April 19, 1943 - On the eve of Passover, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began when Nazi forces attempted to clear out the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland, to send them to concentration camps. The Germans were met by unexpected gunfire from Jewish resistance fighters. The destruction of the ghetto had been ordered in February by SS Chief Heinrich Himmler:

“An overall plan for the razing of the ghetto is to be submitted to me. In any case we must achieve the disappearance from sight of the living-space for 500,000 sub-humans (Untermenschen) that has existed up to now, but could never be suitable for Germans, and reduce the size of this city of millions—Warsaw—which has always been a center of corruption and revolt.”

#WarsawGhettoUprising

Today in Labor History April 19, 1943: The 50,000 Jews remaining in Warsaw began a desperate and heroic attempt to resist Nazi deportation to extermination camps. Their armed insurgency became known as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It was the largest single revolt by Jews against the Nazis during World War II.

There had been over 3 million Jews living in Poland prior to the Nazi occupation. The Nazis rounded them up and forced them into crowded ghettos. The Warsaw ghetto had 250,000-300,000 Jews living in abominable conditions. Roughly this same number of Jews were slaughtered at the Treblinka concentration camp within the two months the Nazis started deporting them. The Warsaw Jews managed to stockpile Molotov cocktails, rifles, hand grenades, military uniforms, and even a few pistols and some explosives. However, the resistance was crushed by the Nazis on May 16.

Organizing for the uprising, and military training, were provided by the left-wing, youth-led Jewish Combat Organization and the right-wing Jewish Military Union. However, the Jews knew from the start that the uprising was doomed. Most of the Jewish fighters did not expect to survive. Rather, they saw their resistance as a battle for their honor and a protest against the world’s silence. Marek Edelman, one of the few survivors, said their inspiration to fight was “not to allow the Germans alone to pick the time and place of our deaths.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #holocaust #antisemitism #WarsawGhettoUprising #jews #poland #warsaw #WorldWarII #nazis #genocide #resistance #uprising #insurrection #fascism #antifa #antifascism

Macht mit ! Am 19.04. wird mit Aktion Narzisse an den Beginn des Aufstands im Warschauer #Ghetto gedacht - macht mit & erinnert mit einer Narzisse an die mutigen Frauen & Männer des Aufstands!
@plinstitut_dues

#WeRemember #WarsawGhettoUprising #AkcjaZkonkile #LaczyNasPamiec #Polen #NRW

I posted a big thread about this painting before on my now-defunct historians.social account 2 months ago ... months later & sporadic efforts—trying to stop short of being a nuisance about it—I still don't know how to see this painting in person or organize a group trip to see it.

having learned more history around it and some of the unpleasantness I gather it's kind of an unwanted art stepchild🥺🎭
https://www.posenlibrary.com/entry/warsaw-ghetto-uprising

#Murals #CanadianArt #WarsawGhettoUprising #VancouverBC

Today at sundown, Yom HaShoah, Israeli Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day, begins. This commemoration is a time to remember the six million Jews who were systematically murdered, honor the survivors and recognize both the resilience and courage during Holocaust.

#YomHaShoah #HolocaustRemembrance #JewishHistory #NeverForget #HolocaustEducation #WarsawGhettoUprising #NeverAgainIsNow

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