The Jews who fought back: the story of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
During the Second World War, Jews forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland had little choice: they could either fight their Nazi oppressors, or be transported to certain death at Treblinka extermination camp. Here, Alexandra Richie explores the events of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a remarkable act of Jewish resistance that began 75 years ago today
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, one of the most significant and tragic events in the history of the Second World War. It was a demonstration of heroic resistance, when Jews decided to fight against their oppressors rather than be forced to die in a concentration camp. It has left a remarkable legacy, which reverberates to this day.
By the outbreak of the Second World War, Jews had been living in Poland for more than a thousand years. Around 10 per cent of the countrys pre-war population was Jewish, but in some cities the proportion was much higher. Only New York had a higher number of Jewish residents than Warsaw, which was home to around 375,000 Jews approximately 30 per cent of the citys population. They had created a rich and diverse culture something that the Germans were determined to destroy.
The Nazi persecution of the Jews in Poland began with the invasion of the country in 1939. Jews very quickly lost their rights; by October 1939 they were forced to register and have the word Jude stamped on their identity papers. They were soon forbidden from many ordinary activities, such as walking on the pavement, or going to schools, libraries or museums. Synagogues were blown up, or turned into prisons or factories, and many Jews were abused and humiliated on the streets.
April 19, 2018 at 12:53 pm
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malthaussen
(17,202 posts)... whenever any gun-nut twit asks what would have happened if the European Jews had been "armed."
-- Mal
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)What is wrong with that, given that they were targeted for extermination anyway? So what is your point?
malthaussen
(17,202 posts)The ammosexuals seem to believe that, if only the European Jews had been armed, they would not have been exterminated. The Warsaw Ghetto tends to contradict this assertion.
-- Mal
discntnt_irny_srcsm
(18,479 posts)..."ammosexuals"
A weapon in the hand of a victim decides whether an assault is a fight to the death or just another murder..... or worse.
After four days of fighting, the Germans on January 21 pulled back from the ghetto, to organize better. A diary written in the Warsaw ghetto exulted, In the four days of fighting we had made up for the shame of Jewish passivity in the first extermination action of July, 1942. [Ber Mark, The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, in They Fought Back" ed., Yuri Suhl (N.Y.: Paperback Library, 1968; 1st pub. 1967), pp. 104-06].
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/10/10/the-warsaw-ghetto-uprising-armed-jews-vs-nazis/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.c0cfb2937c41