Watch an Entire Polish City Pause at the Same Time
While occupied by the Germans, the city of Warsaw, Poland became the scene of the largest rebellion against the Nazis during World War II. But the uprising came at a terrible cost, with approximately 200,000 people killed and the utter destruction of the Polish capital. Every year on August 1st, Warsaw’s residents remember the heroes who fought and died during 1944.
Today, Warsaw is a bustling metropolis with gleaming buildings, large thoroughfares and throngs of people. But on the first of August, an air raid siren sounds and the city comes to a standstill to honor those who lost their lives.
In this stirring video, cars, buses and pedestrians all stop while going about their daily business and pause to remember the freedom fighters of the Warsaw Uprising, who led a valiant, but ultimately doomed, resistance. After holding out in the Warsaw Ghetto for several months against the Nazis, almost all survivors were massacred and nearly the entire city was razed to the ground.
When was the last time you stopped and paused like the people of Warsaw?