80th Anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
On April 19, 2023 we remember and celebrate the 80th Anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
2023 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign
POLIN Museum & Worldwide
We welcome you to join the 2023 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising campaign. This campaign is hosted yearly by POLIN Museum, 1000-year history of the Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland. This year we commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Uprising, and will have many activities for people around the world to participate in.
We encourage communities around the world to learn about the events that took place on April 19, 1943, and to share online what the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising means to you. You will find various materials and resources to help spread the campaign, as well as educational items that can be used for schools.
This year as the world commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Uprising on April 19. POLIN Museum has created various events in a robust program that will span the entire year and focus on this topic. This includes creative workshops, academic sessions, and a temporary exhibition that will remain until 8 January 2024. “Around Us a Sea of Fire. The Fate of Jewish Civilians During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” will focus on the untold story of the Uprising, the story of the civilians who hid in the Warsaw Ghetto. For the anniversary itself, a concert and other in person commemorative activities are being planned here in Warsaw.
Why the daffodil?
Marek Edelman, the last surviving leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, used to receive a bouquet of yellow daffodils from an anonymous person every year on April 19. He would lay them at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in memory of those who fought and died. The paper daffodils, which people wear on this day, are inspired by this custom. Edelman, who remained in Poland after the war, passed away in 2009.
How can you get involved in the commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising?
Even if you cannot be here in Warsaw for the official commemoration, by joining our online campaign, you will be joining a countless number of people around the world, who will be remembering the events of the Uprising. Participation is very simple, and there are several ways to commemorate. The simplest way is to make our official daffodil, and take a selfie for your social media profiles and use our hashtags: #RememberingTogether, #WarsawGhettoUprising.
- Make a daffodil; all you need is paper, glue, and scissors.
- Click to download official graphics to be used to share the campaign.
- Click to download our menu to participate. An easy tool to choose which level of commemoration that works best for you or your organization.
- Follow POLIN Museum’s English-language Facebook page on the day of the anniversary to see how others are joining the campaign. If you participate, your picture could be featured on the page! So send your pictures in advance to the email address listed below or via Facebook messenger to our page.
- Watch “There Was No Hope”, a film about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising produced by POLIN Museum. Please adjust the closed captions in YouTube for English subtitles.
- Read a short graphic novel about Marek Edelman.
- Explore the Holocaust gallery of POLIN Museum’s Core Exhibition.
Partners
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Commemoration in New York
April 19, 2023 at 3pm ET
At Der Shteyn (the stone)
The commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising will be held on April 19, 2023 beginning at 3pm ET It will take place at Der Shteyn (the stone), the plaque in the center of the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial plaza, located at the south end of the Promenade at 83rd Street, overlooking the Hudson River.
West Side Rag: “Once intended to be the cornerstone for a future, more elaborate monument, the stone bears the inscription: “This Is the Site for the American Memorial to the Heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto Battle, April-May, 1943, and to the Six Million Jews of Europe Martyred in the Cause of Human Liberty.” Underneath the cornerstone is a scroll describing the defense of the Warsaw ghetto composed by Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog of Jerusalem…. Two bronze boxes containing soil from the Erezin and Sered concentration camps in Czechoslovakia were also placed under the cornerstone, according to the press release.
The upcoming program in Riverside Park, including music and readings, will feature Shifee Losacco (a soloist at Lincoln Center, [who] has appeared in numerous Yiddish theater productions as well as on Broadway, and is currently a soloist with The Peace of Heart Choir); Joanne Borts (appeared in Broadway’s Tony-winning Best Musical Once, as well as Fiddler on the Roof starring Topol); Dr. Michael “Menachem” Fox (author of the acclaimed memoir Becoming Ordinary: A Youth Born of the Holocaust, What I Kept, What I Let Go…); Irena Klepfisz (herself born in the Warsaw Ghetto and whose father was the first Jew to perish in the Uprising; just recently published her collected works titled Her Birth and Later Years: New and Collected Poems, 1971-2021); Marcel Kshensky (educator & son of Holocaust survivors and resistance activists); and many others.” (Source: West Side Rag)
