When I asked the significance of this date - 27th of Nissan on the Hebrew calendar - I was told that it coincides with the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in Poland, April 19 - May 16, 1943.
Further investigation, however, revealed that the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising is actually the 14th of Nissan. However, since the 14th of Nissan also corresponds to the first day of Passover, in 1951 the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) changed the date for Yom Ha-shoah to the 27th of Nissan, which is 1 week after the last day of Passover and 1 week before Israeli Independence Day.
Mordechai Anielewicz (1919-1943), commandant of the ZOB during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He fell in battle on May 8, 1943. 
Jews captured during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising are led by the SS to the Umschlagplatz for deportation. Photo credit: Poland National ArchivesThere is a poignant tribute to this occasion at DoubleTapper.
- S.L.
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