Daffodils of remembrance from the Catholic University of Lublin

The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin joined the socio-educational campaign "Daffodils," initiated by the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The university's rector, students, and staff distributed flowers commemorating those who fought in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

April 19 is the Day of Remembrance of the Holocaust and for the Prevention of Crimes against Humanity. Today is the 81st anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising – the largest armed uprising of Jews during World War II. The immediate cause of the uprising was the decision to liquidate the ghetto, taken as part of the Germans' plan to exterminate the Jews.In a battle that lasted nearly a month, soldiers of the Jewish Combat Organization and the Jewish Military Union resisted SS and Wehrmacht units, among others. During this time, the Germans razed the ghetto to the ground. On May 8, in a shelter at 18 Miła Street, uprising leader Mordechai Anielewicz committed suicide along with a group of several dozen soldiers. The uprising ended on May 16, 1943.

The POLIN Museum's "Daffodils" campaign remembers the fallen fighters of the 1943 uprising. Mark Edelman, the last leader of the Jewish Combat Organization who survived the liquidation of the ghetto, initiated the tradition. Every year, on the uprising anniversary, he would honor his fallen comrades by placing a bouquet of daffodils in front of the Warsaw Ghetto Heroes Monument until the end of his life.

1.5 years ago, Fr. Prof. Miroslaw Kalinowski, rector of the Catholic University of Lublin,  established the Abraham J. Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations. Its mission is to deepen the dialogue between Catholics and Jews on the scientific, educational, and cultural levels.

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