Topic > The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising took place in Warsaw, Poland, and was a conflict between German Nazis and Polish Jews. Shortly after the German invasion of Poland more than 400,000 Jews in Warsaw, the capital, were confined to an area of ​​the city that was little more than 1 square mile. The ghetto was sealed off with barbed wire and armed guards and anyone seen leaving was killed, clearly the conditions were grueling. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Approximately 55,000-60,000 Jews remained in the Warsaw Ghetto, and small groups of them banded together to create small self-defense groups such as the Jewish Combat Organization, or ZOB, which managed to smuggle a limited supply of weapons from the anti-Nazi Poles. About 7,000 Jews died in the revolt and about 50,000 Jews were sent to extermination or labor camps, while the Germans lost about several hundred men. On January 18, 1943, the Germans rounded up about 7,000 Jews and sent them to the Treblinka extermination camp, then killed another 600 in Warsaw, and an uprising began that same day. In the beginning, small Jewish organizations such as the Jewish Fighting organization only had around 600 volunteers, and the Jewish Military Association had around 400, a significantly lower number than the German Nazis. They only had 10 guns, showing how weak they were, however they still believed it was better to die fighting that rank, since they had to face the fact that they would die either way. Later on April 19, 1943, Himmler sent SS forces and their collaborators with tanks and heavy artillery to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto, hundreds of resistance fighters armed with a small cache of weapons pushed back the Germans who were largely outnumbered. they continued to destroy the ghetto, razing ghetto buildings block by block, as well as destroying the bunkers where many Jews resided and hid. By May 16 the ghetto was heavily under Nazi control and as a symbolic and cruel act the Germans blew up Warsaw's largest synagogue, which is a place of worship for Jews. Stroop, however, wanted to carry out a symbolic act as mentioned previously by which he officially denounced that the Warsaw Jewish ghetto "no longer exists". then Himmler ordered a celebratory event: which was blowing up the synagogue built in 1877. Keep in mind: this is just one example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay There were many survivors who lived to tell the tale and who were frightened by this event, such as an old woman named Vladka. This woman belonged to the youth movement of the Bund (the Jewish socialist party). She was active in the Warsaw Ghetto underground and was a member of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB). In December 1942 she was smuggled to the Aryan, Polish part of Warsaw to try to obtain weapons and find hiding places for children and adults. She tells her story in an interview where she is asked about the day of the explosion and the transcript of the interview is as follows «While I was there at night, I saw the flames of the ghetto. And I also saw certain images that had remained imprinted in my mind. Some Jews were running from place to place and I also saw some Jews jumping from buildings, but I watched this from a window and could do nothing. And then the flames swept through the ghetto. The Germans fail to take control of the streets, they begin setting fire to block after block. They begin to.