strength, this operation made it possible to comb out the blocks of buildings according to plan. We succeeded in causing the enemy to withdraw from the roofs and prepared elevated positions into the cellars, bunkers and sewers. Only about 200 Jews were caught during the combing-out operation. Immediately afterwards shock-troop units were directed to known bunkers with orders to pull out the occupants and destroy the bunkers.

NAZIS WAIT AS JEWISH FIGHTER EMERGES FROM BUNKER

About 380 Jews were caught in this operation. It was discovered that the Jews were in the sewers. The sewers were completely flooded, to make it impossible to remain there. About 17.30 hrs. very strong resistance was met with from one block of buildings, including machine-gun fire. A special battle unit overcame the enemy, and penetrated into the buildings, but without capturing the enemy himself. The Jews and criminals resisted from base to base, and escaped at the last moment through garrets or subterranean passages. About 20.30 hrs. the external closure of the ghetto was reinforced...

NAZI GERMANS SMOKE OUT JEWISH RESISTANCE - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The Warsaw Ghetto was established on October 2, 1940 by Dr. Fischer, Governor and Head of the Warsaw District. All Jews in the surrounding area were ordered to move to residences within the designated areas by the end of the month. For the next year and a half thousands of Jews were deported from nearby cities and towns and herded into the ghetto until eventually there were from 300,000 to 400,000 Jews crowded into an area of only 1.3 square miles. (3.4 squared km).

MAP OF WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING 1943

On November 16,1940, the Germans sealed the Ghetto by building a high wall around it, topped by barbed wire and guarded by armed sentries. Any Jew caught leaving the ghetto compound was shot on sight. Living conditions were deplorable; typhus was rampant, and food limited to barely 184 calories per day per person. The Jews were being starved to death. Over 100,000 ghetto prisoners died.

NAZI POSTER - DEATH PENALTY TO JEWS OUTSIDE GHETTO AND TO POLES WHO HELPED THEM

HEAVILY ARMED NAZIS GUARDING ENTRANCE TO WARSAW GHETTO

CONSTRUCTION OF WALL - WARSAW GHETTO

JEWISH CHILD DIES IN THE STREET - WARSAW GHETTO

JEWISH BABY DIED OF STARVATION - WARSAW GHETTO

The first deportations began on July 23, 1942 and lasted until September of that year. It was carried out on the pretext of "relocating" the Jews to work camps, but instead they were being sent to their deaths at Treblinka. From 254,000 to 300,000 Jews were exterminated. In the beginning there was no resistance to the deportation. By the end of the year it became apparent to the Jews that the so-called deportations were a ruse. By then, the remaining Jews were determined to fight to the death.

WARSAW GHETTO - UMSCHLAGPLATZ - DEPORTATION OF JEWS TO TREBLINKA

Among several Jewish resistance groups, the largest ones were the ZZW (Jewish Military Union), the PKB (National Security Corps) and the ZOB (Jewish Combat Organization). Each rallied for support of the Polish resistance movements of the Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army, or AK) and the Gwardia Ludowa (Polish Communist army, or People's Guard). Elements from each group joined the Jewish fighters and attacked German sectors posted near ghetto walls, and smuggled arms, ammunition and supplies into the ghetto. Despite Polish efforts the quantity of weapons supplied was woefully insufficient. (Unbeknownst to the Jewish Fighters, the Poles were planning to launch another Uprising which began on August 1st, 1944.)

JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED BY THE NAZIS - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

NAZI GERMANS INTERROGATE CAPTURED JEWISH FIGHTER - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The PKB supplied the Jewish fighters with 2 heavy machine guns, 4 light machine guns, 21 submachine guns, 30 rifles, 50 pistols, and over 400 grenades.  Agents of the Jewish resistance were smuggled outside to the Aryan side of Warsaw to purchase weapons on the black market. Stefan Korbonski was Head of the Polish Directorate of Civil Action (and one of the founders of the Polish Underground). In his book, "Polish Secret State", among the weapons that the Armia Krajowa donated to the Jewish Resistance, was 1 light machine gun, 2 submachine guns, 50 handguns (including magazines and ammunition), 10 rifles, 600 hand grenades with detonators, 30 kilograms of explosives (plastics received from the air drops), 120 kilograms of explosives of its own production, 400 detonators for bombs and grenades, 30 kilograms of potassium to make the incendiary "Molotov cocktails" and finally large quantities of saltpeter that were ingredients necessary to manufacture gun powder. They also provided the ZOB with invaluable assistance and instructions on how to manufacture bombs, hand grenades and incendiary bottles; how to build strong-holds; and where to get rails and cement for their construction.

POSTER DISTRIBUTED BY THE ZOB IN WARSAW WW2

 (English translation)

All people are equal brothers;
Brown, White, Black, and Yellow.
To separate peoples, colors, races -

Is but an act of cheating!

  
 

WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING - JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED BY NAZIS

On April 19th the Germans began to liquidate 35,000 Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto and were surprised by fierce resistance from Jewish Fighters. The next day the Germans brought in tanks and armoured cars in an effort to quash the revolt but the Jews continued to fight back. For the days and weeks which followed there were gunshots, explosions and grenades. By the 28th of April the Germans began to set fires to the houses in the Ghetto, systematically, one by one, block by block until the Warsaw Ghetto was engulfed in flames.

SS NAZI STROOP WATCHES GHETTO IN FLAMES- WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

GERMAN TROOPS BURN DOWN WARSAW GHETTO - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

On May 6, 1943, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita published a statement of the Polish Government Delegatura, which vehemently denounced the German crimes against the Warsaw Ghetto.The Delegatura paid homage to the Jewish fighters and made an urgent appeal to all Polish citizens to help the Jews escape from the Ghetto. It was a heroic appeal but few had the courage to respond.  But to have helped the Jews would have meant certain death. (In 1941, the Nazis issued an edict that any Poles who helped the Jews would be condemned to death.)
 

The Jews suffered heavy casualties, but continued to

fight heroically, weapons in hand. They managed to kill

over 300 Germans and wounding 1,000 more.

Throughout the Uprising the secret Polish radio station SWIT, under the direction of Stefan Korbonski made numerous radio transmissions to the allies, giving daily reports on the course of the fighting in the Ghetto, and pleading for allied intervention. But their appeals feel on deaf ears. The Uprising ended in catastrophe and enormous loss of life. Tens of thousands of Jews were captured and deported, murdered or burned alive by the Germans.

JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED AND LINED UP AGAINST THE WALL - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

According to the underground newspaper Economic Bulletin, by May 15th, about 100,000 Jews had been killed during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 2,000 industrial locations and 3,000 commercial establishments and factories were completely burned or blown up. As the Germans were liquidating the Ghetto, several Jewish commanders and fighters of the ZOB were able to escape the Warsaw Ghetto with the help of their Polish compatriots, guided through the maze of underground sewers. Many Jewish fighters joined the Polish Underground and went on to fight in the Warsaw Uprising.

WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING - JEWISH WOMEN AND CHILDREN SURRENDER

JEWISH FIGHTERS CAPTURED BY NAZIS - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ended tragically, and like that of the Warsaw Uprising which followed in 1944, became symbolic of the unquenchable determination and courage of the Poles and of the Jews to fight against impossible odds - even to the death. They held fast to the conviction that is was far better to die fighting, than to die on one's knees. This blog post is in tribute to the heroic Jewish fighters, and the Polish compatriots who risked their lives to help them.

ZOB FLAG - WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

MONUMENT TO JEWISH FIGHTERS OF WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

Forgotten Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - A Memorial

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Testimony Clips (00:29:02m)




Warsaw ghetto uprising remembered 15 Apr 2008 (00:01:21m)



Mark Edelman passed away on October 2, 2009.

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The final Jewish action took place on April 19th, 1943 on the eve of Passover. In a desperate attempt to prevent the Nazis from making further deportations of Jews to the death camps, young Jewish resistance fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto fought against overwhelming odds - to their death.

With few weapons the Jewish fighters were able to resist for 11 days, until German reinforcements were called in an effort to put an end to the Uprising. Over 2,000 SS and and German troops backed by Panzer and police units converged in the Warsaw Ghetto, and pummeled the Jewish resistance with the full force of Nazi firepower.

There were only 500 Jewish fighters from the ZOB, and approximately 250 from other Jewish fighting groups. The Jews were found to have had only 7 Polish rifles, 1 Russian rifle, 1 German rifle, 59 pistols, several hundred home-made grenades, several hundred incendiary explosives, and ammunition. Despite the formidable power of the Nazi arsenal, German troops could not quash the Jewish Uprising and after 2 days of vicious fighting, Stroop ordered that the Ghetto be burned to the ground.

 

The Nazis systematically razed the Ghetto to the ground building by building, block by block, and rounded up or executed any Jew that they could capture. The Jewish resistance all but ceased on April 23rd and the Nazi operation officially ended in mid-May, culminating in the complete destruction of the Great Synagogue of Warsaw on May 16th.  More than 56,065 people were killed on the spot, according to Nazi reports, and most were deported to concentration camps and the death camp at Treblinka. 

The Great Synagogue in Warsaw, circa 1910

In his report, Stroop described the battle:  "Over and over again new battle groups consisting of 20 to 30 or more Jewish fellows, 18 to 25 years of age, accompanied by a corresponding number of women kindled new resistance. These battle groups were under orders to put up armed resistance to the last and if necessary to escape arrest by committing suicide....During this armed resistance the women belonging to the battle groups were equipped the same as the men....Not infrequently, these women fired pistols with both hands, or hand grenades (Polish "pineapple" hand grenades), concealed in their bloomers up to the last moment to use against the men of the Waffen, SS, Police, or Wermacht....The resistance put up by the Jews and the bandits could be broken only by relentlessly using all our force and energy day and night...."

Stroop, observing the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto

     The Aftermath of the Destruction of Warsaw Ghetto

The Warsaw Ghetto was one of the largest ghettos in Poland during World War II. It was created on October 16, 1940, and located within the territory designated by the Nazi's as the "General Gouvernement". Governor-General Hans Frank was appointed this region in which he instituted the deportations and deaths of millions of Jews from Warsaw, and outlying districts. The total population of the Warsaw Ghetto quickly reached over 400,000 Jews, and comprised about 30% of the population of Warsaw. A month later the Ghetto was sealed by brick walls, topped with barbed wire, and armed guards deployed at all entrances. Any Jews caught while trying to escape were shot on the spot. Typhus and starvation took the lives of over a hundred thousand Jews, and many more were deported to labor camps and worked to death. Between July 23 and September 21, 1942 over 254,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka death camp and exterminated.

The Judenrat was appointed by the Nazis to deal with the daily administration of the Ghetto. Among the members were 24 Jews, headed by Adam Czerniakow. Their duties included was the selection of Jews for deportation to the "work camps". They passively complied with Nazi directives not knowing the true fate of their compatriots. When Czerniakow finally became aware of the purpose of these transports, he could not bear the fact that he had been complicit in the murder of his own people. He committed suicide in July 1942.

On July 28, 1942 a meeting took place in the Warsaw Ghetto among the divisions of the youth movements, Ha-Shomer, Ha-Za’ir, and Dror with the objective of forming a resistance to fight the Nazis. They were known as the Jewish Fighting Organization; in Yiddish - the YKA or Yidishe-Kamf-Organizatsie; in Polish it was called ZOB: Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa. The members signed proclamations, written in Polish. Command leaders consisted of Bresler, Cukierman, Zivia Lubetkin, Mordecai Tenenbaum and Josef Kaplan. They organized a delegation of young Jewish members, which included Tosia Altman, Plotnicka, Leah Perlstein, and Arie Jrek Wilner, to be sent to the Aryan side (that is, outside the ghetto), with the mission of contacting the Polish underground for assistance, and for the procurement of weapons.When the ZOB was created, the only weapon in the ghetto at the time was merely one pistol. Among various other splinter Jewish fighting groups in the Warsaw Ghetto was the ZZW (Zydowski Zwlazek Wojskowy), the Jewish Military Union. Over the following two years this group formed cells throughout Poland including Lwow, Lublin and Stanislawow.

The ZOB took their first action against the Nazis on January 18, 1943 when the Germans entered the Ghetto to set up another deportation. The ZZW also fought, using weapons supplied to them from the Safety Corpus of the Polish Home Army. The weapons consisted of 3 heavy machine guns, 15 automatic guns, 750 grenades, 7 rifles, and 100 handguns. At the start of the Jewish Uprising, an additional cache of weapons were obtained which included 4 machine guns, 1 light machine gun, 11 automatic guns, 50 handguns, and 300 grenades. When the Germans entered the Warsaw Ghetto to round up more Jews for "deportation" they were surprised by the attack and retreated. The Jews were a force to contend with.

The ZOB also had some support from the Polish resistance, having received a number of munitions. A few Polish resistance fighters from the AK even entered the ghetto and joined their Jewish compatriots in the battle against the Nazis. Initially, the Jewish resistance was successful because the Germans had stopped deportations after four days. The Jews had taken control of the Ghetto, built bunkers and fighting posts and battled against the Jewish collaborators, including the Jewish Ghetto Police.

HEROES OF THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING

Mordechai Anielewitz
Commander of the ZOB, Jewish Fighting Organization

Mark Edelman

Aharon Bryskin

Tosia Altman

Icchak Cukierman

Maurycy Orzech

Ester Altenberg

Simcha Rotem

Berl Braude

Malka-Mania Alterman

Genia Bar

Israel Moshe Bojm

Avraham Blum Abrasza

Hirsh Berlinski

Pola Ester

Dvora Baran

Emmanuel Ringelblum

Itzhak Katzenelson

Shmuel Braslav

Yitzhak Blaustein

 Zivia Lubetkin

Yitzhak Gitterman

Yakov Chaim Meir Aleksandrovic

Tama Schneiderman

Frumka Plotnicka

Monument to Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

ZOB FLAG

Suggested Links:

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising by Marek Edelman

Jews Under Occupation by Stefan Korbonski (selected excerpts of book The Polish Underground State)

The Battle of the Ghettoes Dignity & Defiance

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Warsaw Ghetto

Warsaw Ghetto Flags