April 19: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Begins
The final liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto began on the Eve of Passover, April 19, 1943. The deportation did not come as a surprise. The Germans had amassed a military force to carry it out, but did not expect to engage in a confrontation that included street battles. Armed German forces ringed the ghetto at 3:00 a.m. The unit that entered the ghetto encountered armed resistance and retreated. The main ghetto, with its population of 30,000 Jews, was deserted. The Jews could not be rounded up for the transport; the railroad cars at the deportation point remained empty.
After Germans and rebels fought in the streets for three days, the Germans began to torch the ghetto, street by street, building by building. The entire ghetto became a sizzling, smoke-swathed conflagration. Most of the Jews who emerged from their hideouts, including entire families, were murdered by the Germans on the spot. The ghetto Jews gradually lost the strength to resist. On April 23, Mordecai Anielewicz the ZOB commander wrote the following to Yitzhak Zuckerman, a member of the ZOB command who was stationed on the "aryan" side: "I cannot describe the conditions in which the Jews are living. Only a special few will hold out; all the others will perish sooner or later. Their fate is sealed. None of the bunkers where our comrades are hiding has enough air to light a candle at night.... Be well, my dear, perhaps we shall yet meet. The dream of my life has risen to become fact. Self-defence in the ghetto will have been a reality. I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men of battle".
The rebels pursued their cause, even though they knew from the outset that they could not win. Even before the war ended, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising became a symbol of Jewish resistance.
German units at Warsaw today. (April 19, 1943)
[from: Yad Vashem - Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance]
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1061-PS.
"THE WARSAW GHETTO IS NO MORE"
For the Führer and their country the following fell in the battle for the destruction of Jews and bandits in the former Ghetto of Warsaw:
[follow 15 names].
Furthermore, the Polish Police Sergeant Julian Zielinski, born 13 November 1891, 8th Commissariat * * * fell on 19 April 1943 while fulfilling his duty. * * * They gave their utmost, their life. We shall never forget them. The following were wounded:
.
[follow the names of
...
60 Waffen SS personnel.
..
11 "Watchmen" from Training Camps, probably Lithuanians to judge by their names.
.
12 Security Police Officers in SS Units.
.
5 men of the Polish Police
.
2 regular Army personnel [engineers]
Units used in the action Average number of personnel used per day.
SS Staff and Police Leader6/5
Waffen SS:
SS Panzer Grenadier Training and Reserve Battalion 3, Warsaw 4/440
.SS Cav. Training and Res Bat. Warsaw 5/381 718