As some of you know most of our team lives in Warsaw (Poland). It's a capital city that was totally destroyed during World War II. This is also a place where on October 16th 1940 Hans Frank established the Warsaw Ghetto. A place, where 400 000 Jews were gathered to be systematically deported and killed in concentration camps like Treblinka (almost 300 000 Jews from Warsaw Ghetto were sent there).
April 16th is a day of remembrance for the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which was an act of Jewish resistance and the last hope for saving lives. At this time the ghetto was ruled by the police commander SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop, who was sent to Warsaw by Heinrich Himmler to finish the plan of extermination of all ghetto citizens. When Nazis commenced the final liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto on April 19th, 1943 they met resistance from the Jewish Combat Organisation and the Jewish Military Union.
The struggle was uneven but the fight was something unexpected and led to the decision to burn the Ghetto to the ground block by block. On May 8th, surrounded by nazis, the chief commander of the Uprising, Mordechai Anielewicz, committed suicide along with a group of other ŻOB fighters. Some (Marek Edelman included) managed to leave the ghetto through sewers and survive.
Today on the streets of Warsaw people are wearing daffodils on their coats which are the symbol of remembrance of this day. It's extremly important in this hard time for Europe, when many fascist movements become more and more popular.
I've read books about the Holocaust since I was 14 years old. All the stories I read, memories of those who survived and about those who didn't, make this day very special for me. I feel that we just can't forget this tragedy (that happend not so long ago), because to be a better version of ourselves we need to keep in mind that the evil is possible and it's our responsibility to see it soon enough and not repeat history.
If you want to learn more about the Warsaw Ghetto, check Yad Vashem's website which presents tesimonials given by the survivors.
Also learn more on The Daffodils social campaign at the Polin - Museum of The History of Polish Jews Website.
