President Barack Obama participated in a May 27 wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Poland’s capital city.
Obama was joined by members of Poland’s Jewish community and Holocaust survivors, whom he greeted at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. He smiled, shook hands and hugged those gathered under a light rain.
Among those Obama met was Halina Szpilman, the widow of Wladyslaw Szpilman, the Holocaust survivor featured in Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning film “The Pianist.” Obama kissed Szpilman, a retired doctor whose husband died in 2000, on both cheeks.
A leading member of the Jewish community, Monika Krawczyk, was heard urging Obama to do all he can to support Israel, saying, “It’s the only Jewish state we have.” Obama assured her the United States would be there for Israel.
“What a wonderful visit. I’ll have to bring my daughters,” Obama said as he exited the memorial.
In the 1943 uprising during Germany’s brutal occupation of Poland, lightly armed Jewish fighters battled Nazi forces trying to liquidate the ghetto for nearly a month. The monument commemorates the tens of thousands of Jews killed.
Obama visited the memorial an hour after arriving in Warsaw and shortly after participating in a wreath-laying at Poland’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. His two-day visit to Poland marked the final stop on his European tour. — jta & ap