On April 19, 1943, the remaining Jews of the Warsaw ghetto launched their final act of armed resistance.
For 27 days, these ill-equipped Jewish fighters held out against the Germans. At least 7,000 died in the fighting, and 42,000 were deported following the ghetto’s destruction. This year marks the 80th anniversary of what came to be known as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. It was the largest and, symbolically, most important Jewish uprising during the war. It was also the first urban uprising in German-occupied Europe.
In 1951, the Israeli Knesset established Yom HaShoah. Commemorating this act of resistance was deeply important to our own survivor community. They began a Yom HaShoah memorial service that continues to this day and commissioned a memorial both to remember those they had lost and to celebrate the heroism of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the dedication of this memorial.
The community Yom HaShoah service will take place on April 16 at 1:30 p.m. in The White Theatre at the Jewish Community Campus in Overland Park. It is chaired by Jonathan Jacobs, son of Holocaust survivor Judy Jacobs.
In reflecting on the importance of coming together as a community to remember the Holocaust, Jacobs said, “We remember the Shoah not only as a tribute to the millions in our families that were murdered, but also as a reminder to be vigilant that this never happens again. In less than 10 years, Nazis escalated their antisemitism from Kristallnacht to the systematic murder of Jews, but we recognize that many other groups were also vulnerable. Today we witness celebrities and politicians openly spewing distressing bigotry and people being murdered of the basis of religion, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.”
The Yom HaShoah commemoration is free and open to the public. Members of the community who are not able to attend in person are invited to watch the livestream event on the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education’s YouTube channel (MCHE Kansas City) beginning at 1:30 p.m. that day.
The commemoration’s organizing agencies are Jewish Community Relations Bureau|AJC, Jewish Community Center, and MCHE. Yom HaShoah sponsors include Congregation Beth Shalom, Congregation Beth Shalom Sisterhood, Congregation BIAV, Hadassah Greater Kansas City, Jewish Community Foundation, Jewish Vocational Service, Jewish War Veterans, KC AIPAC, Kehilath Israel Synagogue, Menorah Heritage Foundation, Rabbinical Association of Greater Kansas City, and The New Reform Temple.
