Juergen Stroop

‘We knew we couldn’t win. We fought so we could die with dignity.’ Harrowing words of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising survivor a powerful reminder of heroism in adversity on 79th anniversary of doomed resistance

The awareness that the Germans were striving for the total extermination of Jews changed the character of Jewish resistance. Under no illusions about what the Germans were planning to do to them, ghetto residents began to build tunnels, bunkers and shelters. In total, about a thousand poorly armed insurgents took part in the fighting. Set against them were more than two thousand Wehrmacht, SS and Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Latvian auxiliary units with armoured vehicles and artillery.