residents could not afford a bribe. The process often involved violence, and the disinfected buildings were almost always devastated and looted in the process. Steamings were commonly regarded as an element of Nazi policy, because instead of counteracting the epidemic they often spread the disease onto the poorest streets of the ghetto. It is characteristic that the texts from the Oyneg Shabes collection show steamings not only from the point of view of indigent Jews plagued by that nightmare, but also from the perspective of the disinfection column members. The protagonists of these texts are fully aware that ghetto residents regard them as directly responsible for the occupier’s ordinances. At the same time, however, the disinfections and bribes constitute the foundation of their existence and the only chance for them to provide for their families. They are a “logical, iron necessity”, as one disinfection column member put it.19
Several texts included in this volume discuss economic activity in the Warsaw ghetto, mostly noting its illegal aspects. It should be stressed that due to the difficulties in carrying out research, this topic is discussed by only a handful of texts from the Archive. According to Ringelblum, the study entitled “Ghetto walczy z niewolą gospodarczą” [the ghetto fights against economic slavery] and included in this volume is one of those few.20 Until the summer of 1942, economic activity, and particularly smuggling, was the aspect of social life of the ghetto Jews which was most fiercely combated by the occupier. Consequently, this topic, shown as an important form of civilian resistance, had to be included in this volume. As with the texts discussed above, these, too, present both sides of a phenomenon. On the one hand, smuggling is a form of civilian resistance — the only chance of survival for the population
Introduction XXVIII
