Department for Social Work of ŻSS-KK, which was headed by Emanuel Ringelblum. In August 1940 there were 2062 House Committees in Warsaw.
The headquarters of ŻSS for occupied Poland were based in Kraków, the capital city of GG, and headed by Michał Weichert. One of its first local committees was Jewish Municipal Caring Committee in Warsaw (ŻKOM), constituted on 17th September 1940. On October 30th ŻSS-KK was dissolved and social organizations that constituted it (CENTOS, TOZ, Toporol, ORT etc.) were incorporated into ŻKOM. Divisions of ŻSS-KK that were created already during the war (folk kitchens, collection of clothes, care for refugees) formed a new organization, the Jewish Society for Social Aid (ŻTOS) and were also incorporated into ŻKOM. In December 1941 all social care associations were incorporated into ŻSS. Warsaw ŻKOM was being reorganized until March 1942 and eventually became more centralized.
During the summer 1942 deportations from the Warsaw ghetto (22 July – 21 September 1942) social aid ceased to function, even though at the beginning of deportations, efforts were made to continue working. In the beginning, employees of ŻKOM were exempted from deportation. On the 1st and 2nd August, 1942, those working at canteens on Nowolipki street were taken to Umschlagplatz and to Treblinka. On the 3rd August the same happened to TOZ employees, and on the 6th August to office workers of ŻKOM. After the great deportation, the Judenrat oficially took over caring activities.
Arrangement of documents in the volume
The volume is divided into three parts.
First part consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 consists mostly of Michał Weichert’s notes and reports, as well as minutes from his meetings with German authorities and Polish social activists between January and August of 1940. The second chapter contains materials pertaining to structural developments and changes of caring associations, mostly legal documents. The third chapter consists mostly of reports concerning ŻSS and KK activities during the first year of the war. Those reports summarize this period of activities of those organizations as ŻKOM started to operate in September 1940. The fourth chapter consists of various documents concerning personal issues of ŻSS employees and letters of their representatives to the directorship of the institution. Chapter 5 contains private letters with requests for material help sent to Icchak Giterman, director of AJDC.
The second part consists of documents pertaining to various branches of ŻSS activities. Chapter 6 pertains to the social sector (for example, activities of House Committees). In chapter 7 readers will find leaflets and reports from fundraising. Chapter 8 consists of documents concerning alimentary aid: among others, folk kitchens, Action for Emergency Nutrition and the Provisioning Department. Chapters 9–11 contain documents pertaining to clothing aid, housing aid and health care. Chapter 12 touches upon an important but under-researched activity of ŻSS – ‘constructive aid’. It mostly consisted of help for the unemployed, vocational training, creation of new work places and workshops. Chapter 13 contains documents on international help and contacts with families living abroad. Chapters 14–16 pertain to individual help (mostly for impoverished intelligentsia), aid for children and help for refugees and displaced people.
