Warsaw Ghetto Uprising marked on 80th anniversary

WARSAW, POLAND >> Sirens wailed and church bells rang as the presidents of Germany, Israel and Poland bowed their heads Wednesday before a memorial to Jewish insurgents who fought a mismatched, desperate battle against Nazi German forces in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Celebrations of the uprising’s 80th anniversary honored the hundreds of young Jews who took up arms in the Polish capital in 1943, choosing to fight and die at a time and place not dictated by the Nazis. Most were killed, and none of those who survived the fighting are still alive.

“I stand before you today and ask for forgiveness,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said at the site of the former ghetto.

“The appalling crimes that Germans committed here fill me with deep shame. But at the same time it fills me with gratitude and humility that I can take part in this commemoration as the first German head of state ever.”