to persecute Jewish citizens, as singled out from other nationalities subjected
to German occupation.
The documentation of the Ringelblum Archive served as evidence against
war criminals in the post-war trials, and furthermore it has been a priceless
resource for researchers of Holocaust era. It is practically impossible to study
the Holocaust without reaching for documents in the Ringelblum Archive,
maintained by the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.
The 6th volume is a collection of accounts and testimonies of deportees
and refugees, accompanied by some official documents: German ordinances,
reports, and minutes of several Jewish Councils (Judenräte), papers of Jewish
Social Self-Help (ŻSS) and the American Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC),
as well as correspondence. They cover the period of the first days of the war,
starting in September 1939 and ending in November 1942. This is the ending
stage of Oyneg Shabes group activities, following the great deportation to
Treblinka death camp, which had started in July 1942, during the infamous
German Aktion “Reinhard”.
This year we commemorate the 80th anniversary of those events, and
remember its victims. The Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw has for several
years organized a Memorial March, every 22nd of July, when the SS operatives
started deportations from the Umschlagplatz at Stawki St. The March
walks from ‘death to life’, from the memorial to other important locations in
the ghetto. Every year there is an increasing number of participants: mostly
Warsaw’s citizens, but also visitors from abroad who come purposely, to honour
the Jewish victims of German occupation. Also, as customary, the March
has one theme, and this year we remember the refugees who arrived to the
ghetto from other towns, as well as those who cared for them. Among activists
of Jewish Social Self-Help were members of Oyneg Shabes, including Emanuel
Ringelblum and Rachela Auerbach. Therefore this volume is very timely,
as the need of understanding human experience in times of war unfolds to
us in unexpected way: we are witnessing in 2022 the war in Ukraine, with
its refugees and their experiences.
The current situation shows that listing documentation of the Ringelblum
Archive on UNESCO’s prestigious “Memory of the World” project, which collects
the most significant documents created by mankind was a profound
decision of the international community.
