Juan David Latorre
The Polish Embassy and the Instituto Polaco de Cultura concluded on Tuesday their events commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising with the presentation of the exhibition City of the Living/City of the Dead by photographer Robert Wilczyński (previously reported by The Diplomat) and a concert by the band Bester Quartet at the Sala de Columnas del Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.
The event was attended by the ambassadors of Poland, Anna Sroka, and Israel, Rodica Radian-Gordon, who were accompanied by the ambassadors of Germany, Luxembourg, Lithuania and the Nuncio of His Holiness.
Ambassador Anna Sroka noted in her speech that “with today’s concert we culminate the cycle dedicated to the commemoration of the uprising, which was one of the most heroic acts of resistance against Nazi violence in Europe. Nazi Germany began creating ghettos in occupied Poland as early as the end of 1939. From the very beginning, their inhabitants were plagued by inhumane living conditions. The Warsaw ghetto was the largest of the ghettos created by the Germans”.
“When on 19 April 1943 German troops entered to deport the surviving inhabitants to extermination camps, the uprising broke out,” the ambassador said. With no hope of victory, some 1,000 poorly armed Jewish fighters fought for a month for dignity, honour and basic human values. A handful of fighters survived the contest and later fought in the Polish resistance until the end of the war. The last veteran of the uprising died in 2021″.
Anna Sroka concluded her remarks by stressing that “the largest group of victims of this heinous crime against humanity were around 3 million Polish Jews. Today we pay tribute to all the victims of the Holocaust, to the heroic Jewish fighters and to those who risked their lives to help them”.
Israel’s Ambassador Rodica Radian-Gordon then took the floor, saying, “The Warsaw ghetto uprising was the first urban rebellion against Nazi Germany in all the territories it occupied. Of all the Jewish uprisings during the Holocaust, this was the longest and had the largest number of participants. For a month, Jews fought for their lives. Many died in fire and smoke traps. New testimonies and new information about the atrocities continue to emerge, even today.”
“Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, the Israeli ambassador continued, took many forms: spiritual, cultural, underground-political, educational or religious, among many others. All these actions were an expression of defiance, an insurrection of the few against the all-powerful mechanism of the Nazi state, and a heroic uprising against all odds in an attempt to preserve both body and soul, to preserve identity and society”.
Finally, Ambassador Rodica Radian-Gordon noted that “the study, research and dissemination of what happened are key elements in preserving memory and countering the terrible consequences of denialism. Our young people must learn what the Holocaust was as a historical event and the universal ethical lessons it carries with it. The Holocaust will forever serve as a warning sign for all against the danger inherent in hatred, intolerance, racism and prejudice.”
