POLAND-ANNIVERSARY/WARSAW UPRISING Warsaw commemorates 71st anniversary of WWII Uprising

Record ID: 145190

  • Title: POLAND-ANNIVERSARY/WARSAW UPRISING Warsaw commemorates 71st anniversary of WWII Uprising
  • Date: 3rd August 2015
  • Summary: PEOPLE SINGING SCOUTS SINGING SONG BOOK
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADGNSZB2JWGOXXTNTHLL0FB8TH
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Poland on Saturday (August 1) commemorated the 71st anniversary of the 1944 Warsaw uprising across the country's capital.
    At 1700 (1500GMT), sirens around the Warsaw to mark the "W" hour, the time when on August 1, 1944, Polish resistance fighters attempted to overthrow the Nazi occupiers.
    Modern day residents of the capital took part in the long-standing tradition of holding a minute's silence, interrupting their activities to show their solidarity with insurgents who died 71 years ago.
    Drivers stopped their cars and got out as part of a city-wide standstill.
    "Everybody in Warsaw stops at 17:00 (1500 GMT) on August 1 because they want honour the memory of those insurgents who, 71 years ago, in '44 took arms and rose up against our German occupiers," Warsaw resident Sylwia said.
    After "W" hour, further events were held to commemorate the WWII battle for the city. Thousands of Warsaw residents rode or walked in the Memory March, many of them processing under the "P" emblem of the Polish Underground State.
    For many years, on August 1, the city has also held gatherings where residents join together to sing insurgent songs. The songs were banned by the Nazis and singing was punishable by death. 71 years ago, the cheerful songs gave courage to young insurgents, whose fight for freedom was commemorated by modern attendees.
    "This is like building a community to celebrate the memory of these people who gave their lives for us to be free today," Warsaw resident Janina said.
    For 63 days from August 1, 1944, Warsaw resistance fighters fought to hold the city. During this time over 100 newspapers were issued, all under political titles, and the "Palladium" cinema screened newsreels documenting the events.
    "Every way of restoring history or remembering is good. If it is recalling songs sung by insurgents in their toil, blood and sweat, then I definitely say yes," Warsaw resident Marcin said.
    "I think it is better than laying flowers and crying over the graves of people who died, because it does not give them anything anymore. But if they see from somewhere what is happening here, they are probably proud," another attendee, Kuba, said.
    On Sunday (August 2) commemorations continued as scouts, reenactment groups and veterans took part in special mass celebrated in the gardens of Warsaw Uprising Museum.
    Large numbers also turned out to visit places marking the events of 1944. Throughout the city there are hundreds of plaques commemorating the tragic moments of the uprising.
    On August 1, 1944 thousands of poorly-armed Warsaw residents rose up against the German Nazi forces to take control of the city ahead of the advancing Soviet army.
    The uprising infuriated Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, who ordered the destruction of the city. Germans sent in their elite SS troops, bombed the city from the air, pounded it with heavy artillery and used civilians as human shields. Civilians were routinely executed - 150,000 died, 165,000 were sent to labour camps and a further 350,000 displaced. The Red Army stood idle across the Wisla river, at one point several hundred metres from heavy fighting, and did not allow Western allies to use its airfields for airlifts.
    The Warsaw Uprising collapsed after 63 days, leaving the city in ruins and historians divided about whether the insurgency should have been launched in the first place.
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