World War Wednesdays: The Warsaw Zoo: Story Behind the Film

   
    Welcome back, history buffs! Now that I'm in the middle of my last undergraduate exam season, I can't help but think of all the things I'd rather be doing than writing an endless pile of papers. Right near the top of the list is going to the movies, because there is what looks to be a fantastic film in theaters that portrays an amazing true story about the Holocaust. The Zookeeper's Wife draws from the unpublished diary of Antonina Zabinska, and recounts the true story of she and her husband Jan's incredible act of bravery as part of the Polish resistance.

Jan Zabinski, Yad Vashem

     The Warsaw Zoo under acclaimed director Jan Zabinski was one of Europe's largest zoos during the 1930s, and its expanded area was home to many animals including Tuzinka the elephant, its star attraction. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, vast sections of the zoo were destroyed in the bombings, many animals were killed, and others (including Tuzinka) were taken to Germany. Despite these horrors, Zabinski was aware of the immense human suffering on behalf Warsaw's Jews at the hands of the German occupiers. When the Warsaw Ghetto was established, he and his wife Antonina took it upon themselves to help their Jewish neighbors.

Antonina Zabinski, Yad Vashem

     As an employee of the Warsaw municipality, Jan was allowed to enter the ghetto, and under the pretext of supervising the trees and small public garden on the other side of the walls, would regularly visit and assist its inhabitants. As the situation in the ghetto rapidly deteriorated, Zabinski took his aid one step further by offering shelter to the Warsaw Jews, taking them over to the Aryan side, providing them with essential lifesaving documents, finding them accommodations, and, when necessary, sheltering them on the zoo's grounds and at his personal home. Regina Koenigstein describes the Zabinski villa as a modern Noah's Ark, and according to many testimonies numerous Jews found temporary shelter in the zoo's abandoned animal cells.

     The Zabinkkis' dangerous undertaking was not limited to the physical assistance of Warsaw Jews. Rachel Auerbach, who participated in attempts to establish a ghetto archive of sorts which documented the story of life behind the walls in Warsaw, was in touch with Zabinski throughout that period. She went into hiding after the ghetto liquidation and continued recording events in her diary, but as the front came closer to Warsaw, she gave one of her notebooks to Zabinski. He put it into a glass jar and buried it at the zoo, and in April 1945 she was able to retrieve her manuscript and publish it.

     Jan Zabinski also participated in the Polish uprising in Warsaw of August and September 1944 as a member of the Polish underground Home Army. He was taken as a prisoner to German upon its suppression, but Antonina was able to continue his work and attended to the needs of Jews left behind in the city's ruins. In his own testimony in explanation of his motives, Zabinski later reflected:
 “I do not belong to any party, and no party program was my guide during the occupation... I am a Pole – a democrat. My deeds were and are a consequence of a certain psychological composition, a result of progressive-humanistic upbringing, which I received at home as well as in Kreczmar High School. Many times I wished to analyze the causes for dislike for Jews and I could not find any, besides artificially formed ones.”

     Jan and Antonina Zabinski were recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations on September 21, 1965. All information is courtesy of Yad Vashem, and some incredible primary resources can be accessed here: http://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/zabinski
Please let me know if you've seen the film, I'd love to hear more about it and look forward to seeing it myself!
     Thanks for reading,
Delany (DLeitchHistory on Twitter)

World War Wednesdays: Christmas at Auschwitz

SS officer Karl Hoecker lights a candle on a Christmas tree only weeks before the liberation of Auschwitz, USHMM

     Thanks for bearing with me through some weird technology weeks! As of now I believe things are back to normal and hopefully that won't ever happen again. I realize that this week's topic is a bit dark for the holiday season, but I've been doing some work on the Holocaust lately and happened upon this story. It's important to point out before we start that the Jewish prisoners would not have observed the holiday, but Christian Polish inmates did celebrate to the best of their ability during the five Christmases during the camp's operation. In addition, the Nazis employed at the camp held their own horrific festivities, as will be mentioned. These descriptions come from the testimonies of Polish prisoners who survived the infamous death factory and were compiled by the Auscwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum.

     The first Christmas Eve behind the barbed wire in 1940 was one of the most tragic, and created a terrible tradition which was repeated in subsequent years. On the roll-call square, the Nazis set up a Christmas tree complete with electric lights. Beneath it, they placed the bodies of prisoners who had died while working or freezing to death at roll call. Former prisoner Karol Świętorzecki later recalled that Lagerführer Karl Fritzsch referred to the corpses beneath the tree as “a present” for the living, and forbade the singing of Polish Christmas carols.

A Christmas tree standing in front of Block 15 in Auschwitz I, Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum

     The next year, the Nazis organized another dark Christmas. During the return from slave labor on the construction of Auschwitz II-Birkenau, they killed around three hundred Soviet POWs who were too weak to walk that day. According to an eyewitness account by former prisoner Ludwik Kryński, there was a second roll call at 6:00pm after the SS men had finished the first roll call and eaten their supper. In temperatures well below freezing, the prisoners were forced to listen to Pope Pius XII's Christmas Eve proclamation recited in German. Forty-two prisoners succumbed to the cold, and numerous others were brought to the point of nervous breakdowns at the sight. 
     Prisoners also tried to celebrate in their blocks and attempted to help their fellows whose spirits had been broken. An account in the Museum collections by Józef Jędrych from Block no. 10a describes how “the singing of German carols began, and then like the waves of the sea came the powerful words [from a Polish carol] ‘God is born, the powers tremble’ and others, until the final chord in the form of the Dąbrowski Mazurka [the Polish national anthem]. Everyone exchanged warm, cordial embraces and cried for a long time. There were those who sobbed out loud. . . . Such a grand moment never fades from memory. That Christmas is fixed forever in my heart and memory.”
     Henry Bartosiewicz smuggled in a small Christmas tree, which stood in room 7 block 25. Polish Army cavalry-platoon commander Witold Pilecki, a hero of the camp resistance movement, adorned it with a White Eagle carved from a turnip.

Christmas Eve Władysław Siwek. Auschwitz State Museum (APMA-B-I-1-107)

     The Germans set up another tree at Auschwitz II-Birkenau in 1942 and once again placed the bodies of murdered men beneath it. Former prisoner Krystyna Aleksandrowicz recalls their deaths: Before Christmas in 1942, the SS men put up a Christmas tree for us. On Christmas Eve, they gathered the labor details from the men’s camp and ordered them to carry soil in their coats. They shot any man who gathered up too little soil. Then they stacked a whole heap of corpses underneath the Christmas tree.”
     That Christmas was twenty-two year-old Walentyna Nokodem's first at the camp, and she later reflected on that horrible tree: "I remember my first Christmas in Birkenau. There was a Christmas tree and they gathered us up in the roll-call square, and under the tree they put the bodies of man, the bodies remained there for the whole Christmas, and they forced us to look at them. They put the Christmas tree by the end of our section, just by the barbed wire. I can't remember exactly but there were hundreds of bodies of male prisoners. It was my first Christmas in the camp. The women didn't want to look. We all cried."
     In her Auschwitz Chronicle, the late Danuta Czech, the Museum historian, notes under the date December 24, 1942 that, in the evening, Polish women prisoners in the Stabsgebaude [staff building] lighted candles on a fir bough that had been smuggled in. Carols were sung in many places around the camp, which lifted people’s spirits and gave them hope of surviving. In Block 18a, Christmas Eve had a religious dimension. A prisoner who was a Roman Catholic priest obtained some bread and used it as a substitute Host.

     By 1943, the November arrival of new camp commandant Arthur Liebehenschel had improved the prisoners' lives and there were no macabre "presents" that year. Many of the Polish prisoners received communion wafers in parcels from their families and shared them with other prisoners, including the Jews. In many blocks, the prisoners organized Christmas observances. 

     1944 was the last Christmas spent at Auschwitz. Since the days of the Third Reich were numbered, the holiday atmosphere was completely different. Father Władysław Grohs de Rosenburg, the prisoner priest, was even allowed to hold a midnight mass. The women in Birkenau prepared “Christmas gifts” for the children in the hospital, using material supplied by other women to sew about 200 toys. They attached two lumps of sugar or a piece of candy to each, and wrote the children’s names on the presents. One of the women dressed up as St. Nicholas and passed out the presents on Christmas Eve. Fifteen children from another block also received presents.
    Auschwiz-Birkenau Museum historian Teresa Świebocka says that in 1944, Leokadia Szymańska, who was then a patient in the camp hospital, made a small Christmas tree that is now part of the Museum’s collections. It features Polish flags and a Polish eagle at the top.

     The camp was liberated shortly after, on January 27, 1945,  finally granting the wishes made during the five Christmases observed there.   

      I hope this glimpse into some of history's most terrible Christmases was an interesting and thought-provoking reminder of how much we all have to be grateful for this holiday. I'm looking to explore the camp's celebrations held by Nazi guards and staff next week so that the two stories can be compared. Thanks so much for spending part of your busy holiday season reading this post!
     Delany Leitch (@DLeitchHistory on Twitter)

World War Wednesdays: Pieces of Warsaw, No. 3

The Warsaw ghetto footbridge 

     Welcome to the third and final installment of Pieces of Warsaw, a series of research assignments I completed for the Holocaust course at the University of Ottawa under Dr. Jan Grabowski. So far, we've discussed an indictment issued by a German prosecutor and the death certificate of a young woman. As we've seen, both have led to tragic circumstances, but as Dr. Grabowski says, "Don't expect happy endings in this course."

Here is the third document we were given:

Dr. Jan Grabowski's translation from Polish:

Verso of the postcard:

21/XII/42

To the Council of Elders

Please, let me know where is my son, Izak Micner, post office employee.

If he is not there, please let me know where he is.

I know that you will not refuse [my request].

Written by the desperate father

Recto of the postcard:

Sender: M. Micner                             Recipient: Council of Elders

Schultz Factory                                  Turobin, Krasnystaw area

Tailors’ shop

Nowolipki 29

Your son Izaak Micner departed for the bosom of Abraham.

He has been killed

Council of Elders

___________________________________________________________________________________

Here's what I uncovered on this one:

     

Izak Micner: Listed on the Yad Vashem database as Yitzkhak Micner, he is described as a fourteen year-old boy from Turobin, Poland. In the document itself, his father indicates that Izak was a post-office employee in that village.

M. Micner (Mordachaj Micner): According to the Yad Vashem database, Mordachaj Micner was forty years old when he wrote the postcard. He was married to a woman named Alte, and had been a merchant in Turobin. He identifies himself in the postcard as an employee of the Schultz Factory’s tailors’ shop in the Warsaw ghetto, and according to the database he was killed a year later (1943) in the Izbica camp, Poland.

Schultz Factory: The German apparel manufacturing company-owned by Fritz Emil Schultz was granted official designation as a war production firm by the German High Command in the fall of 1940. Due to his longstanding ties with the Jewish community, he chose the Warsaw ghetto as the site of his operations to produce winter clothing for the German army, which opened in September 1941. At its peak in July 1942, the factory employed nearly 4,500 Jewish laborers.

Jews at work in the textile section of the Schultz Factory

Council of Elders: Chief of the Reich Central Security Office Reinhard Heydrich gave a conference in Berlin on 21 September1939 at which, after describing the ‘ultimate aim’ to concentrate Polish Jews in large cities, he called for a Council of Jewish Elders to be established in each city. These councils were to be responsible for ensuring that the movements of Jews were carried out on time, and they were threatened with the ‘severest measures’ in case of ‘sabotage of such instructions.’

     Much like the second document, this source represents the ways in which family members were separated and lost contact with each other as the German regime moved people around in mass numbers. Since issues of spelling and poor records make it nearly impossible to establish these claims as certain facts, I, much like the Turobin Council of Elders, was unable to provide a concrete description of the circumstances surrounding Izak Micner’s death. However, if the information from the Yad Vashem database can be taken as truth (I was unable to find a list of Schultz factory employees which would verify this as his name), more can be answered about the fate of the desperate father who wrote this postcard. In the late summer and fall of 1942, massive transportations to Treblinka decimated the factory’s workforce, but Mordachaj Micner evidently escaped these. The firm continued operating until February 1943, when it was transferred in stages to the Trawniki concentration camp, and maintained production until the entire camp population was liquidated during the Harvest Action on 3 November, 1943.Since the Yad Vashem database lists his death year as 1943, it is therefore likely that he perished in this Aktion.

Works Cited

Gilbert, Martin. The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy. London: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd.,

            1986.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Work permit issued by the Schultz Company to

            Gina Tabaczynska.” Accessed 3 February 2016.         

            http://digitalassets.ushmm.org/photoarchives/detail.aspx?id=1087269.

Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. “The Central

            Database of Shoah Victims’ Names.” Accessed 3 February 2016.

            http://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&s_lastName=Micner&s_

            firstName=Izak&s_place=&itemId=8852909&ind=3. 

Thanks for reading,

Delany Leitch (@DLeitchHistory on Twitter!)

World War Wednesdays: Pieces of Warsaw, No. 2

Bridge connecting the ghetto and non-ghetto sections of Warsaw

     As discussed last week, I recently undertook a project through my Holocaust course at uOttawa which required some in-depth research concerning the experiences of specific Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. These were documented in the archive maintained by Emmanual Ringelblum, who was also discussed in a previous post. As an update to last week's discussion, I thought I'd share that my research received 100% and personal congratulations from Dr. Jan Grabowski!

     Similar to last week, here is the second document that was provided to us:

And here is Dr. Jan Grabowski's translation from Polish:

Identity of the deceased

Day: December 15th     1941   at 8:15 am    died in Warsaw

where:   Gesia street                Nr. 24

Elbaum Malka

daughter of Szlomo and Szajndla

Born in: Warsaw                                            Date of birth: 1923

place of residence: Krochmalna 7                  profession: staying with parents

civic state: single

Cause of death:                      executed by a firing squad

This is what I was able to uncover:

      Upon examination of the circumstances of Malka Elbaum’s death, it is determined that she was among fifteen Jews shot at the Gęsia Street prison as part of the second execution of arrestees charged with leaving the ghetto.She is included in a list compiled in Kiddush Hashem : Jewish religious and cultural life in Poland during the Holocaust as ‘Melke Elboym,’ daughter of ‘Shloyme’ and ‘Sheyndl,’with the remainder of her data being exactly that listed in her death certificate. According to the book, which was written by a rabbi who carefully documented Jewish life in the ghetto, the fifteen Jews were sorted into two groups around 8:00am on 15 December, 1941, with Malka as part of the first. After being told that they were being transferred to the Mokotow prison, the first group were walked from their cell out to the execution area, where they saw “a line of armed policemen, the German military officers, and the fifteen caskets.” Despite their screams of realization and terror, the eight Jews were tied to posts by members of the Jewish police, shot, and put into coffins which were then nailed shut.While the book describes the time on the first group’s death certificates being recorded as 8:45, Malka Elbaum’s actually states 8:15 as her time of death. This raises a question as to which author was more accurate.

This document and the story it tells demonstrates the tragedy of a family torn apart and wiped from the face of the earth in a matter of two years. Supposing the database information is accurate, I wish I could find out why Malka’s death certificate lists her as living with her parents when her mother is not described as having also lived in Warsaw. The young girl’s tragic end is likely due to the temptations of living on a ghetto-bordering street while being starved inside it.

     Malka Elbaum: Her name, with the same spelling, is listed in the Yad Vashem Database of Shoah Victims’ Names, where she is described as having been born in Warsaw, 1923 to parents Shlomo and Scheindl.The spelling of the parents’ names differs here but the remainder of the data is exactly as appears on the original death certificate. She is listed as having been murdered in the Shoah and aged 18 at her time of death. She also appears in the Warsaw Ghetto Database with the description “A young girl, living with a family. Lived at Krochmalna Street no. 7; shot at 8:15,” and “shot in prison at Gęsia Street”. Documents for her entry came from the State Archive of New Records regarding the Warsaw Ghetto and the Ringelblum Archive Part I.

     Szlomo Elbaum (Malka’s Father): His name can also be found in the Yad Vashem Database, though it is spelled “Szalma” Elbaum. According to the database, he was born in Warsaw in 1903 and appears on a list of Jewish inmates from a transport transferred to the Majdanek camp in 1943, though his ultimate fate is not listed.

     Szajndla Elbaum (Malka’s Mother): Her name appears on a records list by Jewish Kutno under “Szajna Rozenblum” with the maiden name Elbaum, though her maiden and married names are likely reversed. Her father’s given name is Abraham and her mother’s is Frajda, and she is listed as married to Szlomo. She was born in 1899 in Kutno, Poland, lived in Lodz before the war, and during the war lived in Dabie, Poland. According to the list, she died in 1942 in Chelmno, Poland.

     Gęsia Street Prison: In part supervised by the Jewish Ordnungsdienst, conditions there were worse than those present in other Warsaw jails. The prison had opened during the summer of 1941 to remove a portion of the Jewish inmates being held in “gentile” prisons, initially anticipating 500-600 but eventually serving a population of 1,500-1,800.

The entrance to the prison

     Krochmalna Street: A lengthy, poor street before the establishment of the ghetto, it became one of the most squalid in Warsaw during the occupation, with the corpses of starved Jews littering the road. Given its major occurrence of typhus, it was used by the Germans at the beginning of 1940 as a test area for the planned formation of the ghetto due to a health authority report that the street was the main source of epidemic in Warsaw (noted in Ringelblum’s diary). However, the street was not entirely Jewish and not entirely incorporated into the ghetto, as evidenced by the story of a young Jewish girl being smuggled out of the ghetto to live with a Christian foster family at 33 Krochmalna until the 1943 uprising.

___________________________________________________________________________________

      The story of Malka's last few moments, described in vivid detail in the Kiddush Hashem book, was one of the most troubling accounts I've ever read. The entire time I was searching for information I refused to believe that such a young girl could meet such a terrible end, but if there's one thing this course has taught me so far it's to never expect happy endings. In the grand scheme of the assignment, the Ringelblum archive, the entire Holocaust, she is one short line in one of the most horrific tales ever written.

     Thanks for reading, 

Delany

Works Cited

Grabowski, Jan. “Jewish Defendants in German and Polish Courts in the Warsaw District,

            1939-1942”. Yad Vashem Studies 35 (2007): 49-80.

Huberbrand, Shimon and David E. Fishman. Kiddush Hashem : Jewish religious and cultural life

            in Poland during the Holocaust. Translated and edited by Jeffrey S. Gurrock and Robert

            S. Hirt. New York: Yeshiva University Press, 1987.

Jewish Historical Institute. “A Story From an Old Photograph.” Accessed 29 January 2016.

            http://www.jhi.pl/en/blog/2014-04-22-a-story-from-an-old-photograph.

Jewish Kutno. “One-Step Search.” Accessed 3 February 2016.

http://jewish.kutno.free.fr/kutnosearchyv.php?SurnameKind=exact&SurnameSoundex=&SurnameMax=&MaidenNameKind=exact&MaidenNameMax=&GivenNameKind=exact&GivenNameMax=&FatherGivenNameKind=exact&FatherGivenNameMax=&MotherGivenNameKind=exact&MotherGivenNameMax=&StatusKind=exact&StatusMax=&SpouseNameKind=exact&SpouseNameMax=&BirthYearKind=exact&offset=351.

 Polish Center for Holocaust Research. “Warsaw Ghetto Database.” Accessed 3 February 2016.

            http://warszawa.getto.pl/index.php?mod=view_record&rid=02031998111710000004&tid

            =osoby.

Valley, Eli. The Great Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe: A Travel Guide & Resource

            Book to Prague, Warsaw, Crakow & Budapest. Maryland: Jason Aronson Inc., 1999.

Yad Vashem The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. “The Central

            Database of Shoah Victims’ Names.” Accessed 3 February 2016.

            http://yvng.yadvashem.org/nameDetails.html?language=en&s_lastName=Elbaum&s_first

            Name=Malka&s_place=Warsaw&itemId=4003112&ind=3. 

World War Wednesdays: Pieces of Warsaw, No. 1

The wall separating the Warsaw ghetto from the Aryan side of the city

     As I mentioned a few posts ago, I'm currently taking the Holocaust course at uOttawa, which is a topic I've studied informally my whole life. The professor, Dr. Jan Grabowski, is an award-winning figure in the field of Holocaust studies, and co-founded the Polish Center for Holocaust research.

     Almost two weeks ago, Dr. Grabowski presented us with an assignment which I found to be a profound experience in historical research, and I wanted to share it with readers as a sort of follow-up post to the one on Emmanuel Ringelblum. All document translations were done by Jan Grabowski, and I have obtained his permission for use of them as well as discussion of his assignment.

     To begin, we were given three documents which were found in the archive that Emmanuel Ringelblum buried under the Warsaw ghetto, along with the translations into English. We then had to conduct research to identify all places and names found in the document, as well as outline the historical context in order to know as much about the circumstances as possible. The goal was to find as much information as we could so that Dr. Grabowski could determine our levels of research capability. (We weren't allowed to collaborate or share answers so he requested that I post this blog after the due date had passed).

     Here's the first document he gave us:

It says:

                                                                                               Warsaw, 28 April 1942

The Chief of the Prosecutor’s Office                                     To the Special Court

of the Special Court                                                                In Warsaw

Arrest!

INDICTMENT

Buki, Hinda, Jewess

born 22 February 1919, brush maker, single

resident in Warsaw, Krochmalna street 17 apt. 171

currently in prison, Gesia street 24.              

Is accused of having left the Jewish Living Area.

Being a  Jewess, she has left, on March 20, 1942, without authorization, the area assigned to the Jews in Warsaw.

This is a violation of § 4 b of the Decree of 13 September 1940 and October 15, 1941 concerning the Limitations of Residence for Jews in the General Government.

PROOFS:

The declaration of the accused

                                   

THE RESULT OF INVESTIGATION

The accused is a Jewess, she has admitted to having left the Jewish Quarter in Warsaw without authorization, in order to go begging.

REQUEST

I request: 1. To prepare proceedings in front of the Special Court in Warsaw

                2. To extend the period of arrest for the accused who poses a flight risk.

Dr. Peter

Prosecutor.

World War Wednesdays: Profile of a Hero: Emmanuel Ringelblum

     I've probably mentioned this on the blog a thousand times, but at the center of my history obsession is a deep passion for studying the Holocaust, which I've had since I was about eight years old. At that young age, I was introduced to Anne Frank's diary and a wide range of other books being published at the time to try and connect children with this difficult topic through the stories of real children. I've continued the reading and studying until now, and have just begun one of the most well-known history courses at uOttawa, The Holocaust with Dr. Jan Grabowski. I should warn you now that things may seem a bit darker now that I'll be dealing with this period more regularly, but they are stories that I think everyone can connect with in some way.

     On the very first day, Dr. Grabowski introduced us with the story of a man which has been in the back of my mind ever since, and I thought I would share it with readers today. It is of Emmanuel Ringelblum, a true hero both of history and for history.

Emanuel Ringelblum with his wife Yehudit and their son Uri

     Ringelblum was born into a Jewish family in Buczacz, Poland (present-day Ukraine) in 1900. In 1927, he earned a doctorate degree in history from the University of Warsaw, and was also active in public affairs. He belonged to the Po'alei Zion (a Marxist-Zionist Jewish workers' movement), taught high school for a brief period, and then worked for the Joint Distribution Committee in Poland.

     In November of 1938 the Committee sent him to the border town of Zbaszyn, where he was put in charge of 6,000 Jewish refugees who were forced out of Germany and not allowed into Poland. After five weeks in this role, his experiences had a great impact on him.

     Following Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939, Ringelblum continued working for the JDC, running soup kitchens and welfare programs for the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto. He and his friend Menahem Linder also founded a society for the advancement of Yiddish culture in the ghetto.

     In 1923, several Jewish historians in Poland formed a historical society, of which Ringelblum was also a leader and prominent contributing scholar. He edited the society's publications, and by 1939 had himself published 126 scholarly articles.

     Seeing the ways in which Jewish culture was slowly being destroyed in the ghetto and across Poland prompted him to begin his greatest achievement only a few months into the war: the secret Oneg Shabbat Archive. The name means "Sabbath Pleasure," and reflected how its members met in secret on Saturday afternoons. In the beginning, the archive would collect reports and stories from Jews who had come to the ghetto seeking help from the self aid organizations.

Emanuel Ringelblum with the members of board of the International History Congress 1933

     Ringelblum spent his days collecting information, and wrote his notes at night. He knew that what was happening to the Jews was unprecedented, and was determined to make a complete record of time and place for historians in the future. As an historian himself, he knew exactly how to go about doing this. He and his colleagues would collect information and write about towns, villages, the ghetto, the resistance movement, and the deportation and extermination of the Jews in Poland. Towards the end of the Warsaw ghetto, the archivists were sending out every bit of information they had about the murders to the Polish underground, who in turn smuggled it out of the country. Ringelblum's archive thus helped to expose Nazi atrocities to the rest of the world.

     All of the Oneg Shabbat materials were preserved in three milk cans and buried beneath the Warsaw ghetto. In March 1943, Ringelblum and his family escaped from the ghetto and went into hiding in a non-Jewish part of Warsaw. He returned to the ghetto in the midst of its infamous uprising and was deported to the Trawniki labor camp, but escaped with the help of a Polish man and Jewish woman. He and his family went back into hiding, but their hideout was discovered in March 1944. Soon after, Ringelblum, his family, and the other Jews he had been hiding were taken to the ruins of the ghetto and murdered.

     One of the buried archival sites was discovered in 1946 and a second in 1950, and the other has yet to be found. The materials inside them and Ringelblum's own written chronicles constitute the most comprehensive and valuable source we have for information concerning the Jews in occupied Poland. It also speaks to a remarkable quality of human character that, when pushed to an extreme level of persecution and destruction of identity, showed resilience and resourcefulness in the face of the enemy and has endured long after the last blow has been struck.

     Ringelblum's archive is one of those stories that seems to speak directly from historian to historian, regardless of time and language. This penchant for collecting, writing, and publishing can have so much power and profound significance, and Emmanuel Ringelblum remains a true hero and inspiration for those who follow him in this field.

     Information courtesy of Yad Vashem and Dr. Jan Grabowski.

Thanks for reading,
     Delany

World War Wednesdays #1

Delany Leitch worked at Backus-Page House Museum during the summer of 2013 and is now volunteering her time to submit World War weekly blog posts for us. 

If I were to ask you what your favorite subject was in school, my best guess is that your answer probably wouldn’t be History, or anything related to a subject which requires the memorization of dates, places and names combined with a great deal of writing and reflection. I’ll be the first to say that I can’t blame you there. After all, for most people the subject is not directly related to the kind of knowledge and skills required in a workplace, so it’s a generally short-lived struggle. If this sounds at all familiar to you, I am sorry to hear that. You probably didn’t have the amazing luck that I’ve had in the history teacher department, which for me was a huge factor in sparking the inspiration which has led me to where I am right now.

I’m a second-year student at the University of Ottawa specializing in history, specifically the German side of the Second World War and the Holocaust, with additional interest in the German language and Sociology. I am so thrilled to be able to say that I absolutely love what I’m studying, and I could not be more excited about this stage in my educational journey.

If what I’m studying doesn’t sound appealing to you, that’s perfectly understandable. Studying the far-away concepts of times gone by can seem at best daunting and at worst useless. This isn’t the most employable field in the world, I know. But, for just a few minutes, I’d like to get you to see the value in studying and appreciating history, and if you don’t end up joining me in perpetual research and essay writing, maybe you’ll have a better understanding of why we do this.

I’ll start off with a little story which has sparked a lot of recent pondering for me. Last Wednesday, September 10^th was the 75^th anniversary of Canada’s official entry into the Second World War. It was a day I had been anticipating, and was looking forward to seeing how it would be recognized. On that morning, I went to my Facebook page, as I often do, to share with friends and family the interesting and humorous historical things I encounter. I uploaded a few pictures of my great-grandfather, Verne Frank in his uniform posing with family. You can see the photos enclosed in this blog. In the caption, I mentioned what a significant day it had been for my family, and asked how it had affected other people. I expected to not receive much response, but I was shocked to begin receiving the personal family war stories of people I don’t even know well. I was incredibly humbled and thrilled that these people would take the time to send pictures and stories in response to my casual little question.

This positive reception also made me think. These people were so proud to be able to tell me of their relatives’ participation in a war that spanned the entire globe, a war which I have become dedicated to study. It made me wonder why people are so quick to be bored and overwhelmed by studying history, but asking them to draw personal questions results in an outpouring of pride and sharing. I can now say that I recognize and appreciate the immense value in establishing personal connections with the history that has shaped all of us. This lesson is valuable in any field, but in history it can make or break how someone views it. For me, having the individual stories make the big concepts I study so much more impactful. I thought as I was reading them how great it would be if all parts of history could be explored in such an exciting a  manner as if it were our own relatives’ experiences. I thought about what a difference history teachers could make if they broke topics down from the key concepts to the little people who were a part of them.

This is just a little observation I have made and been thinking about. One of the greatest lessons I have learned from this is how a momentous event like the Second World War can bring people together not only during, but many decades after the dust has settled. I can’t express enough how honored I was to be entrusted with the amazing stories I have read. This is a lifelong discussion for me and I love when people add to it. If you want to be a part of the conversation, I’ll always want to hear it. Seeing other people get excited about history makes me happier than anything, and if you’d like to know more, feel free to follow my journey!

                 Thanks for reading,

                 Delany Leitch