Medal Issued to Commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
caption:
The obverse of the medal has, in its center, a high relief sculpture turned horizontally showing several Ghetto fighters breaking away from the burning Ghetto. The central figure is based on Mordechai Anielewicz, who is injured and carrying a homemade grenade in his left hand. A young woman behind Anielewicz on his left is carrying a gun. A young woman behind Anielewicz on his right is carrying a baby. The horizontal positioning of the sculpture was used to symbolize the military (although not spiritual) defeat of the fallen Ghetto fighters. On top of the pictures is written in Polish, “POLEGLYM ZYDOM POLSKIM BOHATEROM” (Fallen Jews Polish Heroes). Underneath the picture is written in Polish, “POWSTANIA W GETCIE WARSZAWSKIM” (Uprising in Warsaw Ghetto).
Identifer: CJF-RFC2015066
Medium
-
Description
This medal was issued in bronze and is 70 mm in diameter.
The obverse of the medal is modeled after the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw, Poland. The sculptor of the Monument was Natan Rappaport and the architect Marek Suzin. The bronze sculpture was cast in Paris. In great irony, the large memorial surrounding the sculpture is made of blocks of labradorite, a stone the Nazis ordered from Sweden in 1942 to construct a victory monument. The Monument was unveiled on April 19, 1948, the 5th anniversary of the Ghetto Uprising. A copy of this monument was erected at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem in 1975-6.
Related Objects
Leave a Comment