In early August, Poland marked 80 years since the outbreak of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, a heroic act of resistance in which poorly equipped Polish fighters took up arms against the country’s Nazi German invaders.
In the run-up to the anniversary, Polish lawmakers passed a special resolution in which they saluted the heroes of this failed World War II insurgency.
The Warsaw Rising Museum opened to the public in 2004 on the 60th anniversary of the WWII revolt.
The Warsaw Rising Museum in the Polish capital's Wola district. Photo: PAP/Albert Zawada
The Warsaw Uprising began on August 1, 1944 and lasted 63 days before being put down by better equipped and more numerous German forces.
The insurgency left the city razed to the ground and resulted in the death of some 18,000 Polish fighters and 200,000 civilians. It was one of the most heroic and tragic Polish battles of World War II and the largest military operation by any underground resistance movement in German-occupied Europe, according to historians.
In April this year, Poland commemorated the 81st anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, another doomed revolt in the city against Nazi German forces.
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Source: Warsaw Rising Museum