2023-04-19 06:25:00
The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is organizing the Daffodils social and educational campaign for the eleventh time. It is a form of commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – the largest Jewish uprising during World War II.
The Daffodils campaign is part of the year-round program of celebrations organized by the POLIN Museum under the slogan “Don’t be indifferent”. “Only until April 14, libraries, schools and institutions from all over Poland can apply for the campaign,” Olga Gawerska from the POLIN press office told PAP. The Ambassadors of the Daffodils campaign this year were joined by: Bartosz Gelner, Ralph Kamiński, Wanda Traczyk-Stawska, Aleksandra Żebrowska, and volunteers: Patrycja, Kacper and Zygmunt.
The invitation of the Museum was also accepted by the Granica Group, which in its activities implements the commandment “Don’t be indifferent”, recalled by Marian Turski. This is what Marian Turski appealed during the celebrations taking place on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp in 2020. This attitude is close to Mrs. Wanda Traczyk-Stawska, the Ambassador of this year’s action – a participant in the Warsaw Uprising, which broke out a year after the ghetto uprising: “In my opinion, every person has their own dignity. Regardless of skin color; on where it is; on where he was born. Being willing to help others is one thing. But apart from that: don’t stand still, don’t look, just give help right away – immediately when it’s needed’, says the Ambassador.
Hanna Krall is the Honorary Ambassador of the Daffodils campaign. Based on the writer’s reportage, the POLIN Museum has prepared an animation for pupils and schoolgirls entitled “Make Time Before God” – its premiere will take place on April 19 on the YouTube channel. “Eighty years ago, an uprising broke out in the Warsaw Ghetto. At that time, 50,000 people were hiding in the ghetto. Among them was 11-year-old Krystyna Budnicka. Its silent resistance was as important as the insurgents’ struggle. On April 19, let’s show that we are united by the memory of all of them and put on a daffodil,” encourages Bartosz Gelner, one of the Ambassadors of this year’s campaign.
For the first time in the history of the Daffodils campaign, volunteers will distribute paper flowers also outside of Warsaw. On the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the action will also take place in Łódź, Kraków, Wrocław, Białystok and Lublin. On April 19, we will meet volunteers on the streets of these cities thanks to cooperation with the “Grodzka Gate, NN Theatre” Center in Lublin, the Dialogue Center of Marek Edelman in Łódź, Urban Memory Foundation in Wrocław, JCC in Kraków and Centrum im. Ludwik Zamenhof in Bialystok. “In total, over three thousand volunteers will take to the streets in Poland to give passers-by paper daffodils – a symbol of memory of the heroines and heroes of the ghetto uprising. Together, we want to distribute 450,000 paper flowers. This number symbolizes the number of Jewish men and women who were locked up in the Warsaw ghetto at the time of its greatest overcrowding – in the spring of 1941,” says Zofia Bojańczyk, coordinator of the Daffodils campaign.
On the day the uprising broke out on April 19, Pesach, there were only 50,000 people in the ghetto. Among them were 20-year-old Mietek Pachter, 21-year-old Mira Piżyc and 11-year-old Hena Kuczer (Krystyna Budnicka). They did not belong to the fighters – like many other inhabitants of the ghetto. Their resistance, however, was just as important as the one with the gun in hand. What happened to tens of thousands of people who went underground during the uprising and remained elusive for many days? The answer to this question can be found in the POLIN Museum program in April, and throughout the year.
The program of events on April 16-22 – in-store and online includes, among others: looking at the other side of the Monument to the “Heroes of the Ghetto” in Warsaw – less exposed and less known. The program will include concerts: in Warsaw – “Memory connects” (premiere of Hani Rani’s work written for the 80th anniversary with the Sinfonia Varsovia Orchestra) and a symphonic concert in Tel Aviv at the seat of the Israeli Philharmonic under the baton of the outstanding Polish conductor Łukasz Borowicz. Moreover, there will be: a meeting with Krystyna Budnicka, a witness to history, one of the last surviving survivors of the Warsaw Ghetto, and a ceremonial naming of the Kuczer Family (Mrs. Budnicka’s family) to the square at ul. Anielewicza 10. The POLIN Museum will also invite you to an evening with Hanna Krall and Mariusz Szczygieł, and the program will also include the premieres of new short films (including the animated film “Make Time Before God” based on the writer’s reportage). The culmination of the museum celebrations will be the opening of the temporary exhibition “A sea of fire around us. The Fate of Jewish Civilians During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”. The author of the exhibition concept is prof. Barbara Engelking, director of the Center for Holocaust Research of the IFiS PAN, and curator – Zuzanna Schnepf-Kołacz from the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The co-organizer of the exhibition is the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland. From 9 to 23 April, a mural designed by Adam Walas will be on display at the Centrum subway station, commemorating the civilians in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Uprising. It is a visual story about the heroes of the temporary exhibition “A sea of fire around us”.
The POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews invites you to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in social media using hashtags: #ŁączyNasPamięć and #AkcjaŻonkile.
According to Marta Dziewulska, POLIN Museum spokesperson, recruitment for the Daffodils Campaign for schools, libraries and institutions all over Poland is still open until April 14. Each year, the campaign is accompanied by a package of educational materials. On the 80th anniversary of its establishment, the POLIN Museum provides new proposals that will help schools, libraries and institutions all over Poland join the celebrations. “All materials are supplemented with lesson plans that will facilitate conducting classes on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. For each person and institution submitted for the campaign, POLIN Museum also organizes online training on the possibility of using the proposed educational materials. “Due to our this year’s literary and film premieres, I strongly encourage libraries to apply and jointly organize events as part of the celebration,” invites Zofia Bojańczyk from the POLIN Museum, director of the Daffodils campaign.
On the initiative of the President of the Capital City of Rafał Trzaskowski of Warsaw, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, POLIN Museum will produce 150,000 additional (in addition to the 450,000 that will be distributed in Poland) paper flowers. They will go to Jewish communities and organizations around the world. The initiative was supported by Ronald S. Lauder, chairman of the World Jewish Congress and member of the POLIN Museum Council. The World Jewish Congress will be a partner in these activities. Together with the daffodils, the above-mentioned organizations in the world will also receive a letter inviting them to join the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Uprising and a brochure, thanks to which foreign recipients will get to know the socio-educational campaign Daffodils better.
In 1940, the Germans put a wall around part of the center of Warsaw and crowded there almost half a million Jews from the capital and the surrounding area. Those imprisoned in the ghetto died of hunger, disease, slave labor and were killed in executions. In the summer of 1942, the Great Liquidation Action was organized. The Germans transported nearly 300,000 Jews from the ghetto to the extermination center in Treblinka. Among those who remained, the idea of armed resistance was born. On April 19, 1943, two thousand Germans entered the ghetto to finally liquidate it. They were opposed by several hundred young people from the underground Jewish Fighting Organization (ŻOB) and the Jewish Military Union (ŻZW). The insurgents, under the command of Mordechaj Anielewicz, were exhausted and poorly armed. Many knew they had no chance, but preferred to die fighting to save their dignity.
The remaining inhabitants of the ghetto, about 50,000 civilians, hid in hiding places and bunkers for many weeks. Despite despair, loneliness, hunger, thirst and fear, they fought for every “day, hour, minute”. Their silent resistance was as important as the one with a gun in their hand. They remained elusive for many days – they went underground and did not obey the Germans’ orders. For four weeks, the Germans razed the ghetto to the ground, burning house after house. Captured fighters and residents were killed or transported to camps. On May 8, Anielewicz and several dozen insurgents were surrounded and committed suicide. Few Jews managed to get out of the burning ghetto through the sewers. On May 16, as a sign of victory, the Germans blew up the Great Synagogue at ul. Tłomackie. The Warsaw Ghetto ceased to exist. Only a few hiding Jews remained in its ruins. “Gruzowiecki” struggled with the lack of water and food. They died of exhaustion and disease, shot by the Germans. Few managed to get to the other side of the wall. The last left the “ghetto cemetery” in January 1944. (PAP)
by Anna Bernat
abe/ aszw/
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