Reporter and writer Hanna Krall has become an honorary ambassador of the “Daffodils” campaign organised by the POLIN Museum on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. An animation about the wartime and post-war fate of Marek Edelman, one of the leaders of the uprising, was created basing on her reportage “To Outwit God”.

On the anniversary of the uprising, Marek Edelman, the last commander of the Jewish Combat Organisation (ŻOB), laid a bouquet of daffodils at the Monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes in Muranów. This yellow flower has become a symbol of respect and remembrance of the uprising. Organised by the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, the campaign aims to spread this symbol and spread knowledge of the uprising in general. On 19 April, volunteers will appear on the streets of the city handing out to passers-by paper daffodils that can be pinned to clothing.

The 2023 Daffodils campaign is taking place as part of the POLIN Museum’s programme “Don’t be indifferent. 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”. A key element of the commemoration will be the opening of the temporary exhibition ” A Sea of Fire Around Us. The fate of Jewish civilians during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”.

“On the 80th anniversary of the uprising, new educational materials will be made available, tailored to the needs and abilities of children and young people of different ages. We strongly encourage all schools, libraries, and cultural institutions to take part in the premiere of the moving animation ” To Outwit God” based on Hanna Krall’s book”, says Zofia Bojańczyk, coordinator of the “Daffodils” campaign.

The plot of the animation takes place in three-time planes. Watching the scenes in the Second World War, the viewer learns about the fate of young Marek Edelman: hospital messenger, member of the ŻOB command, and finally the last leader of the ghetto uprising. Then the creators of the animation take us to the 1960s, when Edelman develops his medical career in Lodz. The last part is the 1970s, when Hanna Krall interviewed Edelman that was described in the reportage To Outwit God. 

Arkadiusz Słomczyński