The Florida Holocaust Museum: History, Heritage and Hope Permanent ExhibitionMain MenuIntroductionAntisemitismJewish Life Prior to WWIIOther VictimsNazis in PowerThe Rising Tide of HateGhettoization and Final SolutionThe CampsResistance: Fighting BackLiberationAftermathPortraits of Courage & SacrificeLessons for TodayAcknowledgementsThe Florida Holocaust Museum
Warsaw residents read German leaflet
12017-05-01T19:17:06-04:00Anonymous122In spite of extreme terror, Poland had one of the largest underground resistance movements in Europe, which actively opposed the Nazis throughout the war. Its largest operation was the Warsaw Uprising (Aug. 1, 1944 - Oct. 2, 1944), which was quashed by the Germans after 63 days of fighting. Over 180,000 civilians and over 18,000 insurgents were killed. Surviving residents of Warsaw were forced to leave the city and sent to labor and concentration camps. In the picture: a group of residents read a German leaflet.plain2017-12-05T16:47:02-05:00Image courtesy of the Warsaw Rising Museum.Anonymous
12017-02-23T10:57:09-05:00Poles20plain2020-03-29T15:08:10-04:00The invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 marked the beginning of World War II. In order to prevent resistance, the Nazis targeted Polish political, religious, and intellectual leadership. Tens of thousands of members of the intelligentsia, clergymen, teachers, and others were murdered in mass executions or sent to prisons and concentration camps. The rest of society was to play the role of uneducated laborers. The Nazis closed or destroyed museums, libraries, schools and universities. However, clandestine teaching and other forms of active resistance prevailed. According to most recent research nearly two million Poles lost their lives during World War II. .Hitler's pretext for military expansion eastward was the "need" for more Lebensraum (living space) for the German nation. On the eve of the invasion of Poland, he reportedly stated in a meeting of high officials:
I have issued the command and I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by firing squad - that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly, I have placed my death-head formations in readiness - for the present only in the East - with orders to send to death mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish derivation and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space that we need.
