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Yom HaShoah Event to Mark 80th
Anniversary of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Jarrad Saff ren | Staff Writer
Wikimedia Commons
T here is a key diff erence between International
Holocaust Remembrance Day, declared by the
United Nations and taking place each January,
and Yom HaShoah, established by Israel and recog-
nized every spring.

The former remembers the 6 million Jewish victims
of the Holocaust and the liberation of Auschwitz
on Jan. 27, 1945. The latter has a full name of Yom
HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah, which means the
day of remembrance of the Holocaust and the bravery.

That last part is crucial. Yom HaShoah, declared by
the modern symbol of Jewish strength, the state of
Israel, is about resistance as much as remembrance.

It is aligned with the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the
biggest act of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust,
for a reason.

Jews were victims in that period, ultimately liberated
by the United States and its Allies. But they did not just
take Nazi oppression lying down. Both lessons are
important, according to Jason Holtzman, the direc-
tor of the Jewish Community Relations Council in
Philadelphia. That’s why, on April 16, JCRC, an agency within
the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, will
host a Yom HaShoah event that marks the 80th
anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The
commemoration is open to the public starting at
1:30 p.m. at the Horwitz-Wasserman Holocaust
Memorial Plaza on 16th Street and the Benjamin
Franklin Parkway. It will include a candle lighting,
music, prayer and remarks by Jewish Pennsylvania
Gov. Josh Shapiro, among others.

The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was a response to
the Nazi eff ort to deport Jews to the Majdanek and
Treblinka death camps. Jews used Molotov cocktails
and hand grenades to ambush Nazi offi cers and
soldiers. In the end, SS commander Jurgen Stroop
ordered the burning of the ghetto, killing 13,000 Jews.

Stroop later estimated that only 17 Nazis died in the
fi ghting. But the Jews knew what the result would be.

The point was to fi ght.

“It wasn’t like all Jews just went down like sheep
getting slaughtered,” Holtzman said. “The Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising represents the fi rst instance of fi ght-
ing back and the largest instance of fi ghting back.”
That is important to remember in a time of rising
antisemitism, according to Holtzman.

“Right now, we’re seeing a major uptick in
Polish Jews captured by Germans during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
antisemitism and all forms of bigotry. It’s very uncom-
fortable,” he said. “It’s important to send a message
that even during a time of the greatest hate against
the Jewish people, some Jews found the strength to
fi ght back against it.”
As Holtzman explained, Israel commemorates the
moment when Jews fought back, while the U.N. remem-
bers the day when the rest of the world liberated
Auschwitz. He called those diff erent interpretations
“very interesting.” His grandfather was liberated from
Auschwitz, so he sees both interpretations as import-
ant. But American Jews too often see it like the rest of
the world and forget that their people fought back.

“I would consider those people to be heroes,”
Holtzman said. “They were saying we’re going to go
out standing up for our community.”
Zev Eleff , the president of Gratz College and a
scholar of American Jewish history, said that, after the
Holocaust, Americans were more likely to embrace
the survivor narrative and discussion of the Shoah.

Israelis preferred the resistance narrative. Many survi-
vors who went to Israel even hid their numbers. That
is why, in the United States, Yom HaShoah is often just
called Yom HaShoah, with the descriptor of bravery
taken off at the end of the name.

“Many Jews who do observe Yom HaShoah do
so not fully aware of its association with the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising,” Eleff said.

But they must become aware, he added.

“What’s the reason to attach it? Agency,” Eleff
concluded. Rabbi Lance Sussman, also an American
Jewish historian and the rabbi emeritus at Reform
Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, views
resistance as a major part of Holocaust history in
general. “Going to your death with dignity is a form of resis-
tance. But we tend to see them as passive martyrs.

There are all types of forms of resistance,” he said.

Moving forward, Sussman would like to see
Holocaust education emphasize resistance as much
as remembrance.

“It’s a question of balance and as best as possible
to see things comprehensively,” he said. “We need to
teach it. We need to teach it in the Jewish community.

And we need to push that in general society.” ■
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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