81: Ghetto Uprising

 81 years ago today (April 19, 1943) the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising against the Germans in German-Occupied Warsaw, Poland started.

(This is a picture during the Ghetto Uprising of Jewish Men, Women and Children captured by the Germans and being sent to the Death Camps.)

After the Grossaktion Warsaw ("Great Action Warsaw”) - where the Germans deported 265,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka Death Camp from July 23, 1942-September 21, 1942 – the remaining 60,000 Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto started to make or steal weapons and built hidden bunkers and tunnels for when the Germans came back to kill them.

The Germans came back to Liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto over Passover on April 19, 1943 and were met by fierce Jewish Resistance.

The Jews, led by 23 year old Mordechai Anielewicz, fought the Germans until May 16, 1942 despite little to no help from the Outside World (the Polish Resistance, the Soviets, the Brits, the Americans, etc.)

13,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children were killed inside the Ghetto during the Uprising.

43,000 Jewish Men, Women and Children were captured by the Germans during the Ghetto Uprising and deported to the Death Camps.

Jürgen Stroop, the German SS Commander who led the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 and wrote the Stroop Report (a book-length account of the operation) was tried, convicted, and executed for Crimes Against Humanity on March 6, 1952 in Communist Poland.

The last surviving Jewish Resistance Fighter, Simcha Rotem, died in Jerusalem on December 22, 2018, at age 94.