Poland marks 80th anniversary of Warsaw Uprising, honoring heroes of doomed fight for freedom

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish capital came to a standstill Thursday on the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, an ill-fated revolt against Nazi German forces during World War II. Sirens wailed, church bells rang and people stopped in their tracks, some stepping out of their cars to pay their tribute to the fallen heroes.

As Poland marked the day of great importance in the national memory, news broke that the oldest surviving insurgent of the uprising, 106-year-old Barbara Sowa, died in the morning. With very few survivors left to take part in the ceremonies, it was a poignant reminder of the passing away of the generation shaped by the sacrifice of World War II.

Among those who stopped in their tracks were Taylor Swift fans who were also out in the thousands for the first of the singer's three concerts Thursday evening in the city. She had warned her fans — many who had traveled from afar — not to panic when they heard the sirens.

Earlier in the day, Polish President Andrzej Duda and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier stood together, heads bowed, to remember those days of August in 1944. They paid tribute to the Wola Massacre, the mass-murder of civilians of Warsaw’s Wola district carried out by the Germans from Aug. 5 to Aug. 12, 1944.