[To NBC]

Your information about the program "Uprising" includes the following

statement:

"Against impossible odds, [the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto] hold off the

German army longer than the entire country of Poland."

One must wonder what is behind this gratuitous statement. In fact, the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising lasted from April 19 till May 16, 1943, that is

twenty-seven days, whereas Poland, abandoned by its British and French

allies and invaded by Germany on September 1, 1939, and by the Soviet

Union on September 17, 1939, did not [militarily capitulate] until October 5,

1939, that is thirty-five days later, and even then fought on in Europe's

most extensive underground resistance against the German occupation.

Moreover, a comparison between the street fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto

and the Polish military forces, which of course included Polish citizens

of Jewish origin, seems highly inappropriate. If a comparison is

necessary, it would be more appropriate to mention that the Warsaw

Uprising, which began on August 1, 1944, which engulfed the whole city and

its population, lasted sixty-three days, more than twice as long as the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. But what is the point of such a comparison? It can

only be made by someone who wishes to demean the heroism of the Jewish

fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto. One suspects that such was the motivation

for the false claim that they fought "longer than the entire country of

Poland."

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John J. Kulczycki

Department of History (MC 198)

University of Illinois at Chicago