Deputy Minister of Culture and National Heritage Jarosław Sellin has announced that on the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, three presidents will visit Warsaw, and a ceremonial concert will be held at the Grand Theatre – National Opera.  

“On 19 April, i.e. the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising will be probably attended by four presidents of Poland, Israel, Germany and Italy”, said Jarosław Sellin.

The programme to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the ghetto uprising is rich. As the deputy head of the culture ministry added, the commemorations will also continue in the following months due to the anniversaries of further revolts of Jews against their German persecutors.

The deputy culture minister also said that the ministry is helping “a formed coalition of three institutions that belong to the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage – the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN and the Jewish Historical Institute”. 

“We support them financially, because they have a very rich programme planned for virtually the whole year”, stressed Jarosław Sellin. “They are also cooperating with the Social and Cultural Society of Jews in Poland on this issue”, he added.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out on 19 April 1943 in response to the Germans’ actions to liquidate the ghetto and their plan to exterminate Europe’s Jews. According to various estimates, between 700 and 2,000 fighters under the command of Mordechai Anielewicz took up the deadly and uneven fight. They fought against two thousand well-armed German soldiers from the SS, Wehrmacht, Security Police, and auxiliary squads.

The Uprising in the enclosed Jewish quarter lasted four weeks, until 16 May. On that day, in the evening, as a sign of victory, the Germans blew up the Great Synagogue on Tłomackie Street, located outside the ghetto.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński