Jewish Resistance in Warsaw

Jewish Resistance in Warsaw

Oyneg Shabes

Janusz Korczak

Interactive Map

Vladka Meed

Timeline

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Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Timeline

11/16/1940

Sealing of the Warsaw Ghetto

07/22/1942

Beginning of the "Great Deportation" to the Treblinka extermination camp

07/28/1942

Establishment of the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB)

09/21/1942

nEnd of the deportation of some 300,000 Jews to Treblinka

01/18/1943

The "Small Uprising" breaks out, following the deportation

04/19/1943

Outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

05/08/1943

Fall of Mordechai Anielewicz's bunker on Miła St. 18

05/16/1943

Uprising is suppressed and the ghetto destroyed

01/18/1943

The "Small Uprising" breaks out, following the deportation

04/19/1943 The Outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising

Wolinska st. During the uprising period, which began on April 19, 1943, some 40,000 Jews remained in the ghetto, following a large deportation to the Treblinka extermination camp in January. This civil population, which had never taken part in any fighting, had prepared a secret network of hiding places and underground bunkers, allowing each Jew a position within the central ghetto. “I am amazed that in such conditions we have succeeded in surviving for three weeks. We know very well what kind of action this is because they announced it in advance. This is the extermination of Warsaw Jewry and, afterwards, our end. The Germans usually attacked us at night. Now they are expanding their attacks to the daytime as well. We must maintain absolute silence on our bunks so that the enemy will not discover us.”

Polish Jewish member of the resistance who served as an underground courier, smuggling weapons into the ghetto

07/28/1942

Establishment of the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB)

Nalewki Street Following several days of fighting, in which the Germans suffered many casualties, and had wrongly estimated the Jewish fighters’ forces, Stroop decided to begin systematically burning down the ghetto, house by house. The houses set on fire instantly became death traps – they collapsed, mountains of concrete crashed down onto the bunkers, and the heat within the ghetto reached hundreds of degrees. The flames and heat in the bunkers made staying in them a living hell, and many of those hiding were forced out of their homes. “I am going out into the street. The streets – Mila, Zamenhof, Kurza, Nalewki, Lubecki – all are on fire. Workshops, apartments, stores, entire houses are burning. The ghetto is nothing more than a flames. A very strong wind is blowing, which fans the fire and carries the sparks from the burning houses to those that have not yet caught fire. The fire destroys everything. The sight is horrifying, shocking. The fire spreads so quickly that people cannot escape from the buildings and they perish tragically.”

07/22/1942

Beginning of the "Great Deportation" to the Treblinka extermination camp

11/16/1940

THE SEALING OF THE WARSAW GHETTO

Muranowski Plac Alongside the ŻOB, members of Beitar and the Revisionist movements took part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, fighting as the Jewish Military Union (ŻZW), under the leadership of Paweł Frenkiel. The ŻZW also included politically unaffiliated individuals as well as other politically-leaning groups, among them followers of the Communists. According to various accounts, the ŻZW numbered some 250 members. Several sources indicate that ŻZW fighters were spread out in three locations: Muranowska Street, the Toebbens and Schultz warehouses, and the brush workshop, even taking part in one of the central and important battles at Muranów Square, in which they excelled in bravery and firepower. At this location, the Jewish Zionist blue-and-white flag, and the Polish national flag, were raised above the roof of the building, which housed a central ŻZW position. The battle of Muranów Square involved fierce fighting, lasting three days. The square was ultimately taken by Stroop's soldiers, and the Jewish forces were forced to retreat. On Wednesday, April 21, the Germans in battalion strength began to assemble their armored might on Muranowska Street. . . . Precisely at 9 A.M., the tanks, armored cars and howitzers (cannons) opened a merciless assault. They were after the buildings on the south side of Muranowski Square - number seven in particular, where the Jewish and Polish flags were flying. By noon, the ŻZW fighters decided to counterattack from the rear; they lacked the means for a frontal assault. . . . Early Thursday morning, General Stroop returned with more troops, heavier artillery, and more armor. German guns pounded Muranowska Square for hours."

The Wills of Israel Lichtenstein and Gele Sekstein

Outside the Ghetto"Close by, on the other side of the ghetto walls, life went on as usual. The citizens of the capital walked, played, enjoyed life as usual within full view of the smoke and flames during the day and the bright red-orange fire blazing through the night. A carousel spun and the Polish children laughed and swung innocently around. Girls visiting the city from the outlying villages came to the carousel to swing by the ghetto walls, 'as the Jews burn.' The wind swept sparks, soot and smoke over the walls. A stray spark might set one of the Aryan houses aflame, but there it was immediately extinguished; while here, in the ghetto, the houses burned to the ground. The flames spread and there was no one to extinguish the fire."

Brush Workshop The fighting in the brush workshop area was under the command of Marek Edelman, a member of the “Bund”, members of which fought together with the Zionist ŻOB. Like the workshop areas in the south of the city, this area was cut off from the uprising central command, forcing the fighters to act independently, until the area eventually fell to the Germans. The surviving fighters regrouped and joined the central command to the north-west. From the memoirs of Zivia Lubetkin: "We changed our tactics. However, the Germans altered theirs as well. Instead of sending in soldiers they set the ghetto on fire to burn us out. Their demonic design succeeded. In a matter of hours, the entire ghetto was enveloped in flames."

Blake Schiff on being a part of the oyneg shabes archive

19 Zamenhof Street During the first days of battle, Stroop sent search teams into the central ghetto area, ordering them to find bunkers, force the Jews out of them, and destroy the bunkers. “The enemy is shooting machine guns and throwing grenades into the bunker The bunker is partially covered with an avalanche of rubble. The people inside are acting courageously. With complete serenity, they look death in the face.In silence, we honour the death of the people who are burning in the flames. The Germans are shooting every Jew that they find or taking and burning the bodies on the bonfire in the community courtyard at 19 Zamenhof Street. Hitler's devotees, his dedicated servants and hangmen, who obey their leader's orders, execute everything in accordance with the order which states that in 1945 there will not be a single Jew left in Europe. Today, silence reigned for a long time. We lay on the bunks until late in the evening after four days of hunger. Everyone was satisfied because we ate something and went to sleep in a better mood.

09/21/1942

End of the deportation of some 300,000 Jews to Treblinka

Mila Street The many ŻOB fighters who had earlier found hiding at Miła Street 29, were forced to retreat in the face of the buildings that had been set ablaze. Many had reached another bunker located not far away, at Miła 18, where the fighters regrouped under the command of Mordechai Anielewicz. This bunker was well hidden and well concealed. It was built beneath some buildings that had already been demolished during the German aerial bombing, and covered a wide area that included several rooms and cellars. It still had running water and electricity, as well as large stores of food. "I learned that Mordechai Anielewicz and the other fighting units on Mila Street had chanced upon the bunker at MMila 18 at the outbreak of the fighting. [..] They had dug a large shelter deep into the earth underneath a block of three huge buildings which had been destroyed in September, 1939. [..] Over one hundred and twenty fighters and members of the Central Command were living in the bunker. They greeted me with great rejoicing. Unlike the rest, Mordechai Anielewicz's face reflected sadness rather than the joy of victory. True, his dream of Jewish armed resistance had become reality, his thirst for revenge had been quenched, but waht of the future?"

Ringelblum and the Oyneg Shabbes

Leszno Street The ŻOB fighting in the Toebbens and Schultz warehouses were commanded by Eliezer Geller. The fighters in this area had no lines of communication with the central ŻOB headquarters, and so were forced to make independent decisions in the heat of battle. After several days of fighting, with all the building around them ablaze, Geller reached the conclusion that they would have to evacuate the area. “One day Antek and Zivia called me to one of the posts, and Antek ordered me to lead a group of comrades out of the sector to our previous base at Leszno 18. [..] We left and sundown [..] The area was shrouded in flames [..] Walking the streets, past the burning ruins, was a dreadful experience. We crossed passageways, [and] cleared a path into blazing houses. Except for the light from the fires, it was pitch-dark [..] We reached Leszno 18 after midnight; the Germans entered the courtyard of the house shortly after. German shouts rang out, ordering the inhabitants to leave their apartments and report to the courtyard. [..] A few seconds later, the building was set on fire by flamethrowers and went up in a blaze. Smoke penetrated the apartment and it was hard to breathe. [..] We found rags and water in the apartment. We soaked the rags and put them over our faces to make it easier to breathe.[..] We took off our clothes so they wouldn't catch fire. The whole time the Germans stood in the courtyard and continued to play Could we hold out until they left?”

05/16/1943

Uprising is suppressed and the ghetto destroyed

05/08/1943

Fall of Mordechai Anielewicz's bunker on Miła St. 18

6. Mila Street Mordechai Anielewicz, who had been a member of the “Hashomer Hatzair” Zionist youth group, was commander of the ŻOB, the Jewish Fighting Organization, which was inaugurated on July 28, 1942. He commanded the uprising during its first days, with the members of the small headquarters on Miła Street 29, alongside the main forces fighting in the ghetto. At the end of these battles Anieliewicz and his men retreated, along with a larger fighting force, to the organization’s bunker on Miła Street 18. “It is impossible to put into words what we have been through. One thing is clear, what happened exceeded our boldest dreams. The Germans ran twice from the ghetto. One of our companies held out for 40 minutes and another for more than 6 hours. The mine set in the "brushmakers" area exploded. Several of our companies attacked the dispersing Germans. Our losses in manpower are minimal. That is also an achievement. Y. [Yechiel] fell. He fell a hero, at the machine-gun. I feel that great things are happening and what we dared do is of great, enormous importance....” Beginning from today we shall shift over to the partisan tactic. Three battle companies will move out tonight, with two tasks: reconnaissance and obtaining arms. Do you remember, short-range weapons are of no use to us. We use such weapons only rarely. What we need urgently: grenades, rifles, machine-guns and explosives. It is impossible to describe the conditions under which the Jews of the ghetto are now living. Only a few will be able to hold out. The remainder will die sooner or later. Their fate is decided. In almost all the hiding places in which thousands are concealing themselves it is not possible to light a candle for lack of air. With the aid of our transmitter we heard the marvelous report on our fighting by the "Shavit" radio station. The fact that we are remembered beyond the ghetto walls encourages us in our struggle. Peace go with you, my friend! Perhaps we may still meet again! The dream of my life has risen to become fact. Self-defense in the ghetto will have been a reality. Jewish armed resistance and revenge are facts. I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men in battle.”