Honoring the Fallen: The 70th Anniversary of the Destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto By Dr. Mitch Glaser, President, Chosen People Ministries Editor’s Note: This article on the 70th anniversary of the de- struction of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943 also includes portions from Dr. Glaser’s 2012 article, “Heroes of the Holocaust: Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto and Yeshua.” An excerpt of that was published in the May 2012 Bulletin (Issue 108, p. 15). The full earlier article can be down- loaded at the LCJE.net website under “Papers” (2012). The Great Synagogue - Warsaw Overview beyond usual duty in destroy- were unbelievable. An unforget- The achievements and witness ing the Ghetto: table allegory of the triumph of Jewish believers during the Stroop was the archetypal over Jewry. The Warsaw Ghetto Holocaust and especially in the Nazi - a sadistic anti-Semite has ceased to exist. Because Warsaw Ghetto are essentially who took joy in hunting Jews, that is what Adolf Hitler and unknown to most present-day whom he considered sub- Heinrich Himmler wanted.” (1) Jewish believers. We stand on humans. He remained unrepen- the shoulders of these heroes tant right up to his execution in This is a Tish B’av anniver- of the Holocaust - the Jewish Warsaw, after being convicted sary – another day when we believers of the Warsaw Ghet- of war crimes. In the Warsaw remember that the enemies to - and their story, as much Mokotow prison awaiting his of Israel tried to destroy the or as little as we know, must trial, he regaled his cellmates Jewish people. They failed be told. First, we shall look at with stories of how he had because the God who chose a brief history of the destruc- succeeded in liquidating the the Jewish people preserved tion of the Ghetto itself. Warsaw Ghetto. them. And so we say, She- hechiyanu, “Blessed are You, Destruction of the Great One of those cellmates was a Lord our G-d, King of the Uni- Synagogue in Warsaw Pole named Kazimierz Moczar- verse, who has granted us life, On May 16th, 1943, the Nazis ski. Moczarski was accused at sustained us and enabled us forces, led by General Jürgen the time of conducting activity to reach this occasion.” Stroop, blew up the Great against the Polish Communist Yet, at the same time we Synagogue on Tlomackie regime. In his book titled, grieve over what we lost. street in Warsaw and de- Conversations with the Hang- According to reports, 56,065 stroyed what remained of the man, Moczarski recounted Jewish people were captured, Jewish presence in the Ghetto Stroop’s description of how he 5-6,000 killed in the fighting, after 27 days of intense fight- had dynamited the great syna- 7,000 were shot and thou- ing. The Great Synagogue was gogue on Tlomackie Street. sands of others were sent to destroyed to symbolize the tri- Moczarski wrote that Stroop’s Treblinka, where the Jewish eyes “sparkled with enthusi- umph of Stroop’s troops over people of the Ghetto had been asm. ‘What a wonderful sight!’ the Jewish Ghetto fighters. sent over the last year to their I called out ‘Heil Hitler!’ and deaths in the gas chambers. According to Moshe Arens, pressed the button. A terrific writing in the Jerusalem Post explosion brought flames right Mordechai Anielewicz article in 2003, Stroop was up to the clouds. The colors a committed Nazi who went The hero of the Jewish resistance was Mordechai sands are concealing them- Anielewicz, who was a young selves it is not possible to light Jewish political activist. (2) a candle for lack of air. With The organization led by the aid of our radio we heard Anielewicz was called the the marvelous report on our Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa, fighting by the “Shavit” radio known as the ZOB - the Jew- station. The fact that we are ish Combat Organization. Its remembered beyond the ghetto counterpart organization was walls encourages us in our called the Zydowski Zwiazek struggle. Peace go with you, Wojskowy; ZZW – the Jewish my friend! Perhaps we may still Military Union. The ZZW grew meet again! out of the Jewish Revisionist Party (Betar), a more right- He concluded with what has Mordechai Anielewicz become a rallying cry for gen- wing Zionist group. Flickr.com photo Combined, these two erations of future defenders of Last letter to a friend groups had approximately the Jewish people: In his last letter to his friend 750 fighters, poorly armed “The dream of my life has and co-leader of the ZOB, and with minimal support risen to become fact. Self- Yitzhak Cukierman, penned defense in the ghetto will have from the Polish resistance. (3) on April 23, 1943, Anielewicz been a reality. Jewish armed wrote, resistance and revenge are Mass deportations It is impossible to put into facts. I have been a witness to The Ghetto was sealed off words what we have been the magnificent, heroic fighting on November 16, 1940. Mass through. One thing is clear, of Jewish men in battle. (6) deportations continued from what happened exceeded our July 22 through September boldest dreams. The Germans Last Stand: Mila 18 12, 1942, when more than ran twice from the ghetto. One They made their last stand 300,000 inhabitants of the of our companies held out for at Mila 18, an apartment that Ghetto were killed in the Tre- 40 minutes and another for served as their headquarters blinka concentration camp. more than 6 hours. The mine (which was the inspiration for Only 60,000 Jewish people set in the ‘brushmakers’ area the book, Mila 18, by Jew- then remained in the Ghetto, exploded. (5) Several of our ish author, Leon Uris), and and the Germans reinitiated companies attacked the dis- it was there that Anielewicz deportations on January persing Germans. Our losses and dozens if not hundreds of 18, 1943, when the Jewish in manpower are minimal…I his fellow fighters committed fighters under young Aniele- feel that great things are hap- suicide rather than fall into the wicz’s leadership (4) began pening and what we dared hands of the Nazis – a modern do is of great, enormous their active resistance. They Masada! He died on May 8, importance.... Beginning from were successful in disorient- 1943. This signaled the end today we shall shift over to the ing the Germans and at first of armed resistance by those partisan tactic.” they believed that they had Jews left in the Ghetto. stopped the deportations, but He next emphasized their operational needs: “...What A stone lies at the site of unfortunately, they had not. the bunker adjacent to Mila The Nazis regrouped we need urgently: grenades, rifles, machine-guns and ex- Street and commemorates the and planned to destroy the fallen. The text on the stone is Ghetto within three days. plosives. It is impossible to describe a moving and fitting testimony They were going to begin the conditions under which the to those brave Jewish fighters their renewed efforts on April Jews of the ghetto are now who fought to their deaths: 13th, the beginning of Pass- living. Only a few will be able “Grave of the fighters of the over. However, those plans to hold out. The remainder will Warsaw Ghetto uprising built changed: the Jewish resis- die sooner or later. Their fate from the rubble of Mila Street, tance fought valiantly and is decided. In almost all the one of the liveliest streets of held out for a full month. hiding places in which thou- prewar Jewish Warsaw. These ruins of the bunker at 18 Mila to the missionaries and the Street are the place of rest of Jewish believers in in Poland the commanders and fighters and Warsaw especially who of the Jewish combat organiza- endured such terrible suffering tion as well as some civilians. and death. Among them lives Mordecai Martin Parsons, a non-Jewish Anielewicz, the commander-in- ordained missionary to the chief. Jewish people with CMJ, the “On May 8, 1943, surrounded historic British mission to the by the Nazis, after three weeks Jewish people, provides a The Mila 18 Stone grave marker* of struggle, many perished or thumbnail sketch of Jewish took their own lives, refusing achieves that which not all missions in Poland two years to perish at the hands of their masterpieces can achieve. For prior to the Nazi invasion in a enemies. There were several it gives in serious, purpose- paper presented to the meeting hundred bunkers built in the ful, reticent words a record, of the International Missionary ghetto found and destroyed by simple and unostentatious, of Council Christian Approach to the Nazis. They became graves. a common martyrdom, of its the Jews: They could not save those who entire involved course. It is “The American Board of Mis- sought refuge inside them, yet also an authentic document sions (Chosen People Ministries they remain everlasting sym- about perseverance and moral today) has a center in Warsaw bols of the Warsaw Jews’ will to strength kept intact during the on the east of the river. They live. The bunker at Mila Street greatest tragedy in the history have room for some inquirers, was the largest in the Ghetto; it of mankind. (8) in addition to general evan- is the place of rest of over 100 gelistic work. The Mildmay fighters, only some of whom A personal pilgrimage Mission (Messianic Testimony are known by name. Here they This past March I travelled to today) has a hall in the Jewish rest, buried where they fell, to Warsaw with my wife Zhava quarter in Warsaw and their remind us that the whole earth and Vladimir and Inna Pikman, work mainly touches poorer is their grave.