WWII Jewish fighters honoured in Warsaw

State and local government officials, diplomats and members of Poland’s Jewish community were among those who gathered to mark 76 years since the outbreak of the World War II-era revolt, in which Jewish fighters took up arms against Poland’s German invaders.

A day of ceremonies included wreath-laying and a march of remembrance.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a Twitter post that the fighters in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II “fought not only for their lives, but also for their dignity.”

Poland’s parliamentarians last year passed a special motion paying tribute to the Jewish fighters to mark the 75th anniversary of the uprising.

The Sejm, Poland’s lower house, said in the motion at the time that the fighters had shown "the highest heroism and dedication in defence of the universal values of human freedom and dignity."

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which broke out on April 19, 1943 and lasted until May 16, was the first uprising in German Nazi-occupied Europe and the largest act of armed resistance by Jews in World War II. It is estimated that about 13,000 insurgents died in the ghetto during the revolt.

Some surviving Jewish combatants later fought in the Warsaw Uprising, launched by Poland's underground Home Army (AK) on August 1, 1944.

The Warsaw ghetto, established in April 1940, was the largest of the many ghettos which the Germans set up across Poland to isolate the Jewish population after invading the country in September 1939.

Daffodils are associated with noted ghetto fighter Marek Edelman, who before his death in 2009 placed daffodils at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes each year on the anniversary of the uprising.

The flowers are a poignant echo of the yellow stars that Jews were made to wear during the Nazi German occupation.

The Polish president in December paid tribute to the last surviving Warsaw ghetto fighter who died in Israel at the age of 94.

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Source: PAP, IAR, TVP Info