2019-04-19 Fri

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was an act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to concentration camps.

After the incident of Grossaktion Warsaw of summer 1942, in which more than a quarter of a million Jews were deported from the ghetto, the remaining Jews began to build bunkers and smuggle weapons and explosives into the ghetto. The left-wing Jewish Combat Organization (ZOB) and right-wing Jewish Military Union (ZZW) were formed and began to train.

On 19 April 1943, on the eve of Passover, the police and SS auxiliary forces entered the ghetto. They were planning to complete the deportation action within three days but were ambushed by Jewish insurgents firing and hand grenades. Two boys climbed up on the roof of a building on the square and raised two flags, the red-and-white Polish flag and the blue-and-white banner of the ZZW.

The conflict remained active for almost a month. The Germans began to suppress the uprising. The suppression of the uprising officially ended on 16 May 1943, when Stroop personally pushed a detonator button to demolish the Great Synagogue of Warsaw. A total of 13,000 Jews died, about half of them burnt alive or suffocated. The uprising was one of the most significant occurrences in the history of the Jewish people.

On the 70th Anniversary of the Uprising, Israel Post issued a stamp with 9.50 Israeli new shekels. The stamp depicts Pawel Frenkel - thes Leader of the Uprising with a burning ghetto in the background. The stamp also shows to Jewish boys hoisting flags of the roof. The second part of the stamp depicts two flags and is inscribed “70th Anniversary Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” in Roman and Hebrew.

Image Courtesy: https://in.pinterest.com

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