Presidents of Poland, Germany, and Israel marked Warsaw Ghetto Uprising anniversary

In 1940, German Nazi occupiers corralled over 400,000 Jews into a small section of the Polish capital Warsaw; most were then sent to camps to be killed or died from the conditions within the ghetto, but on April 19, 1943 hundreds took up arms.

Their fight against heavily armed German troops to try to stop the transports to the death camps ended on May 16, when the Germans razed the ghetto to the ground. An estimated 13,000 Jews were killed.

As in previous years, volunteers handed out paper daffodils on the streets of Warsaw.

The daffodil has become a symbol of the uprising as Marek Edelman, the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, used to receive a bouquet of yellow daffodils from an anonymous person every year on April 19.

He would lay them at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in memory of those who fought and died.

Organisers are giving out 450,000 paper daffodils, as this was the number of people in the ghetto when its population was at its peak.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended the commemorations, which began with sirens sounding across the Polish capital.

The two presidents, together with their Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda, paid tribute to the Ghetto Heroes and laid wreaths at the monument. Then each of them gave a speech.

President Andrzej Duda said that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising had been "mainly a symbol of bravery, determination and courage, will to fight, being self-directed, incredibly furious courage, absolute determination". He added the heroes of the insurgency "are Israel's heroes, heroes of Jews across the whole world, and heroes of Poland and the Polish people".

"Today, we bow our heads low before the heroes of the uprising in the ghetto, before all those who fought for their dignity against hatred," Duda said.

The president also stressed that "we must never forget the bravery and attitude of Polish Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto". "Not only of those who fought bearing arms. But also those from the other side of this monument ... who simply stayed within the walls and did not let themselves to be dragged outside, and who would rather perish than surrender themselves to the Nazis," he said.

"Anyone who sows hatred, anyone who tramples on another human being, tramples on the graves of heroes in the Warsaw Ghetto, tramples on the graves of murdered Jews, but also tramples on the graves of those who helped those who were persecuted, those who were murdered," Duda said.

Israel's President Issac Herzog thanked his Polish counterpart for "colossal efforts and your commitment to the task of remembrance and commemoration, including right here, in this place".

"We must remember: there is nothing postmodern or relativistic about Holocaust remembrance," Herzog warned. "Absolute evil existed, in the form of the Nazis and their accomplices. And absolute good existed, in the form of the victims and the rebels, from every nation. And in passing this heritage down to posterity, it must reflect this indisputable axiom," he said.

"The heroism of the resistance and the rebels and the imperative to remember that terrible chapter of history, when the Jewish People faced complete annihilation, and destruction rained down upon Poland and many other countries, offer a platform for important dialogue between Poland and Israel and for the advancement of friendship between our peoples," Herzog stressed.

"I imagine what they were saying, what they were thinking about in those terrible hours hiding in stinking sewer pipes, in stuffy basements, standing against guns and tanks," Herzog said about the insurgents. "Who would have whispered in their ears that 80 years later the presidents of Israel, Poland and Germany would be standing here, paying tribute to their heroism and vowing - 'never again'."

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that "every crime that the Germans committed should have a place in our memory."

"It is so necessary, yet so difficult to come here as a German and as Germany’s Federal President. The terrible crimes that Germans committed here fill me with profound shame. But it also fills me with gratitude and humility to be able to participate in this commemoration, as the first German head of state to do so," he said.

"Yet we Germans, too, have learned the lessons from our past," Steinmeier reassured. "Never again: that means that there must be no brutal war of aggression in Europe like that waged by Russia against Ukraine. Never again: that means that we stand firmly by the side of Ukraine – together with Poland and our other allies. We are providing Ukraine with humanitarian, political and military support – together with Poland and our other allies. Never again: that means that we, the liberal democracies, are strong when we act together and in unity."

"This is what I mean when I speak of the responsibility imposed by our history. We Germans will fulfil this responsibility for defending peace and freedom. And I am convinced that our countries, our liberal democracies, have grown even closer in the past months. Our friendship now rests on an even firmer foundation," German president added.

"Here in this square, by the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, I stand before you in grief and humility. I affirm our responsibility for the crimes of the past and our responsibility for our shared future" - Steinmeier stressed.