The main commemorations began at noon at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes marking 83 years since the outbreak of the World War II-era revolt, in which Jewish fighters took up arms against Poland’s German invaders.
The event brought together representatives of the Jewish community, Holocaust survivors, and the Righteous Among the Nations.
Among those in attendance were President Karol Nawrocki, members of parliament, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, as well as representatives of the diplomatic corps and cultural institutions.
A day of ceremonies included wreath-laying and a symbolic march of remembrance.
In a post on X, the presidential office recalled that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the first urban revolt in German-occupied Europe and the largest armed Jewish uprising during WWII.
The US Embassy in Poland also paid tribute to the memory and the “resilience of those who fought against oppression.”
Paper daffodils—a poignant echo of the yellow stars that Jews were made to wear during the Nazi German occupation—could be picked up from volunteers at subway stations as well as special vending machines.
'They chose to die with arms in their hands'
Poland's senators in late 2022 passed a special resolution paying tribute to the Jewish fighters to mark the 80th anniversary of the uprising.
The Senate, Poland’s upper house, said in the motion that the fighters "could not hope for victory" when they rose against the Germans, but were driven by a desire for revenge against the enemy.
"They chose to die with arms in their hands," the resolution said.
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.
The annual daffodil campaign is associated with noted ghetto fighter Marek Edelman, who before his death in 2009 placed daffodils at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw each year on the anniversary of the uprising.
The Polish president in December 2018 paid tribute to the last surviving Warsaw ghetto fighter, who died in Israel at the age of 94.
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Source: IAR, PAP