Table Of ContentHolocaust Studies | Jewish Studies | Polish History
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Th e Jewish Heroes of Warsaw: Th e Aft erlife of the Revolt by Avinoam J. Patt
analyzes how the heroic saga of the Warsaw Ghett o Uprising of 1943
was mythologized in a way that captured the att ention of Jews around
the world, allowing them to imagine what it might have been like to
be there, engaged in the struggle against the Nazi oppressor. Th e timing
of the uprising, coinciding with the transition to memorialization and
mourning, solidifi ed the event as a date to remember both the heroes
and the martyrs of Warsaw and of European Jewry more broadly.
“Th is is the best account of one of the major pillars of Jewish collective memory
of the Holocaust, the Warsaw Ghett o Uprising. Avinoam J. Patt off ers a superb
analysis of a fraught and complex story: how the uprising was interpreted in a
postwar Jewish world that struggled to recover from a national catastrophe.”
Samuel D. Kassow | Charles Northam Professor of History at Trinity College and author
of Who Will Write Our History: Rediscovering a Hidden Archive fr om the Warsaw Ghett o
“With Th e Jewish Heroes of Warsaw, Patt takes his place among the ranks of the top
Holocaust scholars on the academic scene today. In this deeply researched, sharply
The Afterlife
thought out, and skillfully writt en book, Patt provides a way for readers, both
within and outside the academy, to learn about this much-mythologized event
of the Revolt
and this iconic place in public memory.”
Hasia Diner | Paul and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of American Jewish History,
New York University
Avinoam J. Patt is the Doris and Simon Konover Professor of Judaic Studies
and director of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the
University of Connecticut. He is the author of Finding Home and Homeland: Jewish
Youth and Zionism in the Aft ermath of the Holocaust (Wayne State University Press,
2009) and coeditor of Laughter Aft er: Humor and the Holocaust (Wayne State
University Press, 2020).
Wayne State University Press
Detroit, Michigan 48201-1309
Avinoam J. Patt
On cover Pomnik Bohaterów Gett a, the Ghett o Heroes Monument,
Warsaw. Photo by Avinoam J. Patt . Cover design Mindy Basinger Hill
Praise for The Jewish Heroes of Warsaw
“With The Jewish Heroes of Warsaw, Avinoam Patt takes his place among
the ranks of the top Holocaust scholars on the academic scene today. In this
deeply researched, sharply thought out, and skillfully written book, Patt pro-
vides a way for readers, both within and outside the academy, to learn about
this much- mythologized event and this iconic place in public memory.”
— Hasia Diner, Paul and Sylvia Steinberg Professor of
American Jewish History, New York University
“Patt has produced a detailed and well-w ritten account tracing these different
commemorative narratives of this epic event, revealing the conflicts and com-
plexities of memory work. He highlights the overriding imperative of ensuring
the future of the Jewish people and forging a meaning of the tragic and heroic
past. In this impressive work, Patt weaves together a tapestry of the postwar
political, emotional, and cultural narratives of the uprising which enables read-
ers to reflect on how history is used to create meaning in the present.”
— Dalia Ofer, the Max and Rita Haber Professor of Holocaust and
East European Studies at the Avraham Harman Institute of
Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“This is the best account of one of the major pillars of Jewish collective memory
of the Holocaust, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. Patt offers a superb
analysis of a fraught and complex story: how the uprising was interpreted in
a postwar Jewish world that struggled to recover from a national catastrophe.”
— Samuel D. Kassow, Charles Northam Professor of History at
Trinity College and author of Who Will Write Our History:
Rediscovering a Hidden Archive from the Warsaw Ghetto
“As this new and detailed account reveals, already during the war the Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising of 1943 became a worldwide symbol of Jewish resistance,
while at the same time Jewish organizations abroad struggled to respond to
the news of the Nazi extermination campaign in occupied Poland. Enabled
by a close reading of an abundance of original sources, Patt aptly illuminates
the contested political makings of The Jewish Heroes of Warsaw by survi-
vors and Jewish factions in Palestine/Israel, Poland, and the United States
during the first decade after the uprising and even today.”
— Wolf Gruner, author of The Holocaust in Bohemia and Moravia:
Czech Initiatives, German Policies and Jewish Responses
“The Jewish Heroes of Warsaw provides a comprehensive overview of the com-
plex ties between Zionism and the Holocaust and of the Holocaust’s central
place in the life of the State of Israel. Avinoam Patt’s brilliant analysis chal-
lenges accepted notions of nationalism, identity, and commemoration and
offers new insights and understandings.”
— Hava Dreifuss, historian of the Holocaust in Eastern Europe at
the Department of Jewish History at Tel- Aviv University
THE JEWISH
HEROES OF
WARSAW
THE JEWISH
HEROES OF
WARSAW
The Afterlife of the Revolt
Avinoam J. Patt
Wayne State University Press
Detroit
© 2021 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan 48201. All rights
reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
ISBN 978- 0- 8143- 4835- 2 (paperback); ISBN 978- 0- 8143- 4516- 0 (hardback);
ISBN 978- 0- 8143- 4517- 7 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020945643
Wayne State University Press
Leonard N. Simons Building
4809 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48201-1309
Visit us online at wsupress .wayne .edu
On cover: Pomnik Bohaterów Getta, the Ghetto Heroes Monument, Warsaw.
Photo by Avinoam J. Patt. Cover design by Mindy Basinger Hill.
Photographs on pages 95, 103, 177, and 335 are included courtesy of the
Historical Jewish Press collection, National Library of Israel.
References to internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor Wayne State University Press is responsible for URLs that
may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
To Eidel Sara,
always and forever
C
ontents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Warsaw, A Place in Jewish History 1
1. The Centrality of Warsaw 25
2. News about the Destruction of European Jewry and
the Uprising during WWII 69
3. The Surviving Ghetto Fighters Write the First Draft
of a History of the Revolt 123
4. The First Anniversary of the Revolt 169
5. Crafting a Zionist Narrative of the Revolt 205
6. The Place of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising among
the Surviving Population in Europe 259
7. The First Published Testimonies of the Surviving Ghetto
Fighters 305
8. Literary and Artistic Representations before the Fifth
Anniversary of the Revolt 347
9. Warsaw in Israel and America, 1948– 53 401
Notes 421
Selected Bibliography 493
Index 513
