80 years ago on April 19th 1943, an armed demonstration of Jewish underground armed formations in the Warsaw Ghetto had begun
80 years ago on April 19th 1943, an armed demonstration of Jewish underground armed formations in the Warsaw Ghetto had begun. (Apologies, I meant to post this on April 19th, but I was unable due to work and other unforeseen circumstances) The uprising was the first large-scale armed action undertaken by Polish underground organizations against the Germans, as well as the first urban uprising in Europe occupied by the Reich. The immediate cause of the uprising was the decision to liquidate the Warsaw ghetto, taken as part of the German plan to exterminate European Jews. The uprising started on April 19th when the ghetto refused to surrender to the police commander SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop, who ordered the burning of the ghetto, block by block, ending on May 16th. A total of 13,000 Jews were killed, about half of them burnt alive or suffocated. German casualties were probably fewer than 150, with Stroop reporting 110 casualties (16 killed + 1 dead and 93 wounded). The uprising was