by Prof. Israel Gutman

Emanuel Ringelblum – The Man and the Historian
Edited by Israel Gutman, 2006, 260 pages, NIS 63

Marking 62 years since Emanuel Ringelblum was murdered by the Germans, Yad Vashem has published a selection of articles from the international conference held in 2004 on the historian’s life and work.

Born in 1900 in Buczacz, Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum was one of the most prominent and socially active figures in the Warsaw Ghetto. In the years preceding the war, Ringelblum worked as a teacher. He devoted his evenings to what he regarded as his life’s mission: researching the history of Polish Jewry.
When war broke out, Ringelblum refused to join his friends fleeing eastward, citing his obligation to remain in Warsaw. While efforts were still being made to defend the city in September 1939, Ringelblum dedicated his time to aid those suffering the most—the homeless and refugees. With few leaders and public activists remaining among the 400,000 Jews in the city, Ringelblum became one of the founders of the Jewish Self-Help Organization (ZSS).

Ringelblum’s most important and historically valuable achievement was undoubtedly the establishment of the ghetto Underground’s archive: Oneg Shabbat. From the early days of German occupation, Ringelblum realized that no historical precedent existed for the events taking place, and that human imagination was not equipped to foresee the fate awaiting the Jews. He thus organized a group of dedicated individuals—writers, historians and young volunteers—to document life in the ghetto. The Oneg Shabbat archivists not only assembled material; they attempted to describe the changes taking place in the lives of individuals and families; the various social sectors; underground welfare activity; and the work of the Judenrat and the Jewish police. Ringelblum also collected diaries, literary works and newspapers, thereby turning the archive into a multifaceted documentation center for the history of the Jews in Poland in general, and in the Warsaw ghetto in particular.

Together with his wife Yehudit and son Uri, Ringelblum was smuggled out of the ghetto with the help of Barbara (Batya) and Avraham Adolf Berman who, aided by Polish friends, had escaped earlier to the “Aryan” side. Even from outside its walls, Ringelblum strove to maintain contact with the last Jews remaining in the ghetto after the mass transports to Treblinka, hiding the archival material he had amassed in different locations. On 18 April 1943, just before Passover, he re-entered the ghetto. The next day the Warsaw Ghetto Revolt broke out. Ringelblum was caught and deported to the Travniki work camp near Lublin. When his friends in Warsaw heard of this, two underground members were sent to smuggle him out of the camp and bring him back to Warsaw.

During his last months, Ringelblum hid with his family and a group of refugees in an underground bunker on Grojecka Street, in exceedingly difficult and overcrowded conditions. Nonetheless he continued his activities, encouraging his companions to record their memories of the ghetto, the deportations their months in hiding.

In 1946 and 1950 some important documents from the archive were found in the ruins of the ghetto, including letters written by Emanuel and Yehudit Ringelblum during their time in the bunker, before an informer betrayed its location. These letters, sent to the Bermans, paint a picture of life in the bunker, of Ringelblum’s self-help efforts and his tireless historical activity.
Emanuel Ringelblum was an optimist who fiercely believed in humanity. In his last letters, however, he admitted the improbability of his survival. The letter he wrote on 1 March 1944, a few days before the bunker was discovered, was concerned with the fate of the historical material he had collected and written: it constitutes the last will and testament of Emanuel Ringelblum.

The author is Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem.

Translated from the Polish by Ella Linda, Yad Vashem Archives

ALSO NEW ON THE SHELF…

I giusti d’Italia. I non ebrei che salvarono gli ebrei. 1943-1945 (The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations: Italy)
Series editor: Israel Gutman; Editor: Bracha Rivlin; Translators: Nanette Hayon and Maya Zippel; Italian edition Editor: Liliana Picciotto. Yad Vashem in association with Mondadori, 2006, NIS 129

Over the past five decades, more than 21,000 people have been recognized as Righteous Among the Nations—the highest honor bestowed upon non-Jews by Yad Vashem on behalf of the Jewish nation. The Encyclopedia of the Righteous Among the Nations aims to reveal their individual stories as witnessed by survivors from across Europe.

The Italian volume presents eyewitness accounts of the persecution of Jews in Fascist Italy and during WWII. The individuals honored within saved not only the lives of many Jews, but also the human dignity and honor of their compatriots.

The publication of this volume was made possible by cooperation between Yad Vashem, the Italian Embassy in Israel, the Italian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv and Mondadori publishing house with the support of the Editorial Department in the Prime Minister’s Office. It was presented on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January 2006) to Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, in the presence of Rabbi Emeritus of Rome Elio Toaff, Ambassador of Italy in Israel Sandro De Bernardin, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Israel Dr. Simonetta Della Seta, Ambassador of Israel in Italy Ehud Gol, Counselor for Foreign Affairs for the President of the Republic of Italy Arrigo Levi, historian and President of the community of Sant’Egidio Andrea Ricciardi, historian Liliana Picciotto and member of the Committee for the Designation of the Righteous Among the Nations Ambassador (ret.) Nathan Ben Horin. It was also presented on 15 March to President Moshe Katsav in the presence of Italian Ambassador to Israel Sandro De Bernardin and Avner Shalev.

Theodor Friedrichs, Exiles—My Family’s Journey: Berlin-Shanghai-New York
Series Editor: Dr. David Silberklang; Managing Editor: Daniella Zaidman Mauer. Yad Vashem in association with The Holocaust Survivors’ Memoirs Project, 2006, 232 pages, $21 (airmail included) /
NIS 69

Following the loss of his physician’s practice in Berlin, Theodor Friedrichs decided to emigrate with his family to Japan. His autobiography describes in detail his frustrations with the bureaucratic nightmare created by the Nazis to hinder emigration by the Jews, followed by rich descriptions of the eight years he spent in Shanghai. There he learned to treat unfamiliar tropical diseases—thereby saving many lives—while battling personal deprivation and illness. After the war, Friedrichs emigrated to the United States and rebuilt his life, practicing in New York for the next 20 years.

top