IT SAYS a great deal about the power of forgiveness and the spirit of reconciliation that the square in Warsaw in which the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes stands should be named after a former West German Chancellor. Also that a concert by the Israel Symphony Orchestra in the city, to mark the 70th anniversary of the uprising, should be of music by a German composer.

As the Nazi conquest took hold, Jews were gathered together in ghettoes throughout Eastern Europe - walled districts that were, in effect, holding camps before transportation to the death camps.

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust research, education, and memorial centre in Jerusalem, estimates that the population of the Warsaw Ghetto, at its height, ranged from 470,000 to 590,000.

The first transportations to the Treblinka death camp began in July 1942. It is estimated that just 55,000 to 60,000 Jews remained in the Ghetto when the uprising began on the eve of Passover, 19 April 1943.

Fearful that the final deportations were about to begin, the remaining inhabitants decided that they were not going to die quietly. They had two important factors in their favour: the element of surprise, and a strength that comes when a community is fighting for its very existence. But the outcome was inevitable: about 13,000 Jews were killed during the two-week uprising; and most of the 50,000 or so who remained were transported to the death camps. A few managed to escape, using the city's sewers and tunnels.

The end came on 16 May 1943, when SS-Gruppenführer Jürgen Stroop concluded the burning of the Ghetto by blowing up the city's Grand Synagogue.

A modern tower of offices now stands on the site. The synagogue's neighbouring library survived, and now houses a Jewish institution. Scorch marks are still visible on its stone floor.

IT IS considered politically correct to think about ordinary Germans as victims of Hitler's Nazi ideology and regime. But not in Warsaw. Too many Germans were involved to put the blame on an extremist minority.

The message from those who survive, and those who cherish the memories of the victims, is clear: the Holocaust was only possible on mainland Europe in the 20th century because whole nations had become poisoned by hatred of the Jews.

A host of dignitaries attended the Thursday-evening concert, among them various ambassadors; the Israeli Education Minister, Rabbi Shai Piron; and the President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski. But the biggest cheer came when it was announced that Symcha Ratajzer-Rotem, or Kazik, as he is better known - one of the three participants in the uprising still alive - had travelled from his home in Jerusalem to attend.

Aged 89, and quite frail, he was the only one of the three who was well enough to travel to the commemorations.

Beethoven featured prominently in the programme: his overture to Egmont, the Violin Concerto in D Major, and the Fifth Symphony.

ON FRIDAY, the commemorations moved to Willy Brandt Square, named after the former West German Chancellor who, in 1970, unexpectedly knelt at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes during a visit. He said later: "Under the weight of recent history, I did what people do when words fail; so I thought of millions murdered."

Representatives of numerous governments around the world, including the UK Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Don Foster MP, joined military, religious, and civil leaders for a ceremony of remembrance at the memorial, which had been built after the war, using stones brought to Poland by the Nazis to celebrate the expected German victory.

Mr Ratajzer-Rotem was here again, too: this time to receive a state honour from the Polish President - the Order of the Cross of Polish Restoration.

He told the audience: "To this very day, I keep thinking whether we had the right to make the decision to start the uprising; and by the same token to shorten the lives of many people by a week, a day or two. Nobody gave us the authorisation to do that; and that is the doubt that I have to live with.

"Despite all their cruelty, the Germans did not manage to break the moral framework of the Jewish society: in spite of the fact that they forced half a million people into a single district of Warsaw; in spite of the fact that they did not allow us to work; in spite of famine or disease that resulted in 100,000 people dying; in spite of the constant intimidations, repressions, and murder."

CHURCH bells rang, and sirens sounded across Warsaw to mark the start of the service of remembrance. Prayers were said by Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran chaplains to the Polish Army. The Chief Rabbi of Poland recited the Kaddish; and Cantor Joseph Malovany sang the El Male Rachamim.

The VIPs laid wreaths at the memorial - many made of daffodils, which have become the symbol of Ghetto remembrance in Warsaw. A march then took place to the Umschlagplatz Memorial - the site of the station where many were herded on to trains taking them to the death camps.

During the anniversary commemorations, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews was opened, marking the start of the museum's cultural and educational outreach work. The core exhibition is still being completed: a grand opening will take place next year.

Before the Second World War, more than one third of Warsaw's population was Jewish, in a country of more than 3.3 million Jews. By the end of the war, more than 90 per cent had been killed.

The museum faces the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes. Its brochure states: "The monument commemorates how Jews died, while the museum memorialises how they lived."