The Anielewicz Bunker ( Polish: ''Bunkier Anielewicza''), also known as the Anielewicz Mount ( Polish: ''Kopiec Anielewicza'') was the headquarters and hidden shelter of the Jewish Combat Organization (ŻOB), a Jewish resistance group in the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

in Poland during the Nazi German occupation of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Background

In October 1940, the governor of Nazi German-occupied Warsaw ordered city officials to begin construction of a ghetto for Jews in an area of Warsaw formerly used for quarantine during epidemics; it was completed on 15 November 1940. The initial population of Jews confined to the ghetto was 400,000. All windows, doors, and other exits to the rest of Warsaw were bricked up. From July to October 1942, over 310,300 Jews were removed from the ghetto, for transport to concentration camps or due to death. From 17 April 1943 to 18 May 1943, SS Brigadefuehrer Jürgen Stroop reported to SS-Obergruppenfuehrer and General of Police Krueger that 56,065 of the remaining Jews of the Warsaw ghetto were deported to death camps or exterminated by gunshot, explosion, fire, or asphyxiation.

The Warsaw Ghetto uprising

The bunker at Miła 18 was initially constructed by a group of Polish partisans and armed underground resistance fighters against the Germans. Note: Bandit was the word used by the Germans for Polish partisans and armed underground fighters. They were joined there by the ŻOB fighters after their hideout, at 29 Miła Street, had been discovered. On 8 May 1943, three weeks after the start of the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the ...

, when the bunker beneath 18 Mila Street was found by the Nazis, there were around 300 people living there. The bunker had six exits. From the Stroop Report, 7 May 1943: The armed resistance fighters surrendered, but the ŻOB command, including Mordechaj Anielewicz, the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, stood firm. The Nazis threw

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

into the shelter to force the occupants out. Anielewicz, his girlfriend Mira Fuchrer and many of his staff committed

mass suicide Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts ...

by ingesting poison rather than surrender, though a group of about 30 eluded the SS by escaping through the only un-blocked door of the six. They crawled through the Ghetto through a sewer until able to emerge near Prosta Street to the "Aryan side" of Warsaw on May 10, 1943. From the Stroop Report, 8 May 1943:

Remembrance

In July 1945, survivors of the Jewish Underground (among them Simcha Rotem) visited the ruins above the former ZOB command bunker. The ruins were not built over, so as "not to disturb what is recognized as a grave site by the Jewish community". In 1946, the monument known as Anielewicz Mound, made of the rubble of Miła Street houses, was erected. A commemorative stone inscribed in Polish and

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

was placed on top of the mound. In 2006, a new obelisk designed by Hanna Szmalenberg and Marek Moderau was added to the memorial. The inscription in Polish, English and Yiddish reads: The names of 51 Jewish fighters whose identities have been established by historians are engraved on the front of the obelisk. Non-invasive surveys confirming subsurface evidence of the bunker and tunnel systems were carried out in 2021 by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. The current numbering of the buildings on Mila Street does not correspond to the wartime numbering. The memorial is now located at the intersection of Miła and Dubois Streets while the current Miła 18 is an apartment block about 700 metres to the west.

Jewish fighters who died at Miła 18

Obelisk Anielewicz Mound 18 Mila Street in Warsaw

* Chaim Akerman * Małka Alterman * Mordechaj Anielewicz * Nate Bartmeser * Heniek Bartowicz * Franka Berman * Tosia Berman * Icchak Blaustein * Melach Błones * Berl Braude * Icchak Chadasz * Nesia Cukier * Icchak Dembiński * Józef Fass * Efraim Fondamiński * Towa Frenkel * Emus Frojnd * Mira Fuchrer * Wolf Gold * Miriam Hajnsdorf * Aron Halzband * Rut Hejman * Mira Izbicka * Salke Kamień * Ziuta Klejnman * Jaffa Lewender * Lolek (''first name only'') * Sewek Nulman * Abraham Orwacz * Rywka Pasamonik * Majloch Perelman * Aron Rajzband * Lutek Rotblat * Miriam Rotblat * Jardena Rozenberg * Salka (''first name only'') * Jerzy Sarnak * Szmuel Sobol * Basia Sylman * Szyja Szpancer * Moniek Sztengel * Szulamit Szuszkowska * Mojsze Waksfeld * Olek Wartowicz * Icchak Wichter * Arie Wilner * Zeew Wortman * Hirsz Wroński * Rachelka Zylberberg * Moszek Zylbertszajn * Sara Żagiel

References

External links

Images of Graves of the Fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

pp. 17-39 (2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mila 18 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising World War II monuments and memorials in Warsaw Suicide in World War II Jewish resistance during the Holocaust Jewish history in Warsaw Mass suicides Warsaw Uprising monuments and memorials Polish resistance during World War II Warsaw Ghetto Uprising insurgents Muranów (City Information System area)