Chicago, Illinois
April 18, 2013
Ladies and gentlemen, Distinguished guests,
It is my great honor to welcome you to the of Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in
Chicago. I greet you with the flower of daffodil, the symbol of this event.
I am very happy that we have been joined today by so many distinguished guests:
Holocaust and Warsaw Ghetto survivors,
descendants of the Righteous Among the Nations,
Veterans,
leaders in Jewish-American and Polish-American communities,
religious leaders,
representatives of the American administration:
of Senator Mark Kirk,
of Mayor Rahm Emanuel,
of Governor Pat Quinn,
of Treasurer Dan Rutherford,
of the Illinois National Guard,
Alderman Michele Smith, 43rd Ward
Alderman Ariel Reboyras, 30th Ward
as well as representatives of the Polish scouts with Barbara Chałko.
We also have a large representation of the Chicago Consular Corps, in particular Consuls
General of Israel, Germany and Austria.
I welcome the Executive President of the Holocaust Museum in Skokie.
Our Grand Commemoration is also streamed live online, for which I thank the media
representatives who are with us today.
Welcome everyone!
Ladies and gentlemen,
Today we celebrate a very important anniversary:
exactly 70 years ago the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out in resistance to Nazi Germany's
final efforts to transport the remaining Warsaw Ghetto population to Treblinka German
extermination camp.
A year before the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out about 300,000 Jews were deported to
gas chambers of Treblinka.
Those who survived knew that their death sentences were merely postponed. The only choice
they had left was the choice of how they would die – and they decided to die as heroes – in
battle.
Strona 1 z 3
Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa (the Jewish Combat Organization) was created and led by
Mordechaj Anielewicz.
The first combat encounter took place as early as January 1943 when the Germans entered the
ghetto. The Jewish population, convinced that this was to be their final day, resisted the
Nazis.
They did it so successfully that surprised Germans retreated from the ghetto.
After these events, preparations for the uprising gained momentum. Weapons were brought,
provisions were made, and bunkers were set up. The Jewish Combat Organization received
support from the Polish Resistance.
On April 19th, the German forces, under the command of Jurgen Stroop, surrounded the
ghetto at night. The occupant made a point of committing the most atrocious crimes against
the Jews on Jewish holidays. April 19th was the eve of the Holiday of Passover.
About 1000-1500 insurgents form the Jewish Combat Organization and Jewish Military
Union fought the German forces for 28 days.
Eventually, the Germans – wishing to erase all traces of Jewish presence in Warsaw – set fire
to buildings: house after house.
On May 8th German forces discovered the bunker where leaders of Jewish Combat
Organization were hiding. Surrounded, the insurgents chose to commit suicide, along with
Mordechaj Anielewicz.
May 16th marks the symbolic end of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, when – by order of Jurgen
Stroop – the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie was blown up.
Throughout the Uprising, about 7000 Jews were killed, most of them burned alive.
The Germans captured and deported from 50 to 60 thousand Jews to the concentration camps.
The area of the ghetto was burned down and the remaining ruins were razed to the ground.
Next year, in August 1944 the so-called big Warsaw Uprising broke out which eventually
caused close to a quarter of a million victims and left the whole Warsaw completely
destroyed. Warsaw was the most ruined capital of WW2. Among the Polish insurgents in the
Warsaw Uprising 1944 were also Jews – survivors from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, who
also felt the need to fight for Warsaw, fight for Poland.
As we commemorate the victims of the Uprising today in Chicago, the Uprising’s battle
ground – Warsaw has already been two hours into April 19th – the day of the Grand
Commemoration during which sirens will be sounded throughout the city, and bells will
chime in all the churches of the Warsaw Archdiocese as the capital city Warsaw honors its
Jewish heroes – many of them native Varsovians who stood up against Nazi German tyranny.
Indeed, there is no history of Poland without the Jews and no history of Jews without Poland.
In fact, Poland is the land of ancestry for 90 percent of all American Jews and for the majority
of Jews living across the world today. The founders of the state of Israel were born in Poland.
Strona 2 z 3
That long and fascinating history will soon be available in the world’s largest Museum about
the whole Millennium of Jewish presence in Europe which soon opens in the heart of the
former Warsaw Ghetto, The Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
I would like to conclude with a quotation from the appeal of the Rabbinical Council of the
Republic of Poland from September 2, 1939, which shows that Poland was perceived as a
welcoming homeland throughout the ages:
“Let us praise the name of the Eternal! Brothers in Israel, citizens of the Most Serene
Republic of Poland! The eternal enemy has invaded our so ardently beloved Homeland,
Poland, in the most dishonorable and evil way. Devoid of qualms and all human emotion, the
enemy brings slaughter, plunder and destruction. We Jews, children of this land since time
immemorial, stand in battle array, ready and waiting for Mr. President of the Republic of
Poland and Supreme Commander to call us to defend our beloved Homeland at our posts and,
if necessary, sacrifice our lives and our worldly possessions unreservedly at the altar of our
Homeland.
This is our highest civic and religious obligation, in our Holy Faith, which we will most
gladly fulfill. May God help us and Poland. We raise our prayers to our Maker for the victory
of Poland. Let us hope He will hear our prayers. Amen.”
General Consul of the Republic of Poland
Paulina Kapuscinska
Strona 3 z 3