A minute for the Warsaw Uprising

Every year on August 1 at 5 pm, this city comes to a standstill - cars, trams, busses, the metro and pedestrians - for one minute to honour the "heroes" of the disastrous uprising against Nazi occupation in 1944. As we left for the airport today, national and Warsaw flags were everywhere and small ceremonies were already taking place at various monuments and memorials around the city. This day, while controversial, especially among young and liberal Warsavians, commemorates the first day of the armed resistance movement by local citizens against the Nazis. Vastly outnumbered and basically suicidal it was doomed to failure. In retaliation the Nazis began their systematic obliteration of the city, costing the lives of 200,000 civilians and the destruction of 85% of the buildings in Warsaw. Complete and final destruction was only prevented by the fact that the Soviet army was massing on the opposite bank of the Vistula river and in their haste to retreat ahead of the Russians the Nazis could not complete the job. Here is a short video regarding the commemoration.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejd2rsXoQSI