Emanuel Ringelblum (November 21, 1900 – March 10 (most likely), 1944) was a Polish-Jewish historian, politician and social worker, known for his ''Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto'', ''Notes on the Refugees in Zbąszyn'' chronicling the deportation of

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

from the town of Zbąszyń, and the so-called Ringelblum Archive of the

Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...

Before the war

He was born in

Buchach Buchach (, ; ; or ; ; ; ) is a List of cities in Ukraine, city located on the Strypa River (a tributary of the Dniester) in Chortkiv Raion of Ternopil Oblast (Oblast, province) of Western Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Buchach urban h ...

, an eastern Galician town, then in the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

, now in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Due to the strong presence of Yiddish culture in his hometown, Ringelblum developed a strong devotion to the

Yiddish language Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, as well as his political beliefs. In 1914, Ringelblum moved to

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; ; ; ; ) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. With a population of 83,116 as of 2021, it is the largest city in the Beskid S ...

and then proceeded to move to Warsaw in 1920. Ringelblum graduated from Warsaw University, where he completed his doctoral thesis in 1927 on the history of the Jews of Warsaw during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. Thereafter he taught history in Jewish schools and became a member of a political movement known as the “ Left Po’alei Zion”. He was known as a historian and a specialist in the field of the history of

Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

from the late

to the 18th century. Ringelblum worked for a variety of social organizations prior to the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Most notably, he helped Polish Jews expelled from

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in 1938 and 1939.

Pre-war activities

Prior to World War II, Ringelblum took part in many organizations that helped to shape his passion for Jewish history, as well as his activity during the war. Ringelblum was a member of Po'ale Tsiyon (Workers of Zion), which sparked his devotion to both the Yiddish language and the history of Judaism and its people. When the party split in 1920, he aligned with the left half of the organization ( LPZ), in which he played a large role in cultural work. In 1923, Ringelblum became one of the founding fathers of the Young Historians Circle. With help from co-founder Raphael Mahler, Ringelblum was able to gather more than 40 Jewish history students, as well as a generation of Jewish historians that worked to serve their people. The group was widely recognized for its publication of two journals and its work to defend the right to live in Poland. He proceeded to join

YIVO YIVO (, , short for ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. Estab ...

in 1925 as a result of his firm belief in "for the people by the people," and worked in the historical section of the organization. He worked as an editor for the group, and by 1939, Ringelblum had 126 scholarly articles published under his name. Ringelblum was also an active member of the Landkentenish movement, in which he stressed the need to preserve the Jewish link to Eastern Europe. In 1932, Ringelblum began working for the

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Advert Where and how does this article resemble an WP:SOAP, advert and how should it be improved? See: Wikipedia:Spam (you might trthe Teahouseif you have questions). American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a J ...

(JDC), where he learned how self-help could provide both moral and economic assistance to Jews in Poland facing discrimination as a result of

pogrom A pogrom is a violent riot incited with the aim of Massacre, massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe late 19th- and early 20th-century Anti-Jewis ...

s. Due to his success, the organization sent him to help Polish refugees in 1938. Following his work with JDC, Ringelblum served as the leader of Aleynhilf, which later became a key relief organization in the

by working against the

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Judenrat and the Jewish police. The group provided job opportunities for the Jewish elite, and this served as the basis for Oyneg Shabes. He also founded a Yiddish culture organization entitled Yidishe Kultur Organizatsiye.

World War II

During the war, Ringelblum and his family were resettled to the

. There he led a secret operation code-named Oyneg Shabbos (

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

for "

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

delight"). The activities of the group were kept so secretive that not even the inhabitants of the ghetto were aware of the operation. He spent his days collecting information, and wrote notes at night. Together with numerous other Jewish writers, scientists and ordinary people, Ringelblum collected diaries, documents, commissioned papers, and preserved the posters and decrees that comprised the memory of the doomed community. Among approximately 25,000 sheets preserved there are also detailed descriptions of destruction of ghettos in other parts of occupied Poland, the

Treblinka extermination camp Treblinka () was the second-deadliest extermination camp to be built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Mas ...

Chełmno extermination camp Chełmno, or Kulmhof, was the first of Nazi Germany's extermination camps and was situated north of Łódź, near the village of Chełmno nad Nerem. Following the invasion of Poland in 1939, Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, Germany annexed ...

and a number of reports made by scientists conducting research on the effects of famine in the ghettos. The operation used the Jewish Social Self-Help (ZSS), an organization tolerated by the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

, as a cover for its activities. The office of this social service is now the storage site of the

archives An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

. He was also one of the most active members of ''Żydowska Samopomoc Społeczna'' ( Polish for ''Jewish Social Aid''), an organisation established to help the starving people of the

. On the eve of the ghetto's destruction in the spring of 1943, when all seemed lost, the archive was placed in three milk cans and metal boxes. Parts were buried in the cellars of Warsaw buildings. Shortly before the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Ringelblum and his family escaped from the Ghetto and found refuge on the Polish side of

. However, on 7 March 1944 their hiding place (prewar address 81 Grójecka Street) was discovered by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

after a Polish collaborator betrayed them. Soon after, Ringelblum and his family were executed, along with the Polish rescuers Mieczysław Wolski and Janusz Wysocki, in Pawiak Prison.

Ringelblum archives

The fate of Ringelblum's archives is only partially known. In September 1946, ten clay-covered tin boxes were found in the ruins of Warsaw. Although they were damaged by water, the contents of the boxes were able to be salvaged by conservators. In December 1950, two additional milk cans were found in a cellar of a ruined house at 68 Nowolipki Street. The second archive was not only found in much better condition than the first, but also contained a larger variety of artifacts. Among them were copies of several underground newspapers, a narrative of deportations from the

, and public notices by the Judenrat (the council of Jewish leaders), but also documents of ordinary life, concert invitations, milk coupons, and chocolate wrappers. The archival treasure provides insight on the daily lives, struggles, and sufferings of Polish Jews living in a pivotal area during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

. Despite repeated searches, the rest of the archive, including the third milk can, has yet to be found. It is rumoured to be located beneath what is now the Chinese Embassy in

. The Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw is named for him.

Published works

*''Polish-Jewish Relations during the Second World War'' (1974)

References

Bibliography

*"American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee." ''In Memoriam - Emanuel Ringelblum - JDC Archives''. *Mark Celinscak, ''A Procession of Shadows: Examining Warsaw Ghetto Testimony.'' New School Psychology Bulletin. Volume 6, Number 2 (2009): 38–50. * Samuel D. Kassow, ''Who Will Write Our History? Emanuel Ringelblum, the Warsaw Ghetto, and the Oyneg Shabes Archive'', Bloomington & Indianapolis 2007. *Samuel D. Kassow, “Emanuel Ringelblum and Jewish Society”, Michael, Institute of Diaspora Studies, Tel Aviv University, 2004 *Sarah Traister Moskovitz,
Poetry In Hell
The complete collection of poems from the Ringelblum Archives in the original Yiddish with English translations''. Web. July 2010. *Shapiro, Robert Moses, Tadeusz Epsztein, and Samuel D. Kassow. "The Warsaw Ghetto Oyneg Shabes–Ringelblum Archive." ''Indiana University Press''.

External links

Ringelblum's Biography
*
An online exhibition about the Ringelblum archive
by

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

Lecture on Emanuel Ringelblum by Dr. Henry Abramson Short Video Documentary on Emanuel Ringelblum: The Oyneg Shabes Underground Archive in the Warsaw Ghetto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ringelblum, Emanuel 1900 births 1944 deaths Deaths by firearm in Poland Jewish historians People from Buchach People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Writers from Warsaw 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Polish civilians killed in World War II Warsaw Ghetto inmates People murdered in Poland University of Warsaw alumni Polish educators Polish Zionists History of YIVO Historians of the Holocaust in Poland People executed by Nazi Germany by firing squad People murdered in 1944 Polish people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Poale Zion politicians