Who Will Write Our History?
Rediscovering a Hidden Archive from the Warsaw Ghetto
Samuel. D Kassow
- In
- the
- Autumn
- of
- 1940
- the
- Jews
- of
- Warsaw
- were
- forced
- into
- a
- crowded
- ghetto,
- enduring
- unimaginable
- conditions
- until
- most
- were
- killed.
- Yet,
- amid
- this,
- one
- man,
- Emanuel
- Ringelblum,
- started
- an
- extraordinary
- clandestine
- organization
- dedicated
- to
- recording
- life
- under
- Nazi
- occupation.
- His
- aim:
- to
- ensure
- that,
- if
- he
- died,
- his
- people's
- history
- would
- still
- be
- written.Codenamed
- Oyneg
- Shabes,
- this
- underground
- group
- painstakingly
- gathered
- together
- an
- archive
- of
- some
- 35,000
- documents
- -
- letters,
- poems,
- photographs,
- personal
- testimonies,
- menus,
- sketches,
- songs
- and
- official
- papers
- -
- which
- was
- buried
- in
- tin
- boxes
- and
- milk
- bottles
- just
- before
- the
- ghetto
- was
- razed
- to
- the
- ground.
- This
- secret
- cache
- lay
- deep
- beneath
- the
- rubble
- for
- years,
- long
- after
- most
- of
- the
- Oyneg
- Shabes's
- members
- had
- perished,
- until
- one
- of
- the
- few
- survivors
- led
- the
- way
- to
- its
- secret
- location.Only
- now
- can
- the
- story
- of
- this
- incredible
- historical
- record,
- and
- the
- people
- behind
- it,
- be
- fully
- told.
- It
- is
- a
- testament
- to
- an
- extraordinary
- act
- of
- defiance
- in
- the
- face
- of
- tyranny,
- and
- to
- the
- triumph
- of history.
