Poland marks 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Polish and Jewish representatives, including Warsaw mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, and honorary citizens of Warsaw Halina Birenbaum, Krystyna Budnicka and Marian Turski attended commemorations at the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto on the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which featured the planting of an oak tree near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw. The uprising started on 19 April when the Ghetto refused to surrender to the police commander SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop. About 750 Jews with few arms and no military training along with Polish underground militia took on the powerful Nazi forces. The revolt was crushed the following month, and the ghetto was razed to the ground. A total of 13,000 Jews died, about half of them burnt alive or suffocated.