Israel launched today its official commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto revolt with the blowing of sirens for two minutes during which all Israeli activity was halted and virtually the entire Jewish population of the country stood silent, head bowed.
Unofficially, the observance started last night, when all places of public entertainment–theaters, motion picture houses, night clubs–and many stores refrained from opening after the usual Sabbath closing. Streets were half-dark. Here and in Israel’s other principal cities–in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and elsewhere–crowds walked the semi-lighted streets in silence. This morning, when the sirens sounded, all traffic halted, factory machines were stopped, offices and schools were quiet, the country was in deep mourning.
A message issued over the weekend by President Izhak Ben-Zvi–his last words before he became gravely ill (see report on page 1 story)–described the Warsaw Ghetto uprising as “the high point in the heroism of Jewish youth during one of the darkest periods in the history of our people.” “Six million of our brethren, “stated the President’s message, “whose memory is inscribed in our hearts, command us to life. Let us in love and thanksgiving carry their cherished memories forever.”
Minister of Labor Yigael Allon, addressing a commemorative service last night at Yad Vashem, warned: “We dare not forget and we cannot forgive a nation of murderers. For he who forgives so heinous a crime, invites a repetition of this crime.”
KNESSET HOLDS COMMEMORATIVE SESSION; WORLD’S SILENCE SCORED
A special commemorative session was held this morning by the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. In attendance were the members of the Cabinet, justices of the Supreme Court, officials and members of the Jewish Agency executive–and six “righteous Gentiles.” These six–four from Poland and one each from Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia–are non-Jews who aided Jews during the holocaust. They live now in Israel.
After the two-minute period of silence, Speaker Kaddish Luz told the House; “We shall remember. We shall remember the annihilated Jewish communities and our people in Europe murdered by the German Nazis. Every Jew must remember and remind the world of the shame that man placed on the human world, and remind the world that, when it knew what was being perpetrated, it did nothing. There was a conspiracy of silence. Not a word of warning was sounded. The Red Cross, so active on behalf of prisoners of war, did nothing. The Christian churches were silent. Not a single papal encyclical was published, and governments were silent–no word came even from the Bermuda conference of the allies in 1943.”
“This lack of any reaction,” noted Mr. Luz, “served as encouragement to the Nazis. Even in the days when the Nazi regime began tottering, there came no action except from the remnants of Jews.” Quoting from the diaries left by Ghetto inmates, Mr. Luz said: “The Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto displayed a great inner light in the midst of their suffering. The courage shown by the Warsaw Ghetto fighters was a signal for uprisings in other ghettoes.”
Atop Mount Zion, a monument dedicated to the martyrs of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising was unveiled. The memorial consists of a replica of the Warsaw Ghetto wall, made from Jerusalem stone, surrounded by a circular structure on which have been hung remnants of Torah scrolls desecrated by the Nazis. The monument had been commissioned by the Warsaw Immigrants Association of Israel.
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