The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously adopted a concurrent resolution today honoring the uprising by the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto 25 years ago. The resolution was offered by Rep. Emanuel Celler, New York Democrat, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
It declares “that it is the sense of Congress to recognize and acknowledge the world significance of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising as a reaffirmation of the ineradicable determination to fight for freedom from oppression and that Congress joins in commemorating on April 25 the 25th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazi occupation forces by the beleaguered and outnumbered Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto.”
Rep. Celler later officially opened an exhibit commemorating the ghetto struggle at the international headquarters building of B’nai B’rith. He said at a ceremony there that it was “sadly ironic that Warsaw, the very city that saw so heroic a manifestation of man’s indomitable spirit, is now once again the scene of anti-Semitic outrages perpetrated in the name of a different brand of totalitarianism.” He presented the first copy of the newly-adopted Congressional resolution to B’nai B’rith for its archives.
Poland’s anti-Jewish campaign was also condemned by Rabbi Jay Kaufman, executive vice-president of B’nai B’rith. The Rabbi accused the Polish Communist regime of “making a mockery” of the heroism of the ghetto fighters. He said Polish authorities have “indulged in shocking distortions of history with propaganda statements that few Jews were engaged in the epic struggle.” He said that Polish distortions “juggle history with a tyrant’s abandon and ignore the fact that the Jewish fighters’ organization and the ghetto remnants of Polish Jewry in Cracow, Bialystok, Wilna, and other cities were denied arms or any meaningful assistance by leaders of the Polish underground or government in exile.” The exhibit contains 150 photographs and documents compiled by Yivo Institute for Jewish Research.
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