80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

80th anniversary commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was meant to draw strength and courage from remembering the Jewish fighters who had waged a month-long campaign against the Nazis.

“Everyone here today must use these brave young men and women as inspiration when we face our own challenges ahead. Let us draw strength from them, let us draw courage, and let us always remember them,” was said at the event, held at the Square of the Ghetto Heroes of Warsaw.

The Union of Jewish Communities in Poland, also took part in the commemoration.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the largest single revolt by Jews during World War II. On April 19, 1943, after German troops surrounded the ghetto, Mordechai Anielewicz, Pawel Frenkel and some 700 members of the Jewish underground staged an uprising that lasted almost one month. At least 7,000 Jews, including Anielewicz and most of his comrades, died as a result. 

The Warsaw Jewish community had once been the largest in Europe. At one point, over 400,000 Jews lived in the ghetto, most of them killed by the Nazis.