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When the Jews facing extermination fought back: Haunting new images of doomed Warsaw Ghetto uprising are revealed to mark 70th anniversary
PUBLISHED:08:40 EST, 16 April 2013| UPDATED:11:03 EST, 17 April 2013
A large proportion of Polish schoolchildren are openly anti-Semitic, a shocking new survey suggests today.
The study, carried out at schools across the capital Warsaw, showed more than 60 per cent of those asked would be 'unhappy' if they discovered their boyfriend or girlfriend was Jewish.
The poll was commissioned by the city's Jewish leaders to mark this Friday’s 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, where hundreds of ghetto dwellers were slaughtered attempting to fight back against the Nazis.
But one in four said they thought the uprising in 1943 had actually been a 'success'.
Shocking: A quarter of Polish schoolchildren believe the Warsaw ghetto uprising (above) where thousands of Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis was successful
Worrying findings: The poll was commissioned by the city's Jewish leaders to mark this Friday's 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising
Rounded up: The Uprising began on April 19, 1943, led by a less than 1,000 Jewish resistance fighters, but was crushed by Hitler less than a month later
Ethnic cleansing: Nazi occupiers established Warsaw's ghetto in October 1940 to put Jewish occupants into a controlled zone away from the general population
Researchers also found that 45 per cent of the city’s students would be 'unhappy' if a family member turned out to be Jewish, with 44 per cent saying they wouldn’t want a Jewish neighbour and another 40 per cent saying they wouldn’t want to go to school with a Jew.
The students surveyed also showed a dismal lack of knowledge about their city’s Jewish history with almost all of them saying they thought Warsaw’s pre-war Jewish population was 18 percent, when in fact every third resident of the city was Jewish.
And the poll, commissioned ahead of the Ghetto Uprising’s 70th anniversary, showed an appalling lack of knowledge about the events.
Nazi occupiers established Warsaw's Jewish Ghetto in October 1940.
The Uprising began on April 19, 1943, led by fewer than 1,000 Jewish resistance fighters.
Herded to their deaths: Around 13,000 Jews were killed in the uprising, while more than 300,000 had already been sent to the extermination camp at Treblinka
Surrender: Armed with smuggled and homemade weapons, around 750 Jews staged revolts against Nazi soldiers carrying out transportations to death camps
On death row: Upon liquidation of the ghetto by German troops, 7,000 Jews were shot and the remaining 49,000 survivors were deported to concentration camps
'Historical awareness extremely poor': Despite this being the largest single revolt by Jews against the Nazis, a third of students couldn¿t say when the uprising began
By the time it had been crushed by the Nazis on 16 May, around 13,000 Jews had been killed. More than 300,000 Jews from the ghetto had already been sent to the extermination camp at Treblinka.
The 56,000 remaining Jews were shipped to concentration and extermination camps, in particular to Treblinka.
SS officer Jürgen Stroop who led the attack against the Jewish insurgents reported on 16 May, 1943: '180 Jews, bandits and sub-humans, were destroyed.
'The former Jewish quarter of Warsaw is no longer in existence. The large-scale action was terminated at 20:15 hours by blowing up the Warsaw Synagogue.
Keeping watch: Officers of the Jewish Ghetto Police or Jewish Order Service in the Warsaw Ghetto, who were an auxiliary police unit operating under Nazi jurisdiction
'Lack of historical consciousness': 40 per cent said they thought the uprising was utlimately won by the Jews, while nine per cent thought outside help was 'far too high'
Prejudiced: The study, carried out at schools across the capital Warsaw, showed more than 60 per cent of those asked would be 'unhappy' if they discovered their boyfriend or girlfriend was Jewish
Ignorant: The poll was carried out carried out by public opinion researchers Homo Homini in March this year on 1,250 high school students
'Total number of Jews dealt with 56,065, including both Jews caught and Jews whose extermination can be proved. ... Apart from 8 buildings (police barracks, hospital, and accommodations for housing working-parties) the former Ghetto is completely destroyed.
'Only the dividing walls are left standing where no explosions were carried out.'
Yet despite this being the largest single revolt by Jews against the Nazis, a third of the students surveyed couldn’t say when the Uprising began, and 40 per cent said they thought it was a victory which the Jewish resistance won. Nine per cent said they thought outside help was 'far too high'.
Dr Michal Bilewicz, from Poland’s Centre for the Research of Prejudice at Warsaw University, said: 'The historical awareness of Warsaw’s high school students is extremely poor, which is unfortunately a reflection on the standard of teaching in our schools.
'And this lack of historical consciousness and awareness explains their aversion to modern Jews.'
The poll was carried out carried out by public opinion researchers Homo Homini in March this year on a representative 1,250 high school students.
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