מענדעלע

This year marks fifty fifth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Commemorating the anniversary this issue of Mendele includes excerpts from Emanuel Ringelblum's last letter from Warsaw addressed to YIVO and a group of Yiddish writers describing Yiddish cultural and educational activities in the ghetto, a fragment from the Shmuel Batt's book "Oyf Eybik" and a bibliography of Yiddish sources on Warsaw ghetto uprising.

Iosif Vaisman

Warsaw, March 1, 1944

Dear Friends:

We write to you at a time when 95 per cent of the Polish Jews have already died in the throes of horrible tortures in the gas chambers of the annihilation centers in Treblinka, Sobibor, Chelmno, Oswiecim or were slaughtered during the numberless "liquidation campaigns" in the ghettos and camps. [...] That any of us, the community workers, who carry on under conditions of twofold secrecy, will outlive the war, we greatly doubt. We, therefore, want to take this means to tell you in brief about those activities which link us most closely to you. [...]

The watchword of the organized groups of the Jewish community was "To live with honor and die with honor!" We made every effort to carry out this watchword in the ghettos and concentration camps. An expression thereof was the wide scope of the cultural work which was undertaken notwithstanding the horrible terror, hunger and poverty and which grew and spread until the martyr death of Polish Jewry.

At the time when the Warsaw Ghetto was hermetically sealed, a clandestine cultural organization was formed with the name Jewish Cultural Organization (YIKOR). It conducted broad educational work, organized series of lectures, literary anniversaries (in honor of I. L. Peretz, Sholem Aleikhem, Mendele, Borokhov, etc.) and literary and dramatic programs. The spirit of the YIKOR was the young scholar Menakhem Linder, an economist, murdered by the Germans as early as April 1942.

Under the cloak of the children's kitchen and homes of the CENTOS, a net of underground schools of various ideological trends was spread (CISHO, Tarbut, Shul-Kult, Yavne, Horeb, Beth Jacob etc.). The secular schools using Yiddish as the language of instruction were particularly active. They were organized by the unforgettable leaders Shakhne Zagan and Sonia Nowogrudzki, both of whom were sent to death in Treblinka.

Clandestine central Jewish archives were formed under the innocent name of Oneg Shabbat. Under the direction of Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum [...] the archives amassed materials and documents relating to the martyrology of the Jews in Poland. Thanks to the intensive work of a large staff, tens of crates were collected with extraordinarily valuable documents, diaries, memoirs, reportages, photographs, etc. All of these materials were buried in <...>; we have no access to them. Most of the material sent abroad originates from our archives. We raised a cry to the world with exact information about the greatest crime in history. We are still continuing the archival work. Notwithstanding the terrible conditions we are still collecting memoirs and documents about the martyrdom of the Jews, their struggle and the present living conditions of the remnants of the Polish Jews, in 1941 and 1942 we were in contact with <...> in Vilna, who, under German control, classified the materials of the Yiddish Scientific Institute - YIVO and secretly hid a good deal of them. Now there are no more Jews left in Vilna. The great center of Jewish culture and of modern research work has been completely destroyed.

Lively, underground educational activities were conducted by almost all parties and ideological groups, particularly youth organizations. During almost the entire time in which the Ghetto existed, an underground press issued newspapers, journals and miscellaneous volumes. An especially stimulating press was maintained by the following organizations: Jewish Workers Alliance - Bund (Bulletin, Tsayt-Fragn, Yugnt-Shtime, Za Nasza i Wasza Wolnosc, Nowa Mlodziez), Left-Wing Poalei Zion (Proletarisher Gedank, Yugnt-Ruf, Avangard, Nasze Hasla), Hashomer Hazair (Przedwiosnie, Jutrznia, Oipbroiz and a number of miscellanies), Dror (Dror-Yedies, Hamadrikh, Genre an Payn), Right-Wing Poalei Zion (Bafreiung); the anti-fascist bloc (Der Ruf); the Communists (Morgen Freiheit) and others. Some of these periodicals published in Warsaw were circulated in all the ghettos, despite the overwhelming contact and communication difficulties.

The center for child welfare, CENTOS, conducted many cultural activites among the great masses of children and youth [...]. A central library for children and a theater were created [...]. Courses were given in the Yiddish language and literature. Especially impressive were the cultural and artistic performances given during the "Children's Month," when the audience, consisting of thousands of weary spectators, came to spend a few carefree hours with the children and thus, for a short time, escape from the nightmare of reality. Hundreds of children from the CENTOS homes and from the schools participated in these performances which rose to a high artistic level. Today there are no more Jewish children in Poland! Ninety-nine percent of them were murdered by the Hitler criminals.

Within the Ghetto, a symphony orchestra was formed [...]. Excellent choral groups were formed: the children's choir, led by J. Fevishis, was a great success [...]. The Jewish artists and sculptors who lived in dire need occasionally displayed their masterpieces [...].

[...] Remember that our workers were ever faithful to the ideals of our culture until their dying moments. The flag of culture and of struggle with barbarism was clenched in their hands until death.

When the period of murderous deportations began, the slogan of self-help was abandoned for the idea of active resistance. Our youth of all the movements, especially of the pro-Palestine organizations, revealed its indomitable courage; it was the onset of the colossal epic by the armed Jewish battle in Poland; the heroic defense of the Warsaw Ghetto, the illustrious battle in Bialystok, the destruction of the extermination dens in Treblinka and Sobibor, the battles in Tarnow, Bendzin, Czestochowa and other places. The Jews showed the world that they could fight, weapon in hand, that they know how to die honorably in the battle against the deadly enemy of the Jewish nation and of all humanity. [...]

Whether we shall have the opportunity to meet with you is doubtful. To all the workers for Jewish culture, writers, journalists, musicians, sculptors and all the contributors to modern Jewish culture and fighters for national liberation and the cause of mankind, we send our warmest greetings.

Dr. E. Ringelblum

Notes: Emanuel (Menahem) Ringelblum (1900-l944) - Jewish historian and educator from Warsaw. Soon after the establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto, he founded a secret historical and literary society under the code name Oneg Shabbat. The society maintained secret archives chronicling the life and martyrdom of Polish Jewry under the German occupation. These archives, hidden in several places in Warsaw, were discovered after the war; they constitute the most extensive documentary source about Jewish life in Poland during the Holocaust. Ringelblum, who had escaped the ghetto and lived in a hideout in the "Aryan" section of Warsaw, was killed on March 6, 1944 five days after sending this letter, along with 35 others when the Nazis discovered their clandestine abode.

The letter, dated March 1, 1944 was written in code and signed by Ringelblum and one of his associates. It was addressed to YIVO, the Yiddish PEN Club, Sholem Asch, Haim Leivick, Joseph Opatoshu and Raphael Mahler. Published in Jewish Frontier 12, no. 2 (February 1945), pp. 14-15. Reprinted from "The Jew in the modern world: a documentary history" (Eds.: Paul Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz) / New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Iosif Vaisman

vi an optseykhenung funem 55-tn yor zint dem heldishn oifshtand in Warshever geto, bring ikh do an oistsug fun mayner a dertseylung "Oif Eybik" nokh velkher kh'hob gegebn dem nomen fun maynem a bukh:

"Oif Eybik" (oistsug)

untn,oif der tsekhrasteter un tseshoiberter gas, hot di shiseray plutsem oifgehert. s'iz gevorn mitamol azoy shtil, az m'hot gekont hern vi der yunger april-vint, eynzam un faryosemt, blondzhet arum in di oisgehoilte moyern, baveynt shtil un troyerik di toyte in di leydike dires,zukht un nishtert un kon nit gefinen far sikh a mokem mnukhe.

do, oibn,oifn tsekalietshetn boidem, nebn di fentster mit oisgehakte shoibn un remlekh hot men gekont iberkhapn dem otem, opvishn dem gedikhtn shveys funem shtern, a kuk tun oif vi lang s'veln nokh stayen di patronen un granatn, un nikhter, on baputseray, a gribl tun in der eygener neshome, tsunoifnemen di tseshtreyte gedanken.

nekhame hot avekgeshtelt di ongevaremte funem shisn biks, hot funandergelozt dem shvern shvartsn kublik oifn kop un forzikhtig arop- gekukt in gas arayn. in der fargeyindiker tunkl-rosever zun, vos hot zikh shoin kimat bahaltn oif yener zayt geto-moyer, tsvishn groye un alts mer shvartsverendike shotns hobn es-es soldatn tsunoifgeshlept di toyte un farvundete un tsurikgetsoign zikh mekhuts der moyer. inmitn gas iz dem tsveytn tog geshtanen a farbrenter daytshisher tank. fun zayn ofenem liuk hot aroisgeshtartshet a farkoilter guf fun a tankist, vos hot nisht bavizn aroiskrikhn funem fayerdikn keyver. a getrofener fun an oifshtendlerisher koil, iz er geblibn hengen a toyt-farsarfeter. unter di yidfishe zalpn hobn di fashistn nisht bavisn im aroystsushlepn. un azoy iz er geblibn in zayn untergehaktn tank vi a shtumer eydes tsu der miser ershter mapole funem soine inem yidishn geto.

[...]

s'hot zikh farendikt der tsweyter tog fun di kamfn. inem ershtn tog zenen di es-es soldatn arayn in geto zayendik zikher, az zey veln shnel endikn di operatsie: aroysfirn ale yidn tsum umshlagplats un fun dort kayn treblinke un maydanek. bagegnt mit fayer fun di,dukht zikh puste hayzer, hobn zey opgetrotn un gepruvt nokhamol. ober dos fayer fun pistoletn, biksn un granatn iz gevorn nokh shtarker. ven der tank iz getrofn gevorn mit a tsind-kokteyl un iz farbrent gevorn, ven oifn bruk zenen geblibn lign in zeyer eygenem arishn blut toyte un farvundete, hobn di es-esovtses zikh tsurikgetsoygn oiser di moyern. shpeter hobn zey arayngefirt in shlakht shver mashinen-gever, un zenen vider gekumen.ober zeyer ongrif iz, vi frier, opgeshlogn gevorn.oifn tsveytn tog zenen di kamfn gevorn nokh mer farbisn. un vider hobn di daytshn gemuzt fasrlozn dos geto.

fun di hayzer un bunkers zenen arois yunge un alte,mener un froyen, oisgedarte un oisgemutshete, un hobn genumen tantsn mit freyd un islayves. di onfirer fun di kamfs-grupn hobn koim gekont poiln, az zey zoln tsurikgeyn tsu di baheltenishn in di khoreve hayzer.

di kleyne grupe oifshtendler hot far di tsvey teg farloirn tswey kemfer.s'iz gefaln di farbindlern funem "Hashomer Hatsair", di freylekh- shtiferishe serke. in shverste un fintserste minutn hot zi keynmol nit farloirn ir lebnslust. epes an umfarshtendlekher kval fun freylekhkayt hot geshpritst fun ir, afile ven zi hot gehungert, ven tsu ire akhtsn yor iz zi gevorn a kaylekhdige yesoyme,- ale ire noente zenen oisgegangen fun hunger. zi hot untergenumen dem kamf un nisht getrakht az zi kon dershosn vern. in ir onvezkayt hot yedn opgelozt di more shkhoire un s'fleg vern laykhter oif der neshome.

zi is gefaln oifn untershtn shtok. a daytshishe oitomat-serie hot durkhgelekhert ir meydlishe brust, un zi is geblibn lign mitn nagan in der hant.oif ir yung ponem is farglivert gevorn a shmeykhl fun farvunderung, a nisht aroisgezogte frage:"Shoin? Azoi gikh is es geshen?"

shmuel batt

The following list includes several important references on Warsaw ghetto in Yiddish. Larger bibliography is available in Shtetl library (http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/library/warsaw-ghetto.html).

Geto in flamen : zamlbukh / Nyu-York: Amerikaner reprezentants fun "Bund" in Poyln, 1944. 206 p.

Mendelson, S. Der vidershtand in varshever geto / New York, 1944. 26 p.

Yizker tsum yortog funm oyfshtand in Varshever geto, April-May 1943 / Ramat-Gan: Defus "Liga", 1944. 45 p.

Fefer, I. Shotns fun varshever geto / Nyu-York: Ikuf, 1945. 76 p.

Seidman, H. Tog-bukh fun varshever geto / Buenos Ayres, Nyu York: Tsentral-Farband fun Poylishe Yidn in Argentine ; Federatsye fun Poylishe Yidn in Amerike, 1947. 335 p.

Goldstein, B. Finf yor in Varshever geto / Nyu-York: Farlag "Unzer Tsayt", 1947. 498 p.

Mark, B. Der ofshtand fun varshever geto / Moskve, Melukhe-Farlag "Der Emes," 1947. 206 p.

Mark, B. Dos bukh fun gvure / Lodzsh: Dos naye lebn, 1947.

Turkow, J. Azoy iz es geven : hurbn Varshe / Buenos Ayres: Tsentral-farband fun Poylishe Yidn in Argentine, 1948. 543 p.

Hurbn un oyfshtand fun di Idn in Varshe : eydes-bleter un azkores / Tel Aviv: Vaadat ha-golah fun der Algemeyner Idisher Arbeter-Organizatsye (ha-Histadrut ha-kelalit) in Erets-Yisroel un Idish-Natsyonaler Arbeter-Farband in Amerike, 1948. 2 v. (720 p.)

In heldishn gerangl : (der onteyl fun "Bund" in di geto-kamfn) : zamlbukh tsum 6-tn yortog fun heldishn vidershtand in Varshever geto / New York: Farlag Unzer tsayt, 1949. 285 p.

Ringelblum, E. Notitsn fun varshever geto / Varshe; Yidish Bukh, 1952. 352 p.

Ringelblum, E. Ksovim fun geto / Varshe: Yidish Bukh, 1961. 2 v., 23 cm.

Iosif Vaisman