The 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

The ceremonies began when alarm sirens and church bells resounded, followed by the national anthem. All guests were welcomed by Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, who reminded all attendees that ‘Warsaw, where Jews comprised one third of the entire population, was home to thousands of Jewish families for centuries, including Isaac Bashevis Singer, Janusz Korczak, Mordechaj Anielewicz, Marek Edelman and Israel Gutman. That Warsaw was the target of the horrendous Nazi plan, and became the largest ghetto in Nazi occupied Europe’.

Afterwards, the President Komorowski took the floor and awarded Symcha Rotem with the Grand Cross of Polonia Restituta Order. Rotem is a Jewish activist of the resistance movement during World War II and one of the last surviving Warsaw Ghetto fighters. He was also the main messenger of the Jewish Combat Organisation (ŻOB) on the Aryan side of the ghetto. He was also one of the organisers of the campaign that helped ghetto fighters. Since April 15, 2008, he has been an honorary citizen of Warsaw.

All speeches were followed by the performance by New York Rabbi Joseph Malovany, who sang a memorial song. Rabbi Schudrich recited Kaddish. At the end of the ceremonies, representatives of Jewish organizations placed flower wreaths  at the monument, after which some attendees went to Umschlagplatz, from where trains to death camps departed.

All attendees wore paper yellow daffodils, the symbol of hope and remembrance.