“To reconstruct this period of martyrdom and heroism”: The Jewish Historical Institute and the Ringelblum Archive, 1946–1989

ABSTRACT

During the years 1946–1989, the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw (Żydowski Instytut Historyczny; ŻIH) was forced to navigate between conflicting imperatives – on the one hand, safeguarding the memory of Polish Jews by means of extensive documentation of the scope and devastating outcome of the Holocaust; and, on the other, adhering to the official Polish historical narrative and constraints imposed by the Communist regime. This article examines the varying ways in which research connected with the Ringelblum Archive was carried out during this period, and how this mirrored the changing situation of the Jewish community in postwar Poland. For many, the institute's work of cataloging and publishing documents from the archive served as a proof of the continuity of Jewish life in Poland.

KEYWORDS:

• Holocaust
• Jewish Historical Institute (ŻIH)
• Communism
• Poland
• Ringelblum Archive

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Wasser, “Archiwum Dra Emmanuela Ringelbluma,” 7.

2 Jockusch, Collect and Record! 85.

3 On Jewish communal bodies in Poland immediately after the Second World War, see, e.g., Engel, “The Reconstruction of Jewish Communal Institutions in Postwar Poland”; Shlomi, Asufat meḥkarim letoledot sheerit hapeleitah hayehudit bepolin, 1944–1950. On the Central Jewish Historical Commission, see Aleksiun, “The Central Jewish Historical Commission in Poland, 1944–1947”; Tych, “The Emergence of Holocaust Research in Poland.”

4 Haska, “Zbadać i wyświetlić,” 112. On the role of the CŻKH, and later ŻIH, in the prosecution of Nazi criminals in Polish trials, see also Finder and Prusin, Justice behind the Iron Curtain, ch. 5.

5 Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw (hereafter AŻIH), CŻKH 303/XX/38; Friedman, “Cele i zadania Centralnej Żydowskiej Komisji Historycznej w Polsce,” quoted in Haska, “Zbadać i wyświetlić,” 114.

6 See Friedman, “Wstęp.”

7 Grüss, Rok pracy Centralnej Żydowskiej Komisji Historycznej, 10.

8 See the testimony of J. Sobol-Masłowska in Datner and Pieńkowska (eds.), Instytut, 20. Despite the difficult financial straits in which she found herself, Sobol-Masłowska spent six months working pro bono at the Jewish Historical Commission branch in Katowice, viewing the spreading of information about the Holocaust as a tribute to her child who had been murdered during the war.

9 Many studies of Oyneg Shabes have been published; the most comprehensive is Kassow, Who Will Write Our History? On the contents of the Ringelblum Archive, see Epsztein, “Structure and Organization of the Ringelblum Archive and Its Catalog.”

10 Blumental, “Czym jest dla nas archiwum d–ra Ringelbluma,” 7.

11 On Hersh Wasser (1910–1980), see Sakowska, “Hersh un Blume 1912–1980”; see also Person, “Hersz Wasser – strażnik archiwum.”

12 Pieńkowska and Datner (eds.), Instytut, 25.

13 Bańkowska and Haska, “' … w podziemiach wymienionych domów zakopane są … '“

14 On Joseph Kermish (in Polish, Józef Kermisz), see Silberklang, “Józef Kermisz (1907–2005).”

15 Isaiah Trunk (1905–1981) was a Polish-born Jewish historian; from 1971 he was chief archivist in the Yiddish Scientific Institute (YIVO) in New York. See Trunk, Judenrat. On Trunk, see Borzymińska and Żebrowski (eds.), “Trunk, Izajasz.”

16 On Eisenbach, see Goldberg, “Artur Eisenbach”; Gutman, “Artur Eisenbach.” See also the article by Aleksandra Bańkowska, “The Dual Path of Historian Artur Eisenbach,” in this issue.

17 Eisenbach, “Jewish Historiography in Interwar Poland,” quoted in Polonsky, “Foreword.”

18 Polonsky, “Foreword.” See also Ł. Połomski, “Nowosądeckie rodowody historyków,” 589–591.

19 Eisenbach, “Wegn zajn lebns-weg,” 32.

20 As the person best acquainted with the archive's contents, Wasser led the initial effort to index its contents. Indexing began on September 23, 1946 and lasted for two months, until November 25, after which he began writing down the description of each document on small pieces of paper, which can still be found in the archive.

21 YIVO, RG 100/46/3, Hersz Wasser to Mark Uveleer (30 December 1946).

22 On other cases of documents being taken from ŻIH by its employees, see Cohen, Israeli Holocaust Research, 93.

23 The only mention of the missing documents is from September 1949, when at a meeting of members of the Communist party organization at the CKŻP, Ber Mark expressed concern about the danger that documents, particularly those from the Ringelblum Archive, were being taken abroad. AŻIH, 303/XX/12, “Z protokołu zebrania członków Koła Oddziałowego ŻIH Podstawowej Organizacji Partyjnej przy CKŻP” (6 September 1949); in Datner and Pieńkowska (eds.), Instytut, 69.

24 ŻIH organized various events aimed at commemorating the Ringelblum Archive and its creator. See “Akademie ku czci Ringelbluma.”

25 Blumental, “Czym jest dla nas archiwum d – ra Ringelbluma,” 7.

26 Ibid.

27 The most important documents are Ringelblum, “Notitsn fun varshever geto”; Linder, “A yor YISA”; “Ankete fun 'Oyneg Shabes'“; Tykociński, “Altvarg”; Lichtensztajn, “Un es iz geshen”; Górny, “Aktsye nr 2”; N.N., “Oyf der vakh”; N.N., “Varshe Geto”; Perle, “Khurbn Varshe”; Huberband, “Mekoyrim tsu der yidisher geshikhte in di slavisher lender”; Perle, “4580.”

28 Among those published in early 1950s were “Likwidacja żydowskiej Warszawy”; Huberband, “Przegląd źródeł do historii Żydów na ziemiach słowiańskich od średniowiecza do XVI w.”; “Obwieszczenie z 30.10.1942 r. o wykonaniu wyroku śmierci na Jakubie Lejkinie”; “Warszawskie Getto”; “Zew.”

29 On Tatiana (Tauba) Brustin-Berenstein (1907–1996), see Bańkowska, “Tatiana Brustin-Berenstein.”

30 Three of the important articles published in the first years of the journal's existence (all by Tatiana Brustin-Berenstein) were “Deportacje i zagłada skupisk żydowskich w dystrykcie warszawskim”; “O hitlerowskich metodach eksploatacji gospodarczej getta warszawskiego”; and “Rola przedsiębiorców niemieckich w eksterminacji ludności żydowskiej w Getcie Warszawskim.”

31 Mark, “Rola i zadania Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego.”

32 On the adaptation of the Ringelbum Archive in the service of a Stalinist interpretation of the Holocaust, see Rose, “The Oyneg Shabes Archive and the Cold War”; Person, “The Initial Reception and First Publications of Materials from the Ringelblum Archive in Poland, 1946–1952.”

33 Mark, “Rola i zadania Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego,” 3.

34 Ringelblum, “Notatki z getta.” Cf. idem, Notitsn fun varshever geto (1952).

35 ŻIH Ringelblum Archive [ARG] part I, documents 40, 445–454, 545, 578, 614, 644; ARG part II, documents 257–265, YIVO Archive, Hersch Wasser Collection, documents 31/12 and 48a.

36 On the censorship in the first publications of Ringelblum's notes, see Nalewajko-Kulikov (ed.), Pisma Emanuela Ringelbluma z getta, introduction; Person, “The Initial Reception and First Publications of Materials from the Ringelblum Archive in Poland, 1946–1952”; Nalewajko-Kulikov, “Dzieje publikacji Kroniki getta warszawskiego w Polsce.”

37 Stach, “'The Spirit of the Time Left Its Stamp on these Works.'“

38 On this point, see Nalewajko – Kulikov, “Czy socrealizm miał odmianę żydowską?” 174.

39 With regard to censorship of literary works from the Ringelblum Archive published in 1950s, see Person and Żółkiewska,”Edition of Documents from the Ringelblum Archive (the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto) in Stalinist Poland.”

40 Kermish, “Mutilated Versions of Ringelblum's Notes”; Blumental, “Di yerushe fun Emanuel Ringelblum.”

41 Datner and Pieńkowska (eds.), Instytut, 129.

42 Volume 1 of Ringelblum's Ksuvim fun geto: Togbuch fun varshever geto (1939–1942) was published in 1961 in a run of 4,000 copies; volume 2, Notitsn un ophandlungen (1942–1943) was published in 1963 in a run of 3,500 copies. See Nalewajko-Kulikov (ed.), Pisma Emanuela Ringelbluma z getta, xlv.

43 Ringelblum, Ksuvim fun geto, 1:22.

44 Datner and Pieńkowska (eds.), Instytut, 101.

45 Lewin, “Dziennik z getta warszawskiego.” The diary had appeared earlier in Bleter far geszichte – see idem, “Funem geto-tog-buch”; idem, “Tog-buch fun varshever geto.”

46 See Mawult, “Wszyscy równi … .”; [Jarecka], “Ostatnim etapem przesiedlenia jest śmierć.”

47 Rutkowski, “Żydowski Instytut Historyczny i jego pracownicy,” 34.

48 This was also the case with Jewish academics in other institutions. See Rutkowski, Nauki historyczne w Polsce 1944–1970, 491–499.

49 Datner and Pieńkowska (eds.), Instytut, 127.

50 See Stach, “Emanuel Ringelblum als Kronzeuge der Heimatvertriebenen.”

51 Datner and Pieńkowska (eds.), Instytut, 133.

52 Rutkowski, “Żydowski Instytut Historyczny i jego pracownicy,” 41.

53 On this point, see the proceedings of the conference held in April 1973 to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego 2–3, no. 86–87 (1973): 5–280.

54 Epsztein, “Wspomnienie o dr Rucie Sakowskiej (1922–2011).”

55 Sakowska, “Łączność pocztowa warszawskiego getta.”

56 Sakowska, “O szkolnictwie i tajnym nauczaniu w getcie warszawskim.”

57 Sakowska, “Komitety domowe w getcie warszawskim.”

58 Sakowska, “Opieka nad uchodźcami i przesiedleńcami żydowskimi w Warszawie w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej.”

59 Sakowska, “O działalności teatralnej w getcie warszawskim.”

60 Sakowska, “Opór cywilny warszawskiego getta.”

61 Sakowska, Ludzie z dzielnicy zamkniętej: Żydzi w Warszawie w kresie hitlerowskiej okupacji, październik 1939 – marzec 1943.

62 Aleksiun, “Polish Historiography of the Holocaust.”

63 Nalewajko-Kulikov (ed.), Pisma Emanuela Ringelbluma z getta, 502.

64 For a detailed discussion of Sakowska and her scholarly legacy, see Samuel Kassow and Eleonora Bergman's article in this issue.

65 Datner and Pieńkowska (eds.), Instytut, 184.

66 Fuks and Rochweger, “Recenzja.”

67 These are discussed by Aleksandra Bańkowska and Tadeusz Epsztein in “Wstęp,” lxiv– lxvii.

68 A year later Eisenbach described direct pressure from the state censor to alter part of Emanuel Ringelblum's Polish – Jewish Relations (written after Ringelblum's escape from the Warsaw Ghetto). Eisenbach was allowed to publish it only after long and humiliating (in his own words) conversations in the Centralne Biuro Kontroli Prasy, Publikacji i Widowisk [Central Control Bureau of the Press, Publications and Performances] and the removal of more than a dozen pages from the introduction and one footnote. See Nalewajko – Kulikov, “Dzieje publikacji Kroniki getta warszawskiego w Polsce,” 392 n. 34,

69 Joanna Nalewajko – Kulikov, “Dzieje publikacji Kroniki getta warszawskiego w Polsce,” 385.

70 Lewin, A Cup of Tears, 141.

71 AŻIH ARG I 415 (Ring I/432), last will of David Graber, 33.

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Notes on contributors

Katarzyna Person

Katarzyna Person works at the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. She has published peer-reviewed articles and four books dealing with the Holocaust and its aftermath in occupied Poland. Her most recent books are Warsaw Ghetto Police: The Jewish Order Service during the Nazi Occupation (2021) and (with Johannes-Dieter Stenert) Przemyslowa Concentration Camp: The Camp, the Children, the Trials (2023).