This Day in Christian History: April 19-20 The Warsaw Ghetto

This Day in Christian History: April 19-20


April 19-20, 1943: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Begins

SS Agents burn houses
Warsaw is the capitol city of Poland. A city of over 1.3 million residents in 1919 when Poland resurrected as a state. Pre-WWII, Warsaw was home to over 350,000 Jews, about 30% of their population. On September 29, 1939, Nazi troops entered the city.

By October 12, 1940, a ghetto had been established and a decree made that all Jews were to move to the designated area, which was then sealed off from the rest of the city with a 10ft. high wall. It is estimated that over 400,000 Jews were contained in this ghetto from Warsaw and the surrounding area.

Needless to say, the conditions were crowded, and poor.

April 19th, 1943, the Eve of Passover, Nazi SS agents entered the ghetto. Knowing what this meant, the Jews made the decision to fight back.The Jewish insurgents ambushed the Nazis. The fighting lasted for several days. The Germans began burning down houses, block by block, which is what finally broke the rebellion.

Between the days of April 19th and May 16th, 1943, over 13,000 Jews were killed. The remaining residents were shipped off to concentration or extermination camps.

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