The Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Hebrew calendar falls close to the Hebrew date of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, April 19, 1943.
On April 14, Israel 365 led by Rabbi Pesach Wolicki hosted a remarkable thought-provoking discussion online. The audience was global. The discussion was about growing antisemitism and our role right now. What should the church do? Dr. Susanna Kokkonen was one of the panelists. You can read more here.
In Warsaw in 1943, young people were looking for weapons and assistance. Ultimately, the se ghetto fighters had to do with very few weapons and more home-made additions. Nevertheless, they surprised the Germans in January 1943. The idea that ‘Jews cannot fight’ was taught to Germans so frequently that they now believed it. An SS General Jürgen Stroop was brought to lead the fight as the ghetto was going to be destroyed in April 1943.
The desperate ghetto Jews fought for almost a month. Mordechai Anielewicz (1919-1943), the young commander, was killed in the heroic fighting. Some fighters managed to escape to the Warsaw City side using the sewage system under the ghetto. But you must discover this and put poisonous gas in the sewage system.
General Stroop reported to Berlin: “The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw is no more!”
A remarkable amount of evidence, such as photos and diaries survived the ghetto.
We know and we remember!
