Kent Kleinowski

On this day in 1944, after 63 days of almost unimaginable sacrifice, the Warsaw Uprising came to an end. The men and women of the Polish Home Army had fought street by street, cellar by cellar, often with little food, medicine, or ammunition. They had faced one of the most powerful war machines in Europe and held out far longer than anyone could reasonably have expected. When the agreement ending the fighting was signed, the surviving insurgents were granted prisoner-of-war status. For Warsaw’s civilians, however, the suffering was not over. They were driven from the ruined city, leaving behind homes, churches, schools, family photographs, and the graves of people they loved. Warsaw itself had been shattered, but the spirit behind the uprising was not. October 2 is now observed in Poland as the Day of Remembrance of the Civilian Population of the Warsaw Uprising - it is a day to remember not only those who fought with weapons in their hands, but also the ordinary people who endured hunger, bombardment, executions, displacement, and the destruction of almost everything familiar to them. Yes, the uprising ended, but the memory did not.