On Friday evening, the 12th March of Remembrance will take place through the streets of Warsaw. Its participants will commemorate the victims of the great deportation action in the Warsaw Ghetto and those who resisted. Start at Umschlagplatz. – Our march goes “from death to life”. We want to reverse the idea that (…) people who left, were taken to Treblinka by the German occupiers, no trace remained – said Monika Krawczyk, director of the Jewish Historical Institute, on TVN24.
Monika Krawczyk reminded that the march will start on Friday at 6 pm. Participants will meet in front of the Umschlagplatz monument at Stawki Street.
– We will go to the square in front of the Muranów cinema. The march commemorates the Warsaw ghetto and (shows – ed.) the memory of people who died and were transported to Treblinka. This great deportation operation carried out by the Germans began on July 22, 1942, we want to remind you about it the day before – explained the director of the Jewish Historical Institute, which was the guest of Friday’s “You get up and know”.
12. March of Remembrancemat. organizer
March in the background of the anniversary of the ghetto uprising
As she pointed out, several threads are connected in the march. – This year we also have the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which was suppressed by the Germans in May 1943. We want to remember the many people who participated, prepared this uprising, became “seedlings” of this resistance and strength, which was not necessarily related only to fighting with weapons in hand – described Krawczyk.
– What about all the people who worked for society? Self-help, secret teaching, such human matters that they helped each other, they showed compassion and cordiality. We show this through our temporary exhibition, which will be open in front of the Muranów cinema at the end of the march. It consists of plants that were the first to appear in the rubble of Warsaw and were cataloged as early as 1945 by employees of the Capital Reconstruction Office, added the director.
They documented life in a closed district
What image emerges from the memories of people who survived the ghetto? – First of all, there is the awareness that the Holocaust is taking place. It is clear at this point. And the group that inspires us, associated with Emmanuel Ringelblum, who is our patron, first tried to document everyday life in the closed Jewish district. But later, when they came through various people, we could basically call them intelligence agents (…) they realized that they were actually documenting war crimes, described the director.
She also reminded how important are the resources of the Ringelblum Archive, hidden during the occupation and discovered after the war in – as Monika Krawczyk assessed – “no less dramatic circumstances”. – Later they were a very important resource, used, among others, in the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem thanks to one of the people who survived from this group – Rachela Auerbach – she said.
– But the person I wanted to summon her spirit here today is Tosia Altman, who was a liaison of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, a Zionist and socialist organization that traveled all over Poland. Among others, she and Fruma Płotnicka discovered the death camp in Sobibór and brought this information to Warsaw thanks to contacts with the Polish underground – the government delegation for the country – Krawczyk pointed out.
Jews led to the UmschlagplatzPhoto taken through the window of St. Zofia, at the intersection of ul. Żelazna and Nowolipie, leaving probably (this is yet to be confirmed) on ul. Nowolipie. Author’s comment written after the war on the reverse of the print, kept in the USHMM archives in Washington: “Scenes from the evacuation of the ghetto around April 20, 1943”. photo. ZL Grzywaczewski / from the family archive of Maciej Grzywaczewski, son of Leszek Grzywaczewski / photo from the negative: POLIN Museum
Detours of buses and trams
The March of Remembrance will begin on Friday, July 21, at 6 p.m. at the Umschlagplatz monument at 10 Stawki Street (corner of Dzika Street). Participants will march through the streets: Stawki, Dubois, Zamenhofa, Nowolipki and Andersa to the square of Battalion Scouts of the Home Army “Wigry”. During the event, traffic on these roads may be stopped.
“Trams of line 35 and buses of lines 107, 111 and 157 can be directed to detour routes” – informed the Public Transport Authority.
Trams of line 35 will go through Aleja Jana Pawła II and “Solidarity”. Buses 107, 111 and 157 will also be directed to the nearest passable streets.
The assembly will end around 7.30 pm.
Main photo source: Fakty/TVN