Menorah with a burning flame in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes Monument during the celebrations related to the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Warsaw, Poland 19 April 2023. EPA-EFE/Leszek Szymanski German, Israeli Presidents Attend 80th anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto UprisingClaudia CiobanuWarsawBIRNApril 19, 202315:33 Claudia CiobanuWarsawBIRNApril 19, 202315:33Speaking during the ceremony, the German president drew parallels between Nazi Germany’s aggression during World War II and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The 80th anniversary of the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, a major event during World War II in which Jewish people imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto put up a major act of resistance against the occupying Nazis, was marked in the Polish capital on April 19 by survivors, Polish citizens and world leaders.
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog (C-L), Polish President Andrzej Duda (C) and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (C-R) during the official celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Warsaw, Poland, 19 April 2023. EPA-EFE/Leszek Szymanski
The official ceremony that took place in front of POLIN, the Museum of Polish Jews, was hosted by Polish President Andrzej Duda and attended by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Israeli President Isaac Herzog, both of whom had meetings with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki earlier in the day.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier speaks during the official ceremony marking the 80nd anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw, Poland, 19 April 2023. EPA-EFE/Leszek Szymanski
Speaking during the ceremony, the German president drew parallels between Nazi Germany’s aggression during the World War II and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“You in Poland, you in Israel, you know from your history that freedom and independence must be fought for and defended. You know how important it is for democracy to defend itself,” Steinmeier said.
On screen, Chairman of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN, Marian Turski, speaks during the official ceremony marking the 80nd anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw, Poland, 19 April 2023. EPA-EFE/Leszek Szymanski
The commemoration marked the heroism of hundreds of Jews who took up arms against the German occupiers in a futile show of resistance. Three weeks after the final uprising, nothing remained of the ghetto and its inhabitants. None of the fighters are alive today, and the survivors attending the event in Warsaw were mostly children during the uprising.
The Warsaw Ghetto was established in 1940 and was the largest among those established by Nazi Germany on the territories that it occupied. At its height, it held as many as 460,000 Jews, the vast majority of whom were murdered in death and concentration camps.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
