Page 31 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana. Edelman. The Man

‘Despite the terror, despite the horrible
hunger – I’m not going to remind you
of things which are widely known –
people were trying to live like people

do: there were artistic soirées, literary
works and artworks were created,
a variety of underground life was

organised. The atmosphere [thus]
created brought forth our self-defence;
some called it an uprising, and others –
a fight for dignity…’

Marek
Edelman

22 July 1942 marked the beginning of massive deportations
from the ghetto. People were expelled from their houses
and corralled to Umschlagplatz, a cargo handling square
at the corner of Stawki and Dzika Streets, from where the
trains to Treblinka departed. Adam Czerniaków, head of
the Judenrat, unable to bear the thought of issuing an
order which would send the ghetto inmates to their death,
committed suicide on July 23. However, many people did
not believe that the deportation to the east was a death
sentence.
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An announcement issued by the Warsaw Jewish Council by German order
on 22 June 1942. It commenced the Great Action of deporting the inmates of
the Warsaw ghetto to the extermination camp in Treblinka. Public domain