On August 16, 1943, the Jews of the Bialystok Ghetto rose up against the Nazis. Eighty-three years later, we remember not only the extraordinary courage of those who fought, but the lives, families, dreams, and futures that the Nazis sought to destroy.

Among those who fought were my grandparents, Abraham (Avremel) and Rivka Shepes, Zaida and Bubba as I called them, alongside Bubba’s brother, Paltiel.

On the night of August 15, the Nazis once again surrounded the ghetto. Zaida’s home stood on the perimeter, and the ominous sound of Nazi boots echoed through the streets. At 3 a.m. on August 16, the approximately 40,000 Jews still remaining in the ghetto were ordered to assemble by 9 a.m. at the corner of Jurowiecka and Cieplin Streets. They were told they would be “relocated to better places.” Those who failed to appear would be shot on sight.

But the Nazis did not know that resistance was already being organized.

Bubba and Zaida were part of the underground resistance, together with Paltiel. They joined fellow fighters at the corner of Nowogrodzka and Cieplin Streets. Before the 9 a.m. deadline, the resistance set fire to the factories where they worked, a signal of defiance and a declaration that the Jews of Bialystok would not simply surrender their lives without fighting back.

At precisely 9 a.m., the signal came.

Armed with little more than makeshift weapons, the resistance fighters attacked the ghetto walls. They knew they were vastly outnumbered and outgunned, yet they fought. Their revolt could not defeat the Nazi war machine, but their courage remains a powerful testament to human dignity in the face of unimaginable evil.

In the chaos, Bubba and Zaida managed to escape. Paltiel refused to leave.

Later, Zaida learned that Paltiel had........

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