President Andrzej Duda laid wreaths at the Jewish Cemetary in Warsaw, paying respects to victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
On the day marking the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Polish President Andrzej Duda laid wreaths in the colours of the Polish flag on the mass grave of the ghetto victims, and on the graves of the last leader of the uprising, Marek Edelman and the commander of the Jewish Military Union, Paweł Frenkel.
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out on 19 April 1943. It the was the first city uprising in the Nazi-occupied Europe, a symbolic act, given the illusionary chances of success. The fighting lasted for nearly a month and consumed lives of around 13,000 Jewish people. Poorly armed members of the Jewish Combat Organisation and the Jewish Military Union resisted the overwhelming force of Wermacht and the SS.
The Germans razed the ghetto to the ground, systematically burning down one building after another. On 8 May 1943, in a shelter on 18 Miła street, the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Mordechai Anielewicz commited suicide together with several dozens of soldiers. Few insurgents managed to escape the burning ghetto.
Autor: gf/adso / Źródło: PAP, TVN24