Ghetto Heroes Monument

Warsaw


Look closely and you see there are actually two monuments here commemorating the thousands who lost their lives in the ill-fated Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943. The first, less obvious one is the circular tablet on the ground resembling a manhole and installed in 1946. It is overshadowed by the 11m, Nathan Rapoport sculpted monument that was erected two years later when all around still lay in ruins.

The contrast of the stark, labradorite-clad monument with the contemporary POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews behind it is very striking.

On 7 December 1970 German chancellor Willy Brandt famously fell to his knees in front of the Ghetto Heroes Monument in a gesture of contrition for Germany’s crimes against Polish Jews. A red-brick-clad memorial, featuring a brass relief designed by Wiktoria Czechowska Antoniewska, commemorates that event in a corner of the park which is now named after Brandt.

Transportation

  • metro: Ratusz Arsenał
  • tram: Muranów

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Warsaw attractions

2. Willy Brandt Monument

0.12 MILES

On 7 December 1970 German chancellor Willy Brandt famously fell to his knees in front of the Ghetto Heroes Monument in a gesture of contrition for Germany…

3. Anielewicz’s Bunker

0.17 MILES

Also known as Miła 18, the memorial mound and obelisk mark what was once a hidden shelter during the time of the Warsaw Ghetto, used by ŻOB, a Jewish…

4. Esperanto Mural

0.23 MILES

Dr Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof (1859–1917) spoke around a dozen languages before inventing the international language of Esperanto in 1887. He lived in…

5. Pawiak Prison Museum

0.26 MILES

During WWII the prison that once stood here was used by the Gestapo – that's the time period that the displays in this grimly fascinating museum focus on…

6. Umschlagplatz

0.28 MILES

Here once stood the railway terminus from which Warsaw’s Jews were transported by the German military to Treblinka. The rectangular monument’s marble…

7. Bohdan Lachert Mural

0.33 MILES

This 2012 mural by Anna Koźbiel and Adam Walas commemorates the modernist architect Bohdan Lachert (1900–87), who designed part of Muranów in the 1950s…

8. Krasiński Palace & Garden

0.41 MILES

A meticulous replica, following its destruction by the Germans in WWII, this baroque palace was originally completed in 1683 for the nobleman Jan…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "poland/warsaw/new-town-muranow/attractions/ghetto-heroes-monument/a/poi-sig/417791/1342661",
      "destination": "Warsaw",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "country": "Poland",
      "city": "Warsaw",
      "position": "superzone"
    }