Poland yesterday marked 80 years since the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, when hundreds of Jews launched a doomed attack against the Nazis, with the commemorations looking beyond the fighters and emphasizing the civilian experience.
The presidents of Germany and Israel were scheduled to join their Polish counterpart for the anniversary of the month-long revolt, which was the largest single act of Jewish resistance against the Germans during World War II.
Church bells and sirens were to sound at midday in honor of the insurgents who launched the uprising on April 19, 1943, and who died fighting rather than in gas chambers.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The heads of state were to speak at the Warsaw Ghetto memorial at the heart of the former Jewish district, before heading to a synagogue together.
As in previous years, volunteers across the city were to hand out paper daffodils for residents to pin to their jackets. The tradition is in honor of Marek Edelman, an uprising commander who, until his death in 2009, would mark the anniversary by depositing a bouquet of the flowers at the memorial.
Because of their color and form, daffodils resemble the yellow stars Nazis forced Jews to wear.
This year, the paper daffodils were also to be distributed in other Polish cities.
“We hope to hand out a total of 450,000 paper flowers,” said Zofia Bojanczyk, coordinator of the daffodil initiative.
“The figure symbolizes the number of Jewish women and men confined to the Warsaw Ghetto when it was at its most crowded,” she told reporters.
One year after they invaded Poland in 1939, the Germans set up the ghetto in a space of just more than 3km2. It was the largest of the World War II ghettos.
Many Jews died inside of starvation and disease, while most of the rest were sent to the Treblinka death camp.
At the outbreak of the uprising, about 50,000 civilians were still hiding in cellars and bunkers in the ghetto. The Germans put down the uprising with extreme brutality and set fire to the entire district, turning it to rubble and ash.
A number of events are being held for the anniversary, including talks by survivors, concerts, film screenings and theater performances.
The Kordegarda gallery has an exhibition of everyday items from the ghetto, which were recently unearthed and tell the story of how Jews in wartime Warsaw lived, loved and died.
“These are, so to speak, voices from the buried city, calling from beneath our feet,” cocurator Jacek Konik said.
A separate show, at the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, features never-before-seen photographs of the ghetto taken by a Polish firefighter. They offer a different perspective, as until now most images of the ghetto were taken by Nazis.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
RSS