On this day in 1943, the largest Jewish revolt during WWII began when Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto attacked Nazis attempting to deport them to death camps. Nazis razed the entire ghetto block by block, killing more than 7,000 and deporting 42,000.

The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest Jewish ghetto in German-occupied Europe, housing approximately 400,000 Jews in 1940. In 1942, Nazi police and military carried out mass deportations, in total around 265,000 Jews, from the Warsaw Ghetto to the Treblinka killing center. By early 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto's population was down to 70,000 - 80,000.

In 1942, it was abundantly clear to the residents of the Warsaw Ghetto that deportation was a death sentence. Two armed resistance groups were formed that year - the left-wing Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa; ŻOB) and the Zionist Jewish Military Union (Żydowski Związek Wojskowy; ŻZW).

On April 19th, 1943, the eve of Passover, Nazis attempted another mass deportation. ŻOB had received advance notice, however, and 700 young Jewish fighters met the Nazi police with resistance.

The rebels lacked formal military training and were poorly equipped, but had the advantage of waging a guerilla war, retreating to the safety of ghetto buildings and tunnels after attacking. Non-armed residents also resisted by refusing to cooperate with police by refusing to assemble at collection points.

In response, the Nazi forces, armed with artillery and tanks, began razing the ghetto block by block. According to Benjamin Meed, a Jew hiding in the "Aryan" part of Warsaw at the time, the entire sky was red from the ghetto's destruction.

Resistance lasted for approximately a month. On May 8th, 1943, German forces succeeded in seizing ŻOB headquarters, and many of the group's commanders are thought to have committed suicide to avoid capture.

Approximately 7,000 Jews while fighting or hiding during the uprising. Police deported approximately 42,000 survivors who were captured during the revolt, most of whom were shot to death in the Nazi "Operation Harvest Festival" (Erntefest). Many Jews (one estimate suggests 20,000) evaded capture and continued to hide in the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Resisters knew that the uprising was likely doomed, but chose to fight anyway. Marek Edelman, the only surviving ŻOB commander, stated that the inspiration to fight back was "not to allow the Germans alone to pick the time and place of our deaths".

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  • DyingOfDeBordom [none/use name]
    ·
    9 months ago

    I love being like a good cook that knows things. One of the MUCH older MUCH more experienced cooks was making a vegan butter sauce for me today and I knew he'd use canned diced tomatoes because why wouldn't he? but i needed tomatoes for another recipe so I did for him what I do when i need diced tomatoes: pulsed a bunch of cherry tomatoes and a couple roma tomatoes through the food processor

    He commented later on about how good of an idea it was and how it added so much flavor like he'd literally never thought of it before

    CANNED DICED TOMATOES SUCK ASS, NEVER USE THEM. Like they shouldn't exist. There's never ever ever a reason to use them. Just use crushed tomatoes instead! It'll be 5x better. That's assuming you can't be bourgie and spend on cherry tomatoes, which is ideal

    Canned diced tomatoes are just so utterly fucking flavorless

    • GinAndJuche
      ·
      9 months ago

      Canned crushed and canned dice are the same price. No excuse

    • PaX [comrade/them, they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      I am not a cook and the most involved thing I make usually is spaghetti and even I can attest to the fact that canned diced tomatoes are bland as hell

      Tastes like salt and cellulose

    • chicory [he/him]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Thanks for the tip, I usually throw a can of diced tomatoes into chili but next time I will try crushed

      • DyingOfDeBordom [none/use name]
        ·
        9 months ago

        OR actually dice some roma tomatoes! I mean yeah it takes more time but imo it's worth it. But yeah, I think crushed is the way to go if you're using canned. I think the flavor in the diced tomatoes just leeches out into the surrounding liquid so they're just flavorless and only add texture. Also definitely add some tomato paste, it's more cooked (esp if you fry it a bit with the meat/veg before you add liquid to the chili) and has a more savory caramelized flavor!