“The most difficult struggle of all is the one within ourselves. Let us not get accustomed and adjusted to these conditions. The one who adjusts ceases to discriminate between good and evil. He becomes a slave in body and soul. Whatever may happen to you, remember always: Don't adjust! Revolt against the reality!”
― Mordechai Anielewicz

“Today we must understand that the Nazi murderers have let us live only because they want to make use of our capacity to work to our last drop of blood and sweat, to our last breath. We are slaves, and when slaves are no longer profitable, they are killed. Everyone among us must understand that, and everyone among us must remember it always.”
― Mordechai Anielewicz

The next three months – January to April 1943 – were a time of intensive preparation. The Germans tried unsuccessfully to convince the Jews to go peacefully to the deportation trains. On April 19, the eve of Passover (and Hitler’s birthday), the Germans returned with 2,000 troops and a convoy of tanks and met fierce resistance from fighters armed mainly with pistols. The Nazis greatly outnumbered the resistance and had superior firepower; nevertheless, the Nazis suffered many losses in the first days of fighting. Three long days of battles took place in the streets. The few hundred Jewish fighters refused to surrender. The Germans tried to lure them out of hiding places but, ultimately, decided to burn every house and possible shelter in the ghetto.

Anielewicz had moved his headquarters to a shelter on Mila 18 street. On May 8, the Germans found the bunker and gassed it. Some civilians surrendered but Anielewicz and about 100 of his comrades were killed. Those not killed in the fighting took their own lives to avoid capture.