page_title: Miła 18
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Miła 18 / History
caption_attribution_description: Polski: Powojenna rekonstrukcja Bunkra Anielewicza przy ul. Miłej 18 w Warszawie. Makieta stanowiła element wystawy w Żydowskim Instytucie Historycznym zob. także zdjęcia [w:] B. Mark, Powstanie w getcie warszawskim, Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, Warszawa 1953 s. 273 lub M. Fuks (oprac.) Adama Czernikowa dziennik getta warszawskiego 6 IX 1939−23 VIII 1942, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa 1983, s. 321. English: Post-war reconstruction of the Anielewicz Bunker at 18 Miła Street. It was a part of an exhibition at the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, see also pictures [in:] B. Mark, Powstanie w getcie warszawskim, Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, Warszawa 1953 p. 273 or M. Fuks (edit.) Adama Czernikowa dziennik getta warszawskiego 6 IX 1939−23 VIII 1942, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa 1983, p. 321.
context_page_description: Ulica Miła 18 was the headquarters "bunker" of the Jewish Combat Organization, a Jewish resistance group in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland during World War II.
context_section_description: The bunker at Miła 18 was constructed by a group of underworld smugglers in 1943. The ŻOB fighters arrived there after their own hideout, at 29 Miła Street, had been discovered. The smugglers who had built it were helping the ŻOB as guides.
  From the Stroop Report 7 May 1943:
  "The location of the dug-out used by the so-called select "Party Directorate" is now known. It is to be forced open tomorrow. The Jews testify that they emerge at night to get fresh air, since it is unbearable to stay permanently within the dug-outs owing to the long duration of the operation. On the average the raiding parties shoot 30 to 50 Jews each night. From these statements it was to be inferred that a considerable number of Jews are still underground in the Ghetto. Today we blew up a concrete building which we had not been able to destroy by fire. In this operation we learned that the blowing up of a building is a very lengthy process and takes an enormous amount of explosives. The best and only method for destroying the Jews therefore stir] remains the setting of fires."
  From the Stroop Report 8 May 1943:
  "We continued today the operation against the dug-out of the so-called select "Party Directorate which we had discovered yesterday, as reported in my teletype message yesterday. We succeeded in forcing open the dug-out of the Party Directorate and in catching about 60 heavily armed bandits. We succeeded in catching and liquidating Deputy Leader of the Jewish Military Organization "ZWZ" and his so-called Chief of Staff. There were about 200 Jews in this dug-out, of whom 60 were caught and 140 were destroyed, partly owing to the strong effect of smoke-candles, and partly owing to heavy explosive charges which were laid in several places. The Jews whom we caught had already reported that innumerable Jews had been killed by the effect of the smoke-candles. The fight of the first six days was hard, but now we are able to state that we are catching those Jews and Jewesses who were the ringleaders in those days. Every time a dug-out is forced open, the Jews in it offer resistance with the arms at their disposal, light machine guns, pistols, and hand grenades. Today we again caught quite a number of Jewesses who carried loaded pistols in their bloomers, with the safety catch released. Some depositions speak of 3 to 4,000 Jews who still remain in underground holes, sewers, and dug-outs. The undersigned is resolved not to terminate the large-scale operation until the last Jew has been destroyed."
  
  On 8 May 1943, three weeks after the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, when the bunker was found out by the Nazis, there were around 300 people inside. The smugglers surrendered, but the ŻOB command, including Mordechaj Anielewicz, the leader of the uprising, stood firm. The Nazis threw tear gas into the shelter to force the occupants out. Anielewicz, his girlfriend Mira Fuchrer and many of his staff committed mass suicide by ingesting poison rather than surrender, though a few fighters who did neither managed to get out of a rear exit, and later fled from the ghetto through the canals to the "Aryan side" at Prosta Street on May 10.
caption: Postwar reconstruction of the Miła 18 bunker
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