Warsaw Ghetto – Cosmos Tour
By sandra. Filed in Cosmos Jewels of the Baltic Tour, Europe, History, Poland |
In Warsaw on Oct 15, 1940, 400,000 Jews were rounded up and trapped into the Jewish Ghetto (30% of the population of Warsaw in 2.4% of the city) which rose to 1.5 million by 1941. However by 1942, it was unfortunately being emptied as the extermination camps had been built and they were being sent there to be gassed.
In January 1943, in response to another Nazi round-up to clean them all out and send them to the extermination camps, there was a Warsaw Ghetto uprising (7,000 were shot immediately) and then another one on April 19 where the Jews fought a fight to the death. When it was all over, the whole area was leveled to the ground.At least 56,065 men women and children were killed on the spot or deported to Treblinka.
Wladyslaw Szpilman was one of the survivors. He was the Polish pianist, composer and writer and subject of the film The Pianist by Roman Polanski (who was in the Krakow ghetto). He died in 2000.
You can still see one piece of the Ghetto wall. There is an interactive Warsaw Rising Museum in Old Town. www.warsaw-life.com/poland/warsaw-rising-museum
After Sept 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland, 450,000 of the 3,000,000 Jews were rounded up into a ghetto. By 1941, 1,500,000 Jews were stuffed in there. But by 1942, it was unfortunately being emptied, since the extermination camps had been built and the inmates were being sent there to be gassed.
In April 1943, with about 60,000 left, and Germans coming in to clean them all out, the Jews fought a fight to the death. 7,000 were shot immediately and the rest sent to the Treblinka death camp. One of the leaders, Mordechai Anielewicza, committed suicide. Vladislav Szpiman was part of this action; the main character of Roman Polanski’s movie “The Pianist” was based on him. Another leader escaped, became a doctor and is still alive today.