Jewish groups protest over plans to create 'gentiles' statue in Warsaw Ghetto

Memorial to Polish 'righteous' gentiles would be in heart of former ghetto

Jewish community claim it would infringe on memory of murdered jews

Anger has broken out among Jewish groups in Poland over plans to build a memorial to non Jews who risked their lives to save those trapped inside the Warsaw ghetto.



Under the plans, the memorial to Polish 'righteous' gentiles will be located in the heart of what used to be the Warsaw ghetto.



However, this has angered the Jewish community in Poland who claim it would infringe on the memory of murdered jews.

Controversy: Anger has broken out among Jewish groups in Poland over plans to build a memorial to non Jews at the site of former Warsaw ghetto. In this picture, a group of Jews are escorted from the Warsaw Ghetto

Although the Jewish community do not dispute the reasons behind the monument, it feels it should be placed on the edge of the site.

According to the Telegraph, Poland's Centre for Holocaust Research wrote in an open letter: 'Poland is a large country so there is plenty of capacity for a monument to the Righteous, but let the Warsaw Ghetto remain an inviolate area dedicated to the memory of murdered Jews.'

Unhappy: For many, the efforts of Christian Poles who risked their lives to smuggle weapons into the Warsaw ghetto and to get prisoners out have been sidelined

For many, the efforts of Christian Poles who risked their lives to smuggle weapons into the Warsaw Ghetto and to get prisoners out have been sidelined.



WARSAW GHETTO WAS HORRIFIC EPICENTRE OF NAZI ATROCITIES The Warsaw Ghetto was established in the Polish capital in 1940, while the country was being occupied by Nazi Germany. All 400,000 Jews living in the city, which was then a major centre of Jewish culture, were ordered to live in the area, which was surrounded by a 10ft wall. Even though the Ghetto housed 30 per cent of Warsaw's population, it occupied just one-fortieth of the city's area, leading to unbearably cramped conditions. The area was plagued with disease and starvation, causing the deaths of thousands - but the worst horrors came between July and September 1942, when more than 250,000 residents were sent to the Treblinka camp, where nearly all were murdered by the Nazis. In January 1943, German soldiers started another round of deportations, but this time the Jewish residents fought back. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising briefly succeeded in stopping the deportations, but later that year was brutally put down. 56,000 Jews were killed or deported in retribution.

They feel more attention has been placed on Jewish insurgents who launched a battle against Nazi rule in 1943 knowing that they faced death.



They battled for a month during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and inspired jews all around the world.

But those behind the plans for the monument feel the efforts of the Christian Poles should be given a greater recognition.



Doctor August Grabski, from Warsaw's Jewish Historical Institute, said: 'What we have here is almost a competitive bidding between the Polish and Jewish communities over the scale of their martyrdom in the Second World War'.



The dispute comes days before Poland prepares to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.



It is not the first time a statue has cause outrage and disturbed sensitivities surrounding the Warsaw Ghetto.



In November last year, a modern artist caused huge controversy after placing a statue of Adolf Hitler praying on his knees in the former Warsaw Ghetto.

The statue by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, entitled 'HIM', attracted a large number of visitors.



The work was visible only from a distance, and the artist has not said what he intends viewers to read into Hitler's pose.