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Janusz Korczak was a well known medical doctor in pre-war Poland and was nominated for the Nobel Prize. During he war, Korczk was head of the orphanages in the Warsaw Ghetto. He fought a desperate struggle to maintain dignity among the children. He and the children of the orphanges were deported to Treblinka in 1942 where they were gassed.
A cover commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April, 1943. The image depicts the leader of the uprising, Mordechai Anielewicz. Issued in Poland.
A German first day cover from 1973 honoring Polish priest and Auschwitz inmate Maximilian Kolbe.
1983 marked the fortieth anniversary of the revolt in the Warsaw Ghetto. This cover was issued in Israel to commemorate an event which has gone down in Jewish history as the greatest act of defiance against the Nazi enemy perpetrated by the Jews of the beleaguered ghettoes. Mordechai Anilewicz, the leader of the revolt, described it thus in his letter to his comrade-in-arms Antek Zuckerman: "...something has happened that we could not have envisaged, even in our wildest dreams. Twice the Germans fled in retreat from the Ghetto.... Be well, my friend. Our dream became a reality. I was privileged to see the Jews of the Ghetto defend themselves with pride and courage... ." For more information on the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising see also Ghetto Revolt. MORDECHAI ANILEWICZ Mordechai Anilewicz was born in 1919 in Warsaw. He was the commander of the Jewish fighting forces in Warsaw and led the Ghetto revolt. In January 1943, accompanied by a group of fighters, he succeeded in attaching himself to a group of Jews being marched to their death, and attacked the German guards. In the ensuing fight, only he remained alive. On May 8, 1943, while on duty at the bunker command post, he fell. He was all of 24 years old. Uprisings also took place in the ghettoes of Bialystok, Czestochowa, and other smaller localities, while the Jews of the Vilna Ghetto organized themselves into fighting groups which did battle with the Germans in the surrounding forests. YOSEF GLAZMAN Yosef Glazman was born in Lithuania and was among the organizers of the "PPA" - the United Partisans Organization, as the Jews of the Vilna Ghetto called their "army" - and was one of its commanders. In the service of the underground he also served as the deputy commander of the Ghetto Police and acted against those who collaborated with the Nazis. He was famed for his outstanding bravery. On October 8, 1943, at the age of 35, he fell while making his way to the forests. Uprisings also took place in the death camps of Sobibor, Treblinka and Auschwitz, while thousands of Jews fought alongside the partisans in Byelorussia, Bialystok, Eastern Galicia, etc. The Jews were also prominent in the underground movements of occupied Europe and over one million fought with the allied armies; 550,000 with the Americans; 500,000 with the Russians; 150,000 with the Poles; 150,000 with the British; while 21,000 volunteers from Eretz Israel served with the Allied Forces. The middle stamp on this souvenir sheet reads: "For the Ghetto rebels, For the Partisans in the forests, For the rebels in the camps, For the members of the Underground, For the soldiers in the various armies." The full story of Jewish resistance to the Nazis and their minions has still to be told; the Jewish poet Chaim Guri wrote: "Here we have erected a memorial to the burnt-out ghetto... a living memorial that will endure for an eternity."
These were from Dachau as a Displaced Persons (DP) Camp, issues for Polish prisoners mailing items back to Poland after liberation and the end of the war.
1962 First Day Cover from Poland, commemorating Auschwitz, Maidanek & Treblinka Death Camps monuments.
Duo Germany DDR - Israel Holocaust commemoration FDC. Originally issued in East Germany in honour of Ravensbruck Death Camp survivors and victims- franked with German stamp cancelled with FDC 11.9.1959 as well as Israeli Holocaust commemrationn stamps issued and cancelled with FDC a few years later ( 1965 ). Ravensbruck was a camp for
women. See web bibliography and "women and the Holocaust" bibliography.