In the most famous of the revolts against their tormentors, the ill-equiped, starved Jews of the ghetto fought back against the German war machine.

by Rabbi Eliyahu Ellis and Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky

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Liquidation

Liquidating The Warsaw Ghetto
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

 

The Warsaw Ghetto originally contained almost 450,000 people. By January of 1943,it was down to roughly 37,000 people. The rest had already been taken away to slave labor or death camps. Word got out that the Germans were going to finish off the ghetto, clean it out. Those half-starved, disease-weakened ghetto inhabitants decided to fight.

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Burning The Ghetto

Germans Burning The Warsaw Ghetto
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

They had actually been preparing for this, and had convinced the Germans to let them build 631 air-raid shelters. Bombing was going on all around them, and the Germans needed their slave laborers so, to keep them safe from Allied bombings, the Germans had allowed them to do this. Now the people used those very shelters to fight against the Germans.

When the Germans came in to clean out the ghetto, much to their surprise, they were met with resistance.

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Captured Jews

Jews Discovered During The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

There were over a thousand fighters, including children. They used pistols and Molotov cocktails against the Nazi weaponry, and they successfully repulsed the Germans.

It was a short-lived victory. The Germans returned a short while later. This time they brought major fire power. They started to destroy buildings, bit by bit by bit, knocking everything down. After about a day, they broke into the hospital, shot everyone in their beds, and torched the place. Gradually, they destroyed the entire ghetto.

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Execution

Execution Of Jewish Resistance Fighters
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

 

 

When the Nazis reached the air-raid shelters, they drilled down, and gassed the people inside. Some fighters escaped to the sewers, and the Germans raised the water levels.

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"Dangerous Criminal"

Caught By German Soldiers
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

In about three weeks, the main fighting was over.

Most of the remaining Jews were rounded up, but it actually took months and months of combing through the ruins and demolishing the destroyed buildings before the uprising was finally put down.

Caught By Nazis

Captured During The Uprising
photo courtesy of Yad Vashem

 

 

Although the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was not really very successful, it was the first time in all of German-occupied Europe that there was any organized uprising against the Nazis. Word got out, and it set a climate. And afterwards, there was Jewish resistance in many other places, including some of the camps.

While the Warsaw Ghetto was fighting for its life, the world had called another conference. They met in Bermuda and, again, absolutely nothing was done to help.

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Published: Wednesday, December 31, 1969
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Visitor Comments: 10

(10) eddie, May 13, 2010 3:05 PM

why did people do this?i wanted to!!

(9) Deborah Day, February 20, 2010 12:24 AM

I will always remember the Jewry of the Halocaust and present Jewry in my prayers.

(8) RUBEN, November 11, 2009 8:26 AM

Great work. I suggest anyone who is interested in the Ghetto uprising read Leon Uris' book, Mila 18.While a work of fiction, it was based on real people, real events (and real Germans).Anyone who reads it cannot help but feel the humanity and suffering of the Jews in Poland during World War 2, and at the same time, incomprehension of the madness of Hitler's Third Reich. Good riddance to him and his ilk.

(7) Anonymous, March 27, 2008 12:20 PM

amazing

this article is amazing Rabbi is it wow he is a great writer this is really sad to see this horrible haenings that they would actually do this i was at walmart once and an old lady say this paper clipi was wearing an asked what it was for and i said it was for the holocaust she cried and then hugged me and said "im a holocaust survivor" and then i cried :(

(6) Jammie, March 20, 2008 8:21 AM

this was a good article to read

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About the Author

Rabbi Eliyahu Ellis

Rabbi Eliyahu Ellis studied biology and geology at Northern Illinois University. In addition, he spent time as a deep-sea diver in the oil fields in the North Sea between Scotland and Norway and has circumnavigated the seas of the world in a sailboat. Rabbi Ellis received rabbinic ordination from Aish HaTorah where he is a senior lecturer at the Discovery and Essentials programs.

Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky

Rabbi Shmuel Silinsky received his BS from Cornell with a major in Communication Arts and a minor in Archeology, and did post-graduate work at UCLA in the field of Desert Plants and Natural History. Prior to moving to Israel, he worked in the field of Urban Ecology including several years as a landscape designer in Beverly Hills. Rabbi Silinsky received rabbinic ordination from Aish HaTorah and the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. He currently teaches at the Yeshivat Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem.

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