Even with their lives on the line, these Jews stood up to the Nazis

Even with their lives on the line, these Jews stood up to the Nazis. 

Nearly half a million Jews had been trapped inside the Warsaw ghetto since fall 1940, living and dying in terrible conditions. Over the following years, hundreds of thousands were sent to be killed. In the winter of 1943, sensing that the Nazis wanted to deport everyone left in the ghetto, Jewish resistance forces planned to fight back.

#OnThisDay in 1943, their armed resistance against the Nazis began.

Armed with pistols, homemade grenades, and a few automatic weapons, about 700 ghetto fighters—mostly young adults—held off Nazi forces for 27 days.

The Nazis were shocked by the strength of their resistance. Eventually, Nazi forces took back control of the ghetto by burning it down block by block. 

By the end of the uprising, more than 7,000 Jews had been killed. Nearly 50,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps and killing centers where most were killed.

As the first large Jewish armed uprising during World War II, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising inspired resistance in other ghettos, eventually spreading to concentration camps and killing centers across Nazi-occupied Europe. 

Photo: National Archives