April 23, 1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Part 2

Continuing his description of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, on Friday, April 23, 1943, Julian Kulski wrote in his diary:

“Warsaw has been greatly moved by a large poster freshly pasted on a signboard on the corner of Bonifraterska Street:

‘Warsaw, Ghetto, April 23, 1943

‘POLES, CITIZENS, SOLDIERS FOR FREEDOM!

‘Amid the deafening noise of the shells which the German armies are pouring into our houses—the homes of our parents, families, and children;

‘Amid the reverberations of the machine guns which we are capturing in battles with the cowardly SS men and military policemen;

‘Amid the smoke of the fires, the dust and the blood of the murdered Warsaw Ghetto:

‘We, the prisoners of the Ghetto, send you brotherly, heartfelt greetings. We know that you are with us in the battle which for many days now we have been waging with the cruel Occupier—sincerely sharing our pain and shedding tears of sorrow, with admiration but with fear over the results of this fight.

‘But, know also that every corner of the Ghetto, just as each has been up to now, will remain a fortress; that maybe all of us will die in the fight, but that we will never surrender. Know that we breathe, just as you do, with wishes for reprisals and punishments for all the crimes of our common enemy!

‘The Fight is being waged for Your Freedom and Ours!

‘For Your and Our Honor and Dignity—Human, Social, National!

‘We will take retribution for Oświęcim [Auschwitz], Treblinka, Bełżeć, and Majdanek!

‘Long live the brotherhood of arms and blood of Fighting Poland!

‘Long live Freedom!

‘Death to the executioners and torturers!

‘Long live the fight for our life and for death to the Occupier!

                ‘JEWISH FIGHTING ORGANIZATION’ “

 

Excerpt from The Color of Courage (pp. 183–185).