They Fought With Their Bare Hands

To Mordecai Anielewicz (1919-1943) Facing formidable forces, Supported with tanks and artillery, You knew that there was no way to win. Nevertheless, you decided to fight, Not for victory, but for Jewish honour. So, one day in the spring of 1943, You were 24 years old then, The Zionist banner was hoisted Over the Warsaw Ghetto wall, Along with the Polish flag. The SS troops preferred to use Artillery fire, flamethrowers And gas, or to blast the houses By dynamite squads, rather than engage In direct street fighting with untrained And poorly armed young Jewish men And women. And soon the whole ghetto was aflame. The news about the uprising spread in the world. Broadcasts by the Underground Polish radio SWIT Operating out of Warsaw were picked up, As far as Sweden. The radio said that women And children are defending themselves With their bare hands. The uprising galvanized resistance movements Throughout Nazi occupied Europe. It was on May 8, After three weeks of Combat, that you threw Your last grenade from the bunker on 19 Mila Street And fell together with your beloved bride Mira. But, as you said, you realized your dream, Because you had lived to see Jewish resistance In its heroic greatness and resplendent glory. You had stood up to the brutal Nazi empire Of Adolf Hitler. In spite of all his Military might, The Fuehrer failed to drag you away to Treblinka and you died as a free human being. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Transformed Jewish submission to resistance. You helped to turn hopelessness to resolve, Despair to vigour, degradation to courage. You formed Dignity out of humiliation, Sculpted from misery the grit of honour. Like the North Star showing steadfast direction To Desperate sailors, the light of your heroic command Shines through the darkness of the Night. Your young life sacrificed on the cruel altar Of History is a luminous monument To soulful conscience, a lofty triumph Of the human spirit. From your spilled blood that sunk into the earth Of Poland, poignant sprouts of bravery and dignity Blossom forth, flowers of freedom and buds of hope Bear blooms of sacred petals.