[To
NBC]
Your
information about the program "Uprising" includes the following���������
statement:�������������������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������������������������������
"Against
impossible odds, [the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto] hold off the�������
German
army longer than the entire country of Poland."�����������������������
�����������������������������������������������������������������������������
One
must wonder what is behind this gratuitous statement. In fact, the�������
Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising lasted from April 19 till May 16, 1943, that is�������
twenty-seven
days, whereas Poland, abandoned by its British and French�������
allies
and invaded by Germany on September 1, 1939, and by the Soviet��������
Union
on September 17, 1939, did not [militarily capitulate] until October 5,���
1939,
that is thirty-five days later, and even then fought on in Europe's����
most
extensive underground resistance against the German occupation.���������
Moreover,
a comparison between the street fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto����
and the
Polish military forces, which of course included Polish citizens���
of
Jewish origin, seems highly inappropriate. If a comparison is����� ������
necessary,
it would be more appropriate to mention that the Warsaw���������
Uprising,
which began on August 1, 1944, which engulfed the whole city and�
its
population, lasted sixty-three days, more than twice as long as the����
Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising. But what is the point of such a comparison? It can�
only be
made by someone who wishes to demean the heroism of the Jewish�����
fighters
of the Warsaw Ghetto. One suspects that such was the motivation���
for the
false claim that they fought "longer than the entire country of����
Poland."�������������������������������������������������������������������
���������������������������������������������������������������������������
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John J.
Kulczycki
Department
of History (MC 198)
University
of Illinois at Chicago