Retrieved after World War II from metal boxes and milk cans buried beneath the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto, the Oyneg ShabesRingelblum Archive was clandestinely compiled between 1940 and 1942 under the leadership of historian Emanuel Ringelblum. Members of the secret Oyneg Shabes organization gathered thousands of testimonies from natives of Warsaw and refugees from hundreds of other localities, creating a documentary record of the wartime fate of Polish Jewry. Now housed in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, the archive comprises some 35,000 pages, including documents, materials from the underground press, photographs, memoirs, belles lettres, and much more. This first comprehensive description of its contents is meticulously indexed to facilitate location of documents and information. By aiding access to this unique archival treasure, the catalog and guide advance study of the daily lives, struggles, and sufferings of Polish Jews at a crucial time and place in the history of the Holocaust.
The Oyneg Shabes Archive is perhaps the most important collection of original material compiled by Jews during the Holocaust. . . . Conscious of the momentous times in which they lived and of the deadly peril facing the Jews of Europe, [participants in the project] were determined to chronicle all aspects of life in the ghetto to serve as a record for the future.
Contents
Foreword by Paul A. Shapiro, Eleonora Bergman, and Feliks Tych
Translator's Preface by Robert Moses Shapiro
Introduction by Samuel D. Kassow
Structure and Organization of the Ringelblum Archive and Its Catalog / Tadeusz Epsztein
Contents of the Inventory
Ringelblum I
Ringelblum II
Abbreviations
Abbreviations for Identifying Handwriting in the Inventory of the Ringelblum Archive Inventory
Catalog of Ringelblum I
Catalog of Ringelblum II
Concordances
Call Numbers in Ringelblum I: New Call Numbers = Old Call Numbers