Remembering Together: How Daffodils Commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Each year, on 19th April, in commemoration of the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, thousands of daffodils appear on the streets of Warsaw. These flowers, however, are made of paper, and bloom not in the ground, but on the lapels of passers-by. What is the significance of these yellow flowers? And how do they help us remember?
I was very lucky to be part of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews team in 2013, when these daffodils first appeared on the streets of Warsaw. Wanting to share the importance of this incredible endeavour, I spoke to Zofia Bojańczyk and Joanna Garsztka from POLIN, as well as Helena Czernek, Polish Jewish designer and artist, about the annual Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign.
•
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising broke out on 19th April 1943, the eve of Passover (Pesach), when the Nazi Germans entered the ghetto in order to deport its surviving inhabitants. They were met with armed resistance by a group of approximately 700 insurgents, who, knowing their fate, took up arms in an attempt to die with dignity. The Warsaw Ghetto fighters – led by, amongst others, Mordechaj Anielewicz, Icchak Cukierman, Tosia Altman, Cywia Lubetkin and Marek Edelman – managed to fight off the Nazis for nearly a month with few guns and little ammunition. The end of the uprising was marked by the destruction of the Great Synagogue of Warsaw by Nazi German SS commander General Jürgen Stroop on 16th May 1943.
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the first urban uprising in Nazi German-occupied Europe.
•
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Polish Jews captured by Nazi Germans during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; photo from the Jürgen Stroop Report to Heinrich Himmler from May 1943, photo: Wikimedia Commons
Nitzan Reisner (NR): So, let’s start at the beginning. How did paper daffodils end up on the lapels of Warsaw residents?
Zofia Bojańczyk (ZB): In 2013, a survey was conducted amongst Varsovians about important events from Warsaw’s history. One of the questions was about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943 – had they heard of it? Did the date 19th April 1943 mean anything to them? Only 30% of the respondents said that they either knew about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, or knew why that date was significant.
Some time has passed since then, and, in 2019, 80% of Varsovians knew about the uprising. So, it’s clear to me that the socio-educational Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign did exactly what was intended – to spread awareness about Warsaw’s other uprising. This symbolic paper daffodil, designed by Helena Czernek, appearing on the streets of Warsaw had an incredible impact.
It's also important to us that Poles recognise the uprising as a significant part of Polish history. In 2013, we were aware of research conducted by the Centrum Badania Opinii Społecznej (The Public Opinion Research Centre). When asked: 'For whom do you think the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is important?', 73% answered only for Jews, while just 31% for Poles. When that research was repeated in 2018, 49% answered that it was primarily important for Poles. That 18% increase shows that Poles are learning that the uprising is a part of their own history. This would not have happened without the work of the volunteers involved in the campaign.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
A mural of Marek Edelman by Dariusz Paczkowski on Nalewski Street in Warsaw, photo: Stefan Romanik / AG
NR: That’s truly remarkable. Can you tell us about the symbolism? Why a daffodil?
ZB: It all began with a story… Each year, on the anniversary of the outbreak of the uprising, Marek Edelman would receive a bouquet of yellow flowers from an anonymous person. He would later lay yellow flowers, often daffodils, during the commemorative ceremony at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. This of course wasn’t the same bouquet. But after Edelman’s death in 2009, the museum decided to continue his tradition.
Ewa Budek, who was the initiator of the first Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Campaign in 2013, thought it would be helpful to find a symbol to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, to help raise awareness. The yellow flower, the daffodil, seemed to be the perfect fit.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Helena Czernek & the daffodil she designed to commemorate the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, photo: Aleksander Prugar
NR: Helena, can you tell us about the paper daffodil we see every year in people’s lapels? The beautiful daffodil you designed for the occasion?
Helena Czernek (HC): When I came on to the project, I was tasked with creating a flower that would be both aesthetically pleasing and easy to produce. It was also important to me for people to be able to be co-creators of these daffodils. Even in a small capacity – the fact that they are closed when you receive them, and you have to open them, or make them ‘bloom’ yourself – is very significant.
The daffodil that I designed has become a symbol of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. But I am very happy to see that people don’t only use my design: it’s wonderful to see that the daffodil in general has become a widely known symbol of the uprising.
And you don’t have to wear them on your lapel. Many people put them on their bags; people have shown me their first daffodils that they keep in their wallets. I’ve seen them on laptops. Personally, I always have one stuck on my front door. When I move, it goes with me and goes right back up on the door.
NR: I still have my very first daffodil! How many paper daffodils does the museum produce each year?
ZB: In 2020, we produced 250,000.
HC: 250,000?! I think we started with 50,000!
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Daffodil Campaign volunteers on the streets of Warsaw, photo: Alicja Szulc / POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
NR: So, we have thousands of beautiful paper daffodils. What happens next?
Joanna Garsztka (JG): Well, it’s all about our volunteers. They are the ones who go out onto the streets of Warsaw on 19th April each year and give out the daffodils and flyers to passers-by. They explain what they’re doing and why it’s significant, and answer occasional questions. They are the core of the Daffodil Campaign.
The first year we collaborated with the Warsaw Rising Museum, which had a well-established volunteer programme – we only had about 10 volunteers at the time. We were worried that people wouldn’t be interested in volunteering at this newly opening museum. We ended up with 560 volunteers!
By 2018, that number all but doubled. And in 2019, we had 1523 people giving their time and energy to the project. We continue to be shocked. It’s incredible. And there are people who keep coming back each year!
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Daffodil Campaign Ambassodor actor Bartosz Bielenia, of Academy Award-nominated film 'Corpus Christi' fame, photo: promotional materials / POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
ZB: We now also have ambassadors. Since 2015, we’ve invited Polish cultural figures to take part in the campaign – lending their faces makes the whole topic more approachable. We’ve had the likes of film director Agnieszka Holland, or choreographer Michał Piróg, who have Jewish roots, but also the popular singer Krzysztof Zalewski, whose father remembers seeing the Warsaw Ghetto in flames.
NR: Daffodils on the streets are part of a larger socio-educational campaign, right?
ZB: Yes. The museum’s educational department has created an extensive educational programme about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising for schools, organisations and institutions.
We’ve created lesson plans about the uprising, the leaders of the uprising, and the Holocaust, including texts, films, meetings and more. In 2020, nearly 900 institutions reached out to us.
Picture display
standardowy [760 px]
Marta & Małgorzata Słupsk, Daffodil Campaign volunteers, photo: Dorota Olsztyńska / POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
NR: Last, but not least, are there any particular stories from the campaign that moved you or inspired you?
JG: There are so many, I couldn’t possibly remember… But I do have to say that a lot of our volunteers are very emotionally invested in this project. We meet with each volunteer individually before each campaign. I find this to be the most important and moving part of the preparations – talking to them, hearing their stories, why they’re volunteering…
HC: I’m very moved when… Well, I was in the town Grybów, and there’s an old synagogue there. It’s closed, boarded up. And then I noticed that someone had stuck a colourful, handmade daffodil into the slats of the boarded-up window. There are a lot of these stories.
NR: Well, for me it’s just seeing anybody on the street or the subway with a daffodil on. It immediately brings a smile to my face and tears to my eyes. Thank you.
[{"nid":"5688","uuid":"6aa9e079-0240-4dcb-9929-0d1cf55e03a5","type":"article","langcode":"en","field_event_date":"","title":"Challenges for Polish Prose in the Nineties","field_introduction":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary\r\n","field_summary":"Content: Depict the world, oneself and the form | The Mimetic Challenge: seeking the truth, destroying and creating myths | Seeking the Truth about the World | Destruction of the Heroic Emigrant Myth | Destruction of the Polish Patriot Myth | Destruction of the Flawless Democracy Myth | Creation of Myths | Biographical challenge | Challenges of genre | Summary","topics_data":"a:2:{i:0;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259609\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:26:\u0022#language \u0026amp; literature\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:27:\u0022\/topics\/language-literature\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}i:1;a:3:{s:3:\u0022tid\u0022;s:5:\u002259644\u0022;s:4:\u0022name\u0022;s:8:\u0022#culture\u0022;s:4:\u0022path\u0022;a:2:{s:5:\u0022alias\u0022;s:14:\u0022\/topic\/culture\u0022;s:8:\u0022langcode\u0022;s:2:\u0022en\u0022;}}}","field_cover_display":"default","image_title":"","image_alt":"","image_360_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/360_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ZsoNNVXJ","image_260_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/260_auto_cover\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=pLlgriOu","image_560_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/560_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=0n3ZgoL3","image_860_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/860_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=ELffe8-z","image_1160_auto":"\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1160_auto\/public\/2018-04\/jozef_mroszczak_forum.jpg?itok=XazO3DM5","field_video_media":"","field_media_video_file":"","field_media_video_embed":"","field_gallery_pictures":"","field_duration":"","cover_height":"991","cover_width":"1000","cover_ratio_percent":"99.1","path":"en\/node\/5688","path_node":"\/en\/node\/5688"}]