Uprising
In 1942, as part of Operation Reinhard, the Nazis began the mass deportation of Warsaw Ghetto inhabitants to extermination camps, primarily to Treblinka. Between July and September, the Nazis sent an estimated 265,000 Jews their deaths, while killing thousands more in the ghetto itself. This systematic destruction led to the realization that resistance was the only option for survival. Only 55,000 remained in the Ghetto.
On January 9, 1943, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, visited the Warsaw ghetto and ordered the deportation of another 8,000 people. However, these individuals did not all report to the Umschlagplatz station (place of embarkation) as ordered. Many hid, and Jewish fighters attacked soldiers in the streets. The Nazis suspended their deportation action after three days.
The uprising began on April 19, 1943, the second night of the Jewish holiday of Passover, when the Nazis, led by SS General Jürgen Stroop, launched their final operation to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto. Expecting little resistance, the German forces arrived with tanks, flamethrowers, and thousands of men. They were met with an unexpected and fierce counterattack. The Jewish fighters, armed with homemade explosives, Molotov cocktails, and a limited number of smuggled firearms, managed to hold off the German troops for several days.
Despite being vastly outgunned and outnumbered, the resistance fighters utilized guerrilla tactics, operating from bunkers and hidden passages within the ghetto. They inflicted significant casualties on the Nazis, forcing them to retreat on multiple occasions. However, the Germans soon responded with overwhelming force, systematically burning and demolishing buildings to root out the fighters.
On April 20, 1943, the Germans attacked a factory area in the ghetto, but the Jewish fighters set off a mine forcing another German retreat. When the Nazis reappeared, a firefight ensued, followed by hand-to-hand combat. The Germans then shut off the water, gas and electricity in the ghetto and brought in police dogs to discover the bunkers of Jewish resistance fighters.
On April 21, 1943, the German soldiers entered the ghetto in small groups, and resistance fighters formed similar squads. German Commander General Stroop decided to burn the ghetto building by building, street by street.
On April 22, 1943, Stroop reported “The fire that raged all night drove the Jews who despite all the search operations, were still hiding under roofs, in cellars and other hiding places. Scores of burning Jews jumped from windows or tried to slide down sheets. We took pains to ensure those Jews, as well as others, were wiped out immediately.”
On May 8, 1943, German forces pumped gas inside the remaining ZOB bunkers, including ŻOB’s command bunker at Miła 18. Rather than surrender, Anielewicz and many of his comrades chose to commit suicide; those who didn’t suffocated. A handful of fighters escaped through a hidden exit and fled through the sewers. With the assistance of Jews on the Aryan side, they emerged on May 10, 1943, and found refuge in the Lomianki Forest outside of Warsaw.
The final resistance ended on May 16, 1943, when the Nazis destroyed the Great Synagogue of Warsaw as a symbolic act to mark their victory. Stroop’s report indicates that the Germans captured 56,000 Jews; the Nazis shot 7,000, sent another 7,000 to Treblinka, shipped 15,000 to Lublin and sent those remaining to labor camps. The Germans captured nine rifles, 59 pistols, and several hundred explosives. Himmler ordered the entire ghetto to be razed, and every dugout, cellar and sewer filled. Future plans had it destined to become a park for the Germans.
Impact and Remembrance
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, though ultimately unsuccessful in military terms, was an extraordinary act of resistance. It demonstrated the resilience and courage of those who chose to fight against Nazi tyranny. The uprising inspired further Jewish resistance in other ghettos and concentration camps, such as the Treblinka and Sobibor revolts.
The Warsaw ghetto uprising was the first large-scale urban revolt against German occupation. The fighters were a small, desperate group with limited arms. Although their odds of success were minimal, they chose to defy Nazi control. The significance and symbolism of their uprising went far beyond the numbers who fought and died – it was an assertion of life. Resisting the Nazis with armed force was revolutionary. The Germans’ plan was to liquidate the ghetto in three days, but the Jewish fighters held out for over a month. The entire Polish army had fought only that long against the initial invasion of German soldiers in 1939, and they had a command structure, training, supplies and weapons (even if they were outdated).
The Warsaw Ghetto Fighters’ Memorial was created by Nathan Rapoport and erected at the site of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1948. The front of the memorial immortalizes the bravery and heroism of the fighters. On the reverse side, a bas relief mural is dedicated to the suffering of 300,000 men, women and children who died in the ghetto or in the gas chambers of Treblinka. In 2013, Polin: The Museum of the History of Polish Jews opened across from the monument to trace the 1000-year-history of Polish Jews. Additional monuments and memorials in Warsaw and beyond commemorate the bravery of the fighters.
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising remains one of the most significant episodes of resistance during the Holocaust. It was a moment of extraordinary bravery, where marginalized and persecuted people took up arms to assert their dignity and fight against their oppressors. Although it did not prevent the destruction of the ghetto, it challenged the Nazi narrative of Jewish passivity and left a lasting legacy of courage and defiance that continues to inspire generations.
