The foreign ministers of Poland and Israel, Prof. Zbigniew Rau and Eli Cohen, accompanied by the two countries’ ambassadors from around the globe, once again together took part in this year’s events to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. From Brazil to EU countries to Iran and Japan, more than 70 Polish and Israeli ambassadors have decided to jointly observe this unique anniversary by participating in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign 2023 organised by the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

Polish and Israeli diplomats’ joint participation not only makes it possible to raise awareness of the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising worldwide but also reflects the international dimension of Polish-Israeli cooperation in the joint remembrance of our tragic past. It also marks a further step towards strengthening strategic and friendly relations between Poland and Israel.

The Polish and Israeli foreign ministers and ambassadors joined the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign 2023 at the invitation of ELNET – Poland. The European Leadership Network (ELNET) is an international non-governmental organisation the mission of which is to initiate and promote dialogue between European countries and Israel based on common objectives and democratic values.

The ambassadors commemorated the Uprising by taking photos of themselves with daffodils, flowers which became symbols of the insurgents’ effort from 80 years ago. Every year on the anniversary of the Ghetto Uprising, Mark Edelman (1919-2009), the last of its surviving leaders, used to receive a bouquet of yellow flowers from an anonymous sender. Every year, he would lay them at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. To preserve this custom, but most importantly to prevent the memory of the heroes from fading, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews launched the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign and has run it for nearly a decade.

The uprising in the Warsaw ghetto broke out on 19 April 1943 and was the largest act of Jewish armed resistance against Germany during World War II. It was also an act of heroic opposition to the tragedy of the Jewish nation, an important part of which was the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto, which had started a few months earlier on 22 July 1942. Young women and men who remained inside the closed district preferred to die with weapons in their hands rather than being gassed in Treblinka. The Uprising ended on 16 May 1943, when the Germans blew up the Great Synagogue at Tłomackie Street and razed the remainder of the ghetto to the ground.

 

Łukasz Jasina
MFA Press Spokesperson