WEBVTT

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(rain softly falling)

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(thunder rumbling)

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(train chugging)

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(gentle orchestral music)

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- [Rachel] What
factors contributed

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to one person surviving,
and another dying?

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I am writing this as a witness.

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I know how it was for me.

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I still see before me

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Emanuel Ringelblum\'s
living tall figure.

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I hear his voice.

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All my talks with him in

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those years, months and days.

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What he accomplished
as a historian

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of Polish Jewry,
let others tell.

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I want to focus

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on what I personally
experienced.

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I mean the hidden archive

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that Dr. Ringelblum
created and led

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until the destruction
of the Ghetto.

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A huge mass of materials

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that give a picture
of the Jewish people

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under the Nazis
are all collected

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in the Ringelblum archive.

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Yet three years
after it was hidden,

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the search for
the buried archive

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in the desert of
the Warsaw Ghetto

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had not even begun.

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Just finding a certain house

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among the rubble was
difficult enough.

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But to find a cellar
within a cellar,

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was almost like an
archeological expedition.

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The papers that will
rise up from the dead

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are the eyewitness accounts

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of our disaster
and our resistance.

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(energetic orchestral music)

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When I came to Warsaw
for the first time,

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in the early 1930\'s,

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I was astonished at the
intensity of Jewish life.

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Such a multitude of
Jews I had never seen.

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Pious Jews in black gabardines,

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looking like priests
in their medieval garb.

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Jews who were Rabbis.

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Teachers who wanted to
transform our earthly life

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into a long of study of
Torah and prayer to God.

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And still other Jews,

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broad shouldered, deep voiced.

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Jews who with a
blow of their fists

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could floor any
hooligan who dared enter

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into their neighborhoods.

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- Rachel Auerbach belongs

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to the first generation of

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Polish Jews who got
a higher education.

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She became a journalist
and a leading member

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of the Yiddish Polish
intelligentsia.

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She was a literary,
art, and film critic.

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- She wrote about
women\'s literature,

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but also about position of

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women in contemporary society.

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She emphasized the
double exclusion

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Jewish women were experiencing,

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as women and as Jews.

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- [Rachel] In Warsaw, there
were six Yiddish daily papers

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and two dailies in
the Polish language.

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There were two steady
Yiddish theaters

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and many traveling troupes.

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The Yiddish Literary
and Journalist Union

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had 400 members.

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This Jewry had about 100 modern

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Jewish schools in Warsaw alone.

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A state within a state,

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the Polish
Anti-Semites screamed.

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And there was slight
truth in that.

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Especially culturally.

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- Rachel Auerbach hooked up
with Itzik Manger,

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a bohemian poet.

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He drank a lot

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and took no responsibility
for himself.

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- Itzik Manger was
a very famous poet.

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This relationship
ends in April 1938,

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when he is forced
to leave Poland

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as a Romanian citizen.

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And she stays in Poland.

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She\'s alone.

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(men shouting)

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- [Rachel] One could say,

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we should have seen
the worst coming.

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- [Hitler] Today we must
examine ourselves

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and remove from our midst

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the elements that
have become bad.

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(people shouting)

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- [Rachel] But we did not
want to know the truth.

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We protected ourselves
from the truth.

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We did not want to see it.

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(cannons firing)

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- [Reporter] On
September the 1st, 1939,

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the Nazi army
smashed into Poland.

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- [Rachel] None of us considered

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they could not be stopped.

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(sirens blaring)
(dramatic instrumental music)

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(people screaming)

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These were the last
days of September 1939.

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The roar of the
dive-bombers overhead

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and the relief of breathing

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when the explosion comes

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not in the house you are in.

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I was broken up,
paralyzed, worried.

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- [Reporter] On
September the 27th,

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the signal of the Warsaw radio

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had been heard
for the last time.

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(gentle music)

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Warsaw fell.

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- [Rachel] On one day in
that series of black days,

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a Yiddish poet came to see me.

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She brought me news that

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Emanuel Ringelblum
was looking for me.

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As wave after wave of
refugees arrived in Warsaw,

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Dr. Ringelblum was one of those

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who organized relief.

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- When the war started,

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an organization called
the Jewish Self Help

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took over social welfare

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functions in Jewish Warsaw.

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And it was funded by an

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American-based
relief organization

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called the Joint
Distribution Committee.

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Or in short, The Joint.

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The Self-Help,
led by Ringelblum,

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ran soup kitchens,
orphanages, refugee centers.

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And this was a time

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when the Jewish
leadership of Warsaw

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was running East.

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He could have run.

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He could have escaped.

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But nobody had appointed
him as a leader.

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He just stepped forward

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and he decided to do it.

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- [Rachel] Dr.
Emanuel Ringelblum

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was a well-known public figure,

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even before the war.

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We occasionally
bumped into each other

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at a Yiddish theater premiere

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or a book launching.

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I didn\'t know him well,

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so, it was a surprise to
me that Dr. Ringelblum

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wanted to know what
had happened to me.

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-[Ringelblum] Good morning.

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-[Rachel] Good morning.

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- [Ringelblum] I\'m so glad
that you came.

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I really wanted to talk.

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Are you in your home?

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- [Rachel] Yes, we were lucky.

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But everything else seems

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to be crumbling around me.

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Tomorrow

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I am leaving to join my family.

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-[Ringelblum] Rachel,

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perhaps you could stay?

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I wonder if you would stay

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and run a soup kitchen
for the refugees.

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- [Rachel] I already
have my ticket,

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my family...

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- [Ringelblum] We can\'t all
run away.

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- [Rachel] This first
meeting with Ringelblum

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would play a decisive
role in my fate.

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And lead to my
remaining in Warsaw

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and not leaving with
the stream of runaways

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to where my closest
family called me.

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Dr. Ringelblum started
keeping a daily diary

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immediately from the
first days of the war.

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The historian sensed that an

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historical time had begun.

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- [Man] At 2 Tlomackie Place,

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three Nazi lords and masters

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ravaged some Jewish women.

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Screams resounded
through the house.

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-[Wife] It\'s late.

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- [Ringelblum] In Anin,
two weeks ago,

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two Germans were killed

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and 100 Poles in retaliation.

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-[Wife] Uri should go to bed.

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- [Ringelblum] Let me see
what you drew.

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Is there enough room
for Mama and me?

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Sleep well.

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-[Uri] Goodnight daddy.

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-[Ringelblum] Goodnight Uri.

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Jews were removed from
all posts in government

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and Aryan owned enterprises.

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Their bank accounts frozen.

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They were not allowed to
use railways or buses,

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to go to theaters or cinemas.

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ONLY FOR JEWS

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February 7th, 1940.

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Jewish women were
seized for labor.

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And, it just so happened,
women in fur coats.

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They\'re ordered to
wash the pavement

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with their panties, and
put them on again wet.

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February 23rd.

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Nalewki Street looks like
Hollywood these days.

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Everywhere you go,
you see a star.

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Today, the 29th of September,

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got a blow to the mouth
for not saluting a German.

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- Jews of Warsaw, and
as a matter of fact,

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Jews of Poland, it
didn\'t take long

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for them to come
to the conclusion

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that the worst scenario

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was in the process of happening.

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I mean, all kinds
of indignities.

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It started as soon as
the Germans arrived.

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Forcing them to perform
humiliating labor.

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Jews being pushed,
literally, into the gutter.

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- Almost all the
photography that we have

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that documents the Holocaust

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was taken by Germans.

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By the German propaganda unit.

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I think it\'s really important

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that when people see
these photographs,

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that they understand

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that they\'re seeing
through a German lens.

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And the photographs
are profoundly

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humiliating to the Jews
who have been photographed.

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(children singing)

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-[Teacher] Why do you laugh?

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-[Girl] But, sir, she has lice.

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(children giggling)

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- [Teacher] There is nothing
to laugh at.

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This girl deserves our pity.

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She lives near the Jews,
who are filthy by nature.

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- [Ringelblum] They\'re showing
propaganda films

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against Jews in
movie houses again.

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- [Narrator] Jews pay no
attention to their hygiene.

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The only way to deal with
water tainted by Jewish scum:

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by force.

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- [Historian] The main message
of this film is,

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the Jews are a threat.

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If they are in the Ghetto,

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it\'s because we, the Germans,

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want to preserve the
Poles from disease.

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TYPHUS RISK AREA

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So, if you want to help
a Jew, think twice.

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Because you risk the
life of your family,

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of your close ones.

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JEWS

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DIRT

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LICE

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TYPHUS

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(gentle tense music)

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- [Ringelblum] Saturday,
October 12th, 1940.

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The loud speaker announced

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the division of the
city into three parts,

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German,

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Polish,

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Jewish.

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Black melancholy reigns
in our courtyard.

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The Polish owner of
the apartment house

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has lived here some 37 years,

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and now has to leave.

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Gradually, a ghetto
is being established.

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By the end of October,

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everyone has to move over

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to the quarter assigned to them.

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The streets are
continuously being filled

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with newly arrived refugees.

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- There are 350,000 Jews

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living in Warsaw in 1939,

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one-third of the population.

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And now, with war,

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Germans are dumping into Warsaw

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more and more Jews from
the outlying areas.

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Which makes for,
finally, close to

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half a million Jews in Warsaw.

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The Germans in order to

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really implement the idea
of a ghetto in Warsaw,

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you have to transfer Poles out.

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You have to transfer
the Jews in.

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(clock ticks)

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If you are, like Ringelblum was,

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in a fairly
advantageous situation,

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you live already in an area

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which became the ghetto,
so you don\'t have to move.

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- [Ringelblum]
Saturday was terrible.

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People in the street didn\'t know

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it was to be a closed Ghetto,

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so it came like a thunderbolt.

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A wave of evil rolled over
the whole city.

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As if in response
to a nod from above.

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The ghetto is closed.

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And a new era begins.

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A man who visited the other side

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tells of the great difference.

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The cafes are full of people.

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The streets not overcrowded,
as in the Ghetto.

00:19:15.320 --> 00:19:17.614
Those who read
horoscopes for the Jews,

00:19:20.576 --> 00:19:21.618
say they are bad.

00:19:25.664 --> 00:19:27.957
- Emanuel Ringelblum understood

00:19:27.958 --> 00:19:30.209
that he had a story to tell.

00:19:30.210 --> 00:19:31.919
And it was the most
important story

00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:33.297
he would ever have to tell.

00:19:35.132 --> 00:19:37.466
But in order to do it justice,

00:19:37.467 --> 00:19:38.719
he couldn\'t do it alone.

00:19:42.222 --> 00:19:45.224
- [Man] Just eight days
after the Ghetto was sealed,

00:19:45.225 --> 00:19:46.851
several of us met
with Dr. Ringelblum

00:19:46.852 --> 00:19:48.812
in his apartment
on 18 Leszno St.

00:19:50.606 --> 00:19:53.275
(door knocking)

00:19:56.111 --> 00:19:57.487
- [Judyta] Good Shabes, Abraham.

00:19:57.988 --> 00:19:59.364
-[Lewin] Good Shabes, Judyta.

00:19:59.448 --> 00:20:00.448
-[Judyta] Come in.

00:20:02.451 --> 00:20:05.453
- [Historian] Hersh Wasser was
one of Emanuel Ringelblum\'s

00:20:05.454 --> 00:20:07.706
two Executive Secretaries.

00:20:10.542 --> 00:20:12.168
He and Ringelblum

00:20:12.169 --> 00:20:15.546
belonged to the
same political party

00:20:15.547 --> 00:20:18.215
the Left Labor Zionists.

00:20:18.216 --> 00:20:19.551
Very Marxist.

00:20:20.552 --> 00:20:23.639
- [Ringelblum] There you are,
Abraham. Good Shabes!

00:20:24.932 --> 00:20:28.185
Most of you know Abraham Lewin,

00:20:28.727 --> 00:20:29.978
author of \"The Cantonists.\"

00:20:30.646 --> 00:20:32.230
- [Historian] Abraham
Lewin got to know

00:20:32.439 --> 00:20:34.398
Ringelblum because
they taught in

00:20:34.399 --> 00:20:35.901
the same school together.

00:20:37.319 --> 00:20:40.864
Like Ringelblum, he
was also a historian.

00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:46.745
- Ringelblum\'s greatness
was to bring together

00:20:46.870 --> 00:20:50.456
extraordinarily talented
people and to let

00:20:50.457 --> 00:20:52.960
each of them do their thing.

00:20:54.336 --> 00:20:58.255
As economists, as
journalists, as artists,

00:20:58.256 --> 00:20:59.508
as statisticians.

00:21:03.136 --> 00:21:04.429
-[Ringelblum] Trust no one.

00:21:05.681 --> 00:21:07.557
Secrecy is of the
utmost importance.

00:21:08.934 --> 00:21:10.017
-The whole institution

00:21:10.018 --> 00:21:12.144
was dubbed Oyneg Shabes,

00:21:12.145 --> 00:21:13.814
which means the joys of Shabbat,

00:21:15.273 --> 00:21:16.692
for reasons of secrecy.

00:21:17.859 --> 00:21:20.612
- Hersh will explain
our methods.

00:21:24.366 --> 00:21:26.368
- [Hersh] Everything
is important.

00:21:27.077 --> 00:21:29.663
Nothing is unimportant.

00:21:30.580 --> 00:21:34.668
Write down everything you see,

00:21:35.377 --> 00:21:37.546
everything you hear.

00:21:38.714 --> 00:21:42.299
- [Historian] At the beginning,
their basic goal was to

00:21:42.300 --> 00:21:46.179
collect and to record
eye-witness accounts

00:21:47.389 --> 00:21:50.307
and use the materials

00:21:50.308 --> 00:21:52.268
to write the history of the war

00:21:52.269 --> 00:21:54.229
from the Jewish perspective.

00:21:55.772 --> 00:21:58.191
The Germans are
sending film crews

00:21:58.233 --> 00:22:01.235
into the ghetto
to show everybody

00:22:01.236 --> 00:22:03.697
how dirty we are and
how filthy we are.

00:22:07.492 --> 00:22:08.701
They\'re telling the world

00:22:08.702 --> 00:22:10.370
that we\'re the
scum of the earth.

00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:18.336
And unless we collect
our own documents,

00:22:19.296 --> 00:22:21.547
posterity will remember us

00:22:21.548 --> 00:22:23.924
on the basis of German sources

00:22:23.925 --> 00:22:25.218
and not Jewish sources.

00:22:27.929 --> 00:22:29.723
Will the Germans
write our history

00:22:29.765 --> 00:22:31.725
or will we write our history?

00:22:33.393 --> 00:22:35.353
- [Ringelblum] The most
important thing is safety.

00:22:35.437 --> 00:22:37.981
You must remember each
person you contact poses a risk

00:22:54.956 --> 00:22:58.210
(upbeat Polish music)

00:23:04.674 --> 00:23:07.176
- [Rachel] Ringelblum had
sent me to work in the kitchen

00:23:07.177 --> 00:23:09.096
at 40 Leszno Street.

00:23:10.555 --> 00:23:13.225
And the kitchen gave me a
unique observation point.

00:23:17.813 --> 00:23:19.231
-[Rachel] Good morning.

00:23:22.109 --> 00:23:24.569
A kitchen was everything.

00:23:26.154 --> 00:23:27.154
Life.

00:23:28.031 --> 00:23:29.031
The center.

00:23:30.450 --> 00:23:32.368
The focal point of the problems

00:23:32.369 --> 00:23:33.912
of the Jews in the ghetto.

00:23:40.877 --> 00:23:42.628
A great deal of
tension developed

00:23:42.629 --> 00:23:45.422
regarding who would
work in the kitchens,

00:23:45.423 --> 00:23:47.466
because these workers always

00:23:47.467 --> 00:23:49.386
had a bowl of soup.

00:23:51.847 --> 00:23:53.932
The 100 kitchens in the Ghetto

00:23:53.974 --> 00:23:56.351
were the front line in
the war against hunger.

00:24:00.021 --> 00:24:01.773
For the crowds of refugees,

00:24:05.652 --> 00:24:07.153
for whom the soup
from the kitchen

00:24:07.154 --> 00:24:08.905
was their only food of the day.

00:24:26.715 --> 00:24:29.384
- [Emanuel] The war changed
Jewish life very quickly.

00:24:32.220 --> 00:24:33.847
No day was like the preceding.

00:24:37.559 --> 00:24:39.144
Images succeeded one another

00:24:39.186 --> 00:24:40.937
with cinematic speed.

00:24:50.113 --> 00:24:52.699
Many Jews make their
living outside the Ghetto.

00:24:54.492 --> 00:24:56.119
Now, they\'re cut off from it.

00:24:59.080 --> 00:25:00.498
There was an immediate shortage

00:25:00.540 --> 00:25:02.042
of bread and other produce.

00:25:05.754 --> 00:25:06.671
There\'s been a real

00:25:06.713 --> 00:25:08.715
orgy of high prices ever since.

00:25:14.012 --> 00:25:16.055
- You could buy some
food on the black market,

00:25:16.056 --> 00:25:18.141
but it was very, very expensive.

00:25:19.059 --> 00:25:20.809
A loaf of bread costs

00:25:20.810 --> 00:25:23.688
an equivalent in
today\'s dollars, $60.

00:25:25.106 --> 00:25:27.025
What the Jews can
do at that stage

00:25:27.067 --> 00:25:29.526
is basically to sell out

00:25:29.527 --> 00:25:31.905
their accumulated wealth.

00:25:34.115 --> 00:25:37.202
However people who are brought
from outside of Warsaw,

00:25:38.411 --> 00:25:40.704
they are being given,
let\'s say, two hours.

00:25:40.705 --> 00:25:43.458
And they can take one
little package each.

00:25:45.126 --> 00:25:48.296
And they are basically
dumped into Warsaw Ghetto.

00:25:49.631 --> 00:25:51.215
So, once they sell
their jackets,

00:25:51.216 --> 00:25:54.635
trousers, and their
humble belongings,

00:25:54.636 --> 00:25:58.056
they are basically left
to their own devices.

00:26:05.522 --> 00:26:06.602
-[Ringelblum] Good morning.

00:26:08.984 --> 00:26:12.152
- [Historian] The self-help
provided ideal cover

00:26:12.153 --> 00:26:14.030
for the Oyneg Shabes Archive.

00:26:15.991 --> 00:26:17.992
And under this cover

00:26:17.993 --> 00:26:20.661
of gathering
information for welfare,

00:26:20.662 --> 00:26:22.413
the Oyneg Shabes was able

00:26:22.414 --> 00:26:25.292
to keep its secrecy,
and at the same time

00:26:25.333 --> 00:26:27.627
to employ all of its members.

00:26:29.546 --> 00:26:31.922
The small salaries that they got

00:26:31.923 --> 00:26:34.759
helped them keep
their families alive.

00:26:38.013 --> 00:26:40.097
- [Emanuel] The refugees
related the history

00:26:40.098 --> 00:26:43.100
of their towns to our coworkers,

00:26:43.101 --> 00:26:44.185
who later wrote it up.

00:26:51.526 --> 00:26:54.361
In the terrible
overcrowding of the ghetto,

00:26:54.362 --> 00:26:56.613
the refugees lived
in housing conditions

00:26:56.614 --> 00:26:58.616
that simply cannot be described.

00:27:04.247 --> 00:27:07.208
- [Girl] The worst experience
was the night mommy died.

00:27:09.461 --> 00:27:13.672
During the night, I
felt her cold and stiff.

00:27:13.673 --> 00:27:14.758
But what could I do?

00:27:16.551 --> 00:27:18.970
I lay close to
her until morning.

00:27:19.012 --> 00:27:21.180
And then a neighbor
helped me carry her

00:27:21.181 --> 00:27:24.517
out of bed and lay
her on the floor.

00:27:27.896 --> 00:27:29.313
- [Abraham] I live by
the wall that divides

00:27:29.314 --> 00:27:30.899
the ghetto from the Aryan side.

00:27:32.067 --> 00:27:35.235
(shooting and screaming)

00:27:35.236 --> 00:27:37.654
We can observe scores
of Jewish children

00:27:37.655 --> 00:27:39.406
stealing over to the Aryan side

00:27:39.407 --> 00:27:41.159
to buy a few potatoes there.

00:27:43.745 --> 00:27:45.162
Yesterday, a Jewish boy

00:27:45.163 --> 00:27:46.956
was shot dead in
front of my window.

00:27:49.000 --> 00:27:51.669
The murder was committed
by a Polish policeman.

00:27:55.465 --> 00:27:59.927
- [Emanuel] Smuggling was
done, one, across the walls.

00:27:59.928 --> 00:28:02.347
Two, at exit points.

00:28:02.389 --> 00:28:05.432
Three, through
underground tunnels.

00:28:05.433 --> 00:28:08.560
Four, through the sewers.

00:28:08.561 --> 00:28:11.146
And five, through
holes in houses

00:28:11.147 --> 00:28:13.190
bordering on the Aryan side.

00:28:13.191 --> 00:28:16.111
(soft tense music)

00:28:20.031 --> 00:28:21.448
If one had wanted really,

00:28:21.449 --> 00:28:24.202
to restrict oneself to
the official rations,

00:28:25.286 --> 00:28:27.079
then the entire
population of the Ghetto

00:28:27.080 --> 00:28:29.457
would have died of hunger
in a very short time.

00:28:43.930 --> 00:28:46.432
- [Rachel] Last
night I had a dream.

00:28:46.433 --> 00:28:47.933
I was walking down the street

00:28:47.934 --> 00:28:49.352
with a tall gentleman.

00:28:54.232 --> 00:28:56.693
And he walked me,
our arms linked.

00:29:03.700 --> 00:29:06.535
This tad of manly tenderness

00:29:06.536 --> 00:29:10.331
echoed the longing,
hunger, absence

00:29:12.041 --> 00:29:14.836
of two manly arms, sitting here.

00:29:17.881 --> 00:29:20.966
- In the Ghetto, Rachel
Auerbach wasn\'t a member

00:29:20.967 --> 00:29:23.470
of the Oyneg Shabes group
from the very beginning.

00:29:24.554 --> 00:29:25.972
She is a writer.

00:29:26.014 --> 00:29:29.016
But after 1939, the
bombarding and everything.

00:29:29.017 --> 00:29:31.268
She is not able actually
to write something,

00:29:31.269 --> 00:29:33.104
and she\'s trying, but cannot.

00:29:36.191 --> 00:29:38.943
- [Rachel] I start to
write so many times,

00:29:40.111 --> 00:29:42.614
and every time, I
just feel helpless.

00:29:45.533 --> 00:29:46.659
It\'s apathy.

00:29:48.703 --> 00:29:50.079
It\'s a low mood.

00:29:52.040 --> 00:29:54.875
A hunch that I will
fail to describe

00:29:54.876 --> 00:29:57.253
the reality we are
living in right now.

00:30:02.383 --> 00:30:05.136
Again, a messenger from
Ringelblum came to me.

00:30:06.804 --> 00:30:09.057
I learn about the Oyneg Shabes.

00:30:10.099 --> 00:30:12.310
Ringelblum is calling
me to join it.

00:30:14.521 --> 00:30:16.104
- Ringelblum kept sending

00:30:16.105 --> 00:30:18.524
one of the secretaries
of the archive,

00:30:18.525 --> 00:30:20.276
just to push her a little bit.

00:30:21.611 --> 00:30:25.239
And finally, in the
late summer 1941,

00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:26.658
she starts writing.

00:30:34.749 --> 00:30:36.500
- [Rachel] Sometimes I worry

00:30:36.501 --> 00:30:38.627
that these terrible
pictures of the life

00:30:38.628 --> 00:30:40.380
we are looking at every day

00:30:42.131 --> 00:30:43.466
will die with us.

00:30:45.969 --> 00:30:48.721
Like pictures of a
panic on a sinking ship.

00:30:51.432 --> 00:30:55.728
So, let the witness
be our writing.

00:31:00.233 --> 00:31:02.151
- [Emmanuel] The Jews
started to write.

00:31:03.278 --> 00:31:04.278
Everyone did.

00:31:05.863 --> 00:31:08.783
Journalists, authors, teachers.

00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:12.160
Even children.

00:31:15.206 --> 00:31:16.999
- You\'re cut off
from the whole world.

00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:18.500
You can\'t go to school.

00:31:18.501 --> 00:31:20.794
You can\'t make a living.

00:31:20.795 --> 00:31:24.591
So, writing becomes
the only recourse,

00:31:24.632 --> 00:31:28.970
to feel a sense of
ownership of one\'s self.

00:31:33.016 --> 00:31:35.017
- [Rachel] Literary
pieces and reports

00:31:35.018 --> 00:31:36.227
from the Ghetto streets,

00:31:37.854 --> 00:31:42.734
poetry, jokes and the songs
of beggars came flowing in.

00:31:45.737 --> 00:31:47.989
The Oyneg Shabes
collected diaries,

00:31:49.157 --> 00:31:51.242
commissioned works
about refugees,

00:31:53.036 --> 00:31:56.539
illnesses, smuggling,

00:31:58.958 --> 00:32:01.294
about the situation
of the Jewish child,

00:32:03.671 --> 00:32:08.343
the role of women,
and about hunger.

00:32:09.594 --> 00:32:12.889
(building gentle music)

00:32:14.057 --> 00:32:15.475
Ringelblum stayed
in touch with us

00:32:15.516 --> 00:32:17.726
through his
executive secretaries

00:32:17.727 --> 00:32:19.896
who gave us notebooks
and stipends.

00:32:24.233 --> 00:32:25.817
- [Hersh] Each essay
and each account,

00:32:25.818 --> 00:32:27.778
the longest and the shortest,

00:32:27.779 --> 00:32:30.365
had to pass the critical
eye of Dr. Ringelblum.

00:32:34.369 --> 00:32:36.996
- We have to understand
that the archive

00:32:37.038 --> 00:32:42.043
of Oyneg Shabes is one
great act of accusation

00:32:42.877 --> 00:32:44.170
against the German policy.

00:32:47.632 --> 00:32:50.217
Any underground activity,

00:32:50.218 --> 00:32:52.804
any kind of
collecting of evidence

00:32:52.845 --> 00:32:54.347
of German crimes,

00:32:55.890 --> 00:32:57.558
carried with it
the death penalty.

00:33:17.078 --> 00:33:18.996
- [Israel] Were you followed?
- [Hersh] No.

00:33:19.372 --> 00:33:20.623
We have a lot to do.

00:33:24.085 --> 00:33:25.878
Emanuel sends his regards.

00:33:27.422 --> 00:33:29.799
And how is the little one?

00:33:30.341 --> 00:33:32.661
- [Israel] She talks so much,
it\'s hard to get her to stop.

00:33:33.553 --> 00:33:36.889
- [Hersh] I\'ll come with
more next week.

00:33:37.348 --> 00:33:38.474
-[Israel] Be well.

00:33:41.811 --> 00:33:43.520
- [Hersh] Even those in
the archive\'s confidence

00:33:43.521 --> 00:33:45.105
did not know who
was in charge of

00:33:45.106 --> 00:33:47.650
the physical safeguarding
of the collections.

00:33:49.110 --> 00:33:51.319
This was Israel Lichtenstein,

00:33:51.320 --> 00:33:52.905
who did not have any contact

00:33:52.947 --> 00:33:54.407
with other archive workers.

00:33:56.868 --> 00:33:58.785
- Only Israel Lichtenstein,

00:33:58.786 --> 00:34:01.246
Hersh Wasser and
Emanuel Ringelblum

00:34:01.247 --> 00:34:03.541
knew where the documents were.

00:34:05.626 --> 00:34:08.503
So, if the Gestapo
arrested a member

00:34:08.504 --> 00:34:10.923
of the Oyneg Shabes,
even under torture,

00:34:11.924 --> 00:34:13.300
they would not be able to

00:34:13.301 --> 00:34:15.261
divulge the location.

00:34:16.971 --> 00:34:20.641
(building orchestral music)

00:34:21.517 --> 00:34:23.018
- [Rachel] More than 60 members

00:34:23.019 --> 00:34:25.813
of the Oyneg Shabes
collected artifacts,

00:34:27.648 --> 00:34:29.650
such as German pronouncements,

00:34:31.402 --> 00:34:33.696
official and
underground newspapers.

00:34:38.117 --> 00:34:39.869
Labels on Ghetto goods.

00:34:41.996 --> 00:34:44.832
White Jewish ribbons with
the blue Star of David.

00:34:46.918 --> 00:34:49.002
- They started to
collect documents which,

00:34:49.003 --> 00:34:50.170
from the point of view of,

00:34:50.171 --> 00:34:51.963
let\'s say 19th
century historians,

00:34:51.964 --> 00:34:53.216
would make no sense.

00:34:56.260 --> 00:34:59.013
Simple proofs of
everyday life and death.

00:35:03.518 --> 00:35:05.143
- The model for it was

00:35:05.144 --> 00:35:07.062
the Yivo Institute
for Jewish Research,

00:35:07.063 --> 00:35:09.857
which had been established
in Vilna in 1925,

00:35:11.442 --> 00:35:14.904
to study the heritage
of East European Jews.

00:35:17.448 --> 00:35:20.243
There was a value placed
on ordinary people

00:35:21.494 --> 00:35:23.246
and their experiences.

00:35:24.580 --> 00:35:27.165
That way of working was very

00:35:27.166 --> 00:35:29.293
inspiring for
Ringelblum himself.

00:35:31.337 --> 00:35:34.422
- [Historian] Ringelblum
was absolutely

00:35:34.423 --> 00:35:36.175
dedicated to the notion

00:35:38.135 --> 00:35:41.848
that Jewish history is
not the history of rabbis,

00:35:44.141 --> 00:35:46.853
not the history of philosophers.

00:35:49.856 --> 00:35:51.941
But it\'s the history
of the whole people.

00:35:54.569 --> 00:35:57.654
Ringelblum passionately
loved the Jewish masses

00:35:57.655 --> 00:35:59.031
and he passionately loved

00:35:59.073 --> 00:36:01.116
the language of
the Jewish masses,

00:36:01.117 --> 00:36:02.117
which was Yiddish.

00:36:11.460 --> 00:36:14.714
(gentle foreign music)

00:36:21.470 --> 00:36:24.098
- [Hersh] Warsaw is filled
with the sound of music.

00:36:27.268 --> 00:36:29.854
The belly is empty,
but the ears are full.

00:36:32.231 --> 00:36:34.192
Places of entertainment
are prospering.

00:36:35.484 --> 00:36:37.027
It began with the Melody Palace,

00:36:37.028 --> 00:36:39.196
a modern European cabaret.

00:36:42.325 --> 00:36:44.285
Today, there are many
more such places.

00:36:45.411 --> 00:36:46.870
And the high artistic standards

00:36:46.871 --> 00:36:48.581
are a source of true delight.

00:36:51.792 --> 00:36:53.793
- [Emmanuel] The watchword
of the organized groups

00:36:53.794 --> 00:36:58.049
of the Jewish community
was to live with honor

00:36:59.926 --> 00:37:00.968
and die with honor.

00:37:02.553 --> 00:37:04.638
An expression of this
was the wide scope

00:37:04.639 --> 00:37:07.058
of the cultural work
which was undertaken.

00:37:08.809 --> 00:37:10.561
A network of
underground schools,

00:37:12.146 --> 00:37:13.731
a central library for children

00:37:15.650 --> 00:37:17.026
and a theater were created.

00:37:18.694 --> 00:37:21.614
(children playing)

00:37:27.995 --> 00:37:30.872
When I enlisted the
cooperation of historian

00:37:30.873 --> 00:37:32.583
Rabbi Shimon Huberband

00:37:36.504 --> 00:37:39.465
the Oyneg Shabes acquired
one of its best coworkers.

00:37:41.676 --> 00:37:42.969
He was a gentle soul.

00:37:45.096 --> 00:37:46.680
- [Historian] When
the war began,

00:37:46.681 --> 00:37:50.101
Huberband lost his
wife and child,

00:37:50.142 --> 00:37:52.811
in the German bombing.

00:37:52.812 --> 00:37:55.063
So, his personal life

00:37:55.064 --> 00:37:57.191
was shattered the
first week of the war.

00:38:01.988 --> 00:38:03.489
- Shabas.
- Shabas.

00:38:04.782 --> 00:38:07.033
- [Historian] He
collected material on how

00:38:07.034 --> 00:38:09.954
religious Jews
conducted themselves.

00:38:12.498 --> 00:38:16.335
(singing in foreign language)

00:38:20.381 --> 00:38:21.631
- [Shimon] Questions
of Jewish law

00:38:21.632 --> 00:38:23.217
are almost never asked anymore.

00:38:24.343 --> 00:38:26.261
Firstly, because
people tend to behave

00:38:26.262 --> 00:38:28.430
much more leniently
in times of war

00:38:28.431 --> 00:38:30.933
and find no need
to consult a rabbi.

00:38:33.644 --> 00:38:36.689
Secondly, there is almost
nothing left to ask.

00:38:39.233 --> 00:38:41.359
There is no ritual
slaughter of animals.

00:38:41.360 --> 00:38:44.112
No chickens, and
virtually no meat or milk

00:38:44.113 --> 00:38:45.406
among Jews in the Ghetto.

00:38:47.575 --> 00:38:49.325
On the other hand,
there have arisen

00:38:49.326 --> 00:38:50.786
specific wartime questions,

00:38:53.247 --> 00:38:55.833
concerning sitting Shiva
for a murdered person,

00:38:57.376 --> 00:38:58.377
regarding burial.

00:39:01.756 --> 00:39:04.007
- There are many stories,
and they are preserved

00:39:04.008 --> 00:39:06.509
in the Oyneg Shabes Archive,

00:39:06.510 --> 00:39:08.762
of this struggle
of religious Jews

00:39:08.763 --> 00:39:11.097
to continue to be observant.

00:39:11.098 --> 00:39:12.932
How to deal with
Passover, for example,

00:39:12.933 --> 00:39:14.809
was an enormous struggle.

00:39:14.810 --> 00:39:17.563
Do you starve if you
can\'t get matzah,

00:39:17.605 --> 00:39:19.856
or do you violate
the rule on Passover

00:39:19.857 --> 00:39:21.025
of not eating bread?

00:39:22.151 --> 00:39:25.612
In one family, the wife
refused to eat bread

00:39:25.613 --> 00:39:26.739
and the husband put bread aside

00:39:26.781 --> 00:39:28.364
so he wouldn\'t starve.

00:39:28.365 --> 00:39:31.451
And they couldn\'t sit
together at the same table.

00:39:31.452 --> 00:39:35.289
(singing in foreign language)

00:39:43.005 --> 00:39:46.092
(soft ominous music)

00:39:50.429 --> 00:39:51.638
- [Emmanuel] A terrifying,

00:39:51.639 --> 00:39:53.933
simply monstrous
impression is made,

00:39:55.267 --> 00:39:57.478
by the wailing of
children who beg for alms.

00:39:59.146 --> 00:40:01.315
The couple of coins
I give them nightly

00:40:02.191 --> 00:40:03.734
cannot ease my conscience.

00:40:07.238 --> 00:40:10.824
- The Oyneg Shabes Archive
had a discussion about

00:40:10.825 --> 00:40:14.537
what it means to walk by
dying people on the street.

00:40:16.288 --> 00:40:18.873
Some people in this
discussion said

00:40:18.874 --> 00:40:21.085
it shows how callous
we\'ve become.

00:40:23.504 --> 00:40:25.755
Another person said, \"No.

00:40:25.756 --> 00:40:28.050
\"It shows how strong
we\'ve become.\"

00:40:30.427 --> 00:40:33.346
If you\'re a parent
and you\'re barely able

00:40:33.347 --> 00:40:35.474
to feed your two kids,

00:40:35.516 --> 00:40:38.560
the fact that you could
walk by dying people

00:40:38.561 --> 00:40:40.938
on the street and
even dying children,

00:40:43.023 --> 00:40:45.775
shows that you have
made a decision

00:40:45.776 --> 00:40:47.193
to do what you have to do

00:40:47.194 --> 00:40:49.155
to enable your kids to survive.

00:40:57.413 --> 00:40:59.622
- [Historian] In the first
year of the Ghetto\'s existence,

00:40:59.623 --> 00:41:03.210
nearly 80,000 people died
of Typhus and starvation.

00:41:07.131 --> 00:41:09.716
Slowly, the previously
wealthy middle class

00:41:09.717 --> 00:41:12.636
will share the fate of
the poorest refugees.

00:41:16.891 --> 00:41:18.933
(gentle instrumental music)

00:41:18.934 --> 00:41:20.352
- [Emmanuel] Hundreds
of Polish smugglers

00:41:20.394 --> 00:41:22.479
come into the Ghetto
through the guard posts

00:41:22.480 --> 00:41:23.522
by paying bribes.

00:41:26.901 --> 00:41:28.276
Individuals not wearing

00:41:28.277 --> 00:41:30.196
arm bands were
leniently treated.

00:41:34.408 --> 00:41:35.868
The whole length of the street

00:41:35.910 --> 00:41:37.870
has become a gigantic bazaar.

00:41:43.709 --> 00:41:46.294
- [Peretz] Jews, who until
now had lived off of savings

00:41:46.295 --> 00:41:49.632
from before the war
had run out of money,

00:41:50.883 --> 00:41:52.551
and had started to
sell possessions,

00:41:54.595 --> 00:41:55.971
coats, clothing.

00:41:57.681 --> 00:42:01.393
The only buyer
now was the Poles.

00:42:08.275 --> 00:42:11.778
Wedding dresses
of Jewish mothers

00:42:11.779 --> 00:42:13.864
thrown out in the
middle of the night,

00:42:15.950 --> 00:42:16.867
from the homes they had

00:42:16.868 --> 00:42:18.327
lived in their whole lives.

00:42:23.874 --> 00:42:25.416
How many wonderful memories

00:42:25.417 --> 00:42:27.461
are bound up with every item.

00:42:33.175 --> 00:42:34.495
- [Judyta] A beautiful
tablecloth.

00:42:34.551 --> 00:42:35.719
-[Woman] Please show me.

00:42:36.220 --> 00:42:37.388
-[Judyta] This material...

00:42:38.681 --> 00:42:40.724
I would like to sell it
for 300 zlotys.

00:42:41.475 --> 00:42:43.227
-[Woman] For sure not 200.

00:42:44.144 --> 00:42:45.562
Maybe 35.

00:42:46.605 --> 00:42:48.857
- [Judyta] But it\'s worth
so much more.

00:42:49.692 --> 00:42:53.070
- [Woman] Yes, but things
lose their value now.

00:42:53.779 --> 00:42:56.198
- [Judyta] Okay,
let\'s make it...

00:42:56.490 --> 00:42:57.658
100 zlotys.

00:42:58.409 --> 00:42:59.785
- [Woman] No, 50 is the most.

00:42:59.952 --> 00:43:01.203
50 I can give you.

00:43:01.578 --> 00:43:02.913
That\'s what I have left.

00:43:03.330 --> 00:43:04.665
-[Judyta] Okay it can be 50.

00:43:07.668 --> 00:43:08.919
-[Woman] Here you go.

00:43:23.392 --> 00:43:25.185
- [Leyb] It is not
yet five o\'clock.

00:43:26.228 --> 00:43:27.271
And I am hungry.

00:43:29.815 --> 00:43:31.650
Food, food, food!

00:43:33.277 --> 00:43:35.194
The last portion of soup,

00:43:35.195 --> 00:43:37.114
yesterday, at 20 to one.

00:43:38.615 --> 00:43:40.743
The next will be today
at the same time.

00:43:45.247 --> 00:43:46.665
How much longer to go?

00:43:48.542 --> 00:43:49.710
Seven hours.

00:43:52.296 --> 00:43:53.629
Very well, then.

00:43:53.630 --> 00:43:56.050
How does one get
through the seven hours?

00:43:58.761 --> 00:43:59.761
Read?

00:44:01.680 --> 00:44:03.265
Your brain won\'t take it in.

00:44:06.685 --> 00:44:07.935
You turn the first page

00:44:07.936 --> 00:44:09.688
and realize you\'ve understood

00:44:09.730 --> 00:44:11.482
no more than the first sentence.

00:44:13.942 --> 00:44:18.030
A few pages earlier, they
were eating in a restaurant.

00:44:18.072 --> 00:44:21.408
No, no, don\'t read
about what they ate.

00:44:22.618 --> 00:44:23.910
That\'s right.

00:44:23.911 --> 00:44:26.163
Just as old people skip
descriptions of sex.

00:44:29.708 --> 00:44:33.920
(gentle instrumental music)

00:44:33.921 --> 00:44:36.590
There\'s a gnawing in my stomach.

00:44:37.716 --> 00:44:39.760
If you only had a
quarter of a loaf now!

00:44:43.222 --> 00:44:44.431
A quarter of a loaf!

00:44:53.982 --> 00:44:55.274
Maybe it isn\'t nice to

00:44:55.275 --> 00:44:57.361
think about oneself in this way.

00:44:59.238 --> 00:45:00.864
Only about oneself.

00:45:03.659 --> 00:45:07.079
It\'s not me thinking
it, it\'s my stomach.

00:45:08.664 --> 00:45:10.666
It doesn\'t think, it yells.

00:45:14.294 --> 00:45:15.546
It provokes me.

00:45:20.342 --> 00:45:21.427
Intellectual!

00:45:22.678 --> 00:45:25.263
Where are you,
with your theories,

00:45:25.264 --> 00:45:27.098
with your dreams?

00:45:27.099 --> 00:45:28.433
Your goals.

00:45:28.434 --> 00:45:30.602
You educated imbecile!

00:45:31.979 --> 00:45:32.979
Answer me!

00:45:37.526 --> 00:45:39.153
Why are you yelling like that?

00:45:52.708 --> 00:45:55.085
Because I, your stomach

00:45:57.629 --> 00:45:58.672
am hungry.

00:46:12.352 --> 00:46:15.354
- [Rachel] The woman who
handed out the soups, Halina,

00:46:15.355 --> 00:46:17.899
with her true natural kindness

00:46:17.900 --> 00:46:19.859
was a large part of home for me

00:46:19.860 --> 00:46:22.112
in the newly inhospitable world.

00:46:24.573 --> 00:46:27.200
She knew all the consumers,

00:46:27.201 --> 00:46:29.369
knew their interests
and troubles.

00:46:32.372 --> 00:46:35.291
I recall a family of
three refugee sisters

00:46:35.292 --> 00:46:37.084
who had carried
out from their home

00:46:37.085 --> 00:46:39.546
a proper fine aluminum pot.

00:46:40.631 --> 00:46:42.381
Every day one of the sisters

00:46:42.382 --> 00:46:44.801
came to get soup for
all three of them.

00:46:45.886 --> 00:46:47.554
-[Halina] How is Zelda?

00:46:48.263 --> 00:46:50.224
Is she feeling better?

00:46:51.058 --> 00:46:52.309
-[Girl] No.

00:46:55.229 --> 00:46:59.483
- [Halina] Let me fill a pot
for your sisters.

00:47:23.006 --> 00:47:25.758
About six months later,
the middle sister came

00:47:25.759 --> 00:47:28.095
and told us her older
sister was sick.

00:47:34.810 --> 00:47:37.270
A while later,
Halina remarked that

00:47:37.271 --> 00:47:40.315
waiting for the soup now
was the third sister.

00:47:41.483 --> 00:47:44.236
The second did not have
the strength to come.

00:47:46.780 --> 00:47:50.284
And so, one sister
after another.

00:47:52.911 --> 00:47:54.997
Only the pot stayed the same.

00:48:01.378 --> 00:48:03.964
What is the use of all our work

00:48:05.340 --> 00:48:09.136
if we can\'t save even
one person from hunger?

00:48:12.055 --> 00:48:14.223
I have not managed
it through my work

00:48:14.224 --> 00:48:16.059
with a single person.

00:48:18.812 --> 00:48:19.813
Not one!

00:48:28.614 --> 00:48:30.323
- [Man] Rachel
Auerbach came to the

00:48:30.324 --> 00:48:31.699
disheartening conclusion

00:48:31.700 --> 00:48:33.534
that the Jewish public kitchen

00:48:33.535 --> 00:48:35.746
never saved anybody
from starvation.

00:48:38.123 --> 00:48:39.206
While one group found

00:48:39.207 --> 00:48:41.083
its place in the mass graves

00:48:41.084 --> 00:48:42.502
of the Warsaw cemetery,

00:48:46.381 --> 00:48:48.800
a new wave of customers
arrived at the kitchen.

00:48:52.679 --> 00:48:54.931
One is left with
the tragic dilemma.

00:48:56.516 --> 00:48:58.852
Are we to dole out
spoonfuls to everyone?

00:49:01.521 --> 00:49:03.732
Or are we to give
full measure to a few,

00:49:05.692 --> 00:49:08.528
with only a handful
having enough to survive?

00:49:13.367 --> 00:49:14.617
- On the one hand,

00:49:14.618 --> 00:49:16.494
you have the soup
kitchens feeding

00:49:16.495 --> 00:49:18.080
hundreds of thousands of people.

00:49:19.873 --> 00:49:22.125
But they cannot
feed them enough.

00:49:23.835 --> 00:49:24.835
And that\'s where you can see

00:49:24.836 --> 00:49:26.380
this huge frustration

00:49:27.547 --> 00:49:30.216
when the dilemma
is who dies first.

00:49:30.217 --> 00:49:32.302
Is it my family, or your family?

00:49:39.101 --> 00:49:41.937
Can we talk about ethics
at all at that stage?

00:49:45.482 --> 00:49:47.275
-[Lewin] We used to

00:49:48.110 --> 00:49:50.362
seek education,

00:49:51.071 --> 00:49:54.866
to strive and to create

00:49:55.742 --> 00:49:58.078
in every province of life.

00:50:01.081 --> 00:50:05.377
We used to yearn for art

00:50:06.753 --> 00:50:09.506
as the highest expression
of human existence.

00:50:13.885 --> 00:50:15.595
How...

00:50:18.515 --> 00:50:20.142
oppressed,

00:50:20.767 --> 00:50:22.519
disgraced

00:50:23.228 --> 00:50:25.397
we have now become.

00:50:30.277 --> 00:50:33.947
This will be our test.

00:50:35.782 --> 00:50:40.287
If under the thick
layer of ashes,

00:50:41.538 --> 00:50:43.999
our life is not extinguished,

00:50:45.375 --> 00:50:48.295
this will prove a triumph

00:50:49.212 --> 00:50:51.965
of the human over the inhuman.

00:50:52.758 --> 00:50:55.594
That our will to live

00:50:56.678 --> 00:51:00.348
is mightier than
the will to destruction.

00:51:05.896 --> 00:51:10.358
We sincerely hope that
these literary evenings

00:51:11.234 --> 00:51:16.114
will be reminders of our past

00:51:17.949 --> 00:51:20.368
and build hope

00:51:20.994 --> 00:51:22.996
for the future.

00:51:25.624 --> 00:51:27.876
(clapping)

00:51:57.697 --> 00:51:59.032
- [Leyb] It\'s getting dark.

00:52:00.158 --> 00:52:01.909
A round-bellied
prostitute gives candies

00:52:01.910 --> 00:52:02.994
to two of her friends.

00:52:15.382 --> 00:52:16.382
An operation.

00:52:18.051 --> 00:52:20.303
You\'ve never seen one before.

00:52:20.345 --> 00:52:25.350
At the movies, in a book,
yes, but in life, no.

00:52:28.228 --> 00:52:29.728
They\'re operating on a child

00:52:29.729 --> 00:52:31.648
and in front is the mother.

00:52:35.402 --> 00:52:36.402
But why?

00:52:37.445 --> 00:52:38.530
Why save?

00:52:39.739 --> 00:52:41.992
To what is the child
being brought back?

00:52:44.411 --> 00:52:46.370
And suddenly you
remember that dead Jew,

00:52:46.371 --> 00:52:47.831
whom you tripped over today.

00:52:49.583 --> 00:52:52.002
Somewhere, years ago,
there was a mother

00:52:52.043 --> 00:52:53.502
while cleaning his head,

00:52:53.503 --> 00:52:55.297
knew that her son
was the cleverest,

00:52:56.548 --> 00:52:59.426
the most talented,
the most beautiful.

00:53:01.720 --> 00:53:03.470
And now the brightest
and most beautiful

00:53:03.471 --> 00:53:05.849
child in the world lies
in a strange street,

00:53:08.268 --> 00:53:09.769
and his name isn\'t even known.

00:53:13.648 --> 00:53:15.901
Each day the profiles
of our children,

00:53:15.942 --> 00:53:18.736
of our wives, acquire the
mourning look of foxes,

00:53:18.737 --> 00:53:20.655
dingoes, kangaroos.

00:53:25.201 --> 00:53:27.412
Our howls are like
the cry of jackals.

00:53:32.042 --> 00:53:33.168
But we are not animals.

00:53:34.669 --> 00:53:37.088
We operate on our children.

00:53:45.847 --> 00:53:47.766
The world\'s turning upside down.

00:53:50.268 --> 00:53:52.479
A planet melts in tears.

00:53:54.648 --> 00:53:55.648
And I,

00:53:59.194 --> 00:54:00.194
I am hungry.

00:54:03.907 --> 00:54:06.826
(soft somber music)

00:54:15.877 --> 00:54:18.295
- [Shimon] Until the end
of the winter of 1941,

00:54:18.296 --> 00:54:20.047
if someone was caught
on the other side

00:54:20.048 --> 00:54:21.840
of the ghetto border,
he was punished

00:54:21.841 --> 00:54:23.259
with a few months in prison.

00:54:27.931 --> 00:54:30.224
Now, eight people
have been arrested

00:54:30.225 --> 00:54:32.686
and condemned to death
for leaving the Ghetto.

00:54:35.021 --> 00:54:37.356
The sentence aroused a
great deal of sorrow,

00:54:37.357 --> 00:54:39.025
and pain among the convicted.

00:54:41.277 --> 00:54:43.862
For entire days, they
shouted through the barred

00:54:43.863 --> 00:54:45.323
windows of the Jewish prison.

00:54:48.493 --> 00:54:49.661
But, there was nothing,

00:54:50.829 --> 00:54:52.497
absolutely nothing
which could be done.

00:54:55.709 --> 00:54:58.003
Among the six women
were a beggar,

00:54:59.212 --> 00:55:02.881
a mother of three
and a 16-year-old,

00:55:02.882 --> 00:55:05.260
fearfully hysterical
before the execution.

00:55:07.887 --> 00:55:09.639
The proctor read the sentence,

00:55:11.349 --> 00:55:13.143
and the execution took place.

00:55:18.148 --> 00:55:21.985
(dramatic instrumental music)

00:55:24.904 --> 00:55:27.824
- The executions
were a turning point.

00:55:28.950 --> 00:55:31.870
They were meant to
instill maximum fear.

00:55:40.086 --> 00:55:41.462
- [Emmanuel] Every
day, we receive such

00:55:41.463 --> 00:55:43.214
terrible news from
the provinces.

00:55:47.552 --> 00:55:50.138
- [Woman] In the middle of
the night, an order came.

00:55:52.098 --> 00:55:53.974
(dramatic instrumental music)

00:55:53.975 --> 00:55:56.144
We were to gather in
the market square.

00:55:58.563 --> 00:56:02.400
Half-naked girls were forced
to dance with young men.

00:56:04.778 --> 00:56:07.988
No one can describe
how a mother feels

00:56:07.989 --> 00:56:10.992
when her daughter is
being tormented like this.

00:56:13.369 --> 00:56:14.954
Threatened by bayonets,

00:56:16.122 --> 00:56:18.291
the Jewish boys
raped these girls,

00:56:20.210 --> 00:56:21.461
who were their friends.

00:56:27.300 --> 00:56:29.802
- [Historian] The Oyneg
Shabes are interviewing people

00:56:29.803 --> 00:56:31.553
who are giving them first-hand

00:56:31.554 --> 00:56:33.555
accounts of mass executions

00:56:33.556 --> 00:56:35.308
in Eastern Poland.

00:56:37.435 --> 00:56:38.686
It\'s hard to believe.

00:56:40.980 --> 00:56:43.148
- [Abraham] The strangest
torments and weirdest deaths,

00:56:43.149 --> 00:56:45.735
men, women and infants,

00:56:47.612 --> 00:56:50.240
with no distinction made
between adults and children.

00:56:53.827 --> 00:56:55.703
Will a remnant of
us Jews survive?

00:57:00.333 --> 00:57:01.667
- Meanwhile postcards are

00:57:01.668 --> 00:57:03.419
coming into the Warsaw Ghetto.

00:57:05.463 --> 00:57:07.924
People are waiting
to be deported.

00:57:13.012 --> 00:57:16.057
Then you get the
reports from Chelmno.

00:57:17.600 --> 00:57:20.520
- [Hersh] The corpses
were thrown

00:57:21.396 --> 00:57:24.607
out of the truck in one heap.

00:57:26.359 --> 00:57:28.528
One on top of another.

00:57:29.237 --> 00:57:31.739
They were dragged

00:57:32.574 --> 00:57:34.242
by the feet

00:57:34.868 --> 00:57:36.286
and by the hair.

00:57:38.037 --> 00:57:40.372
- [Historian] An
escapee described

00:57:40.373 --> 00:57:43.001
the gassing of Jews in Chelmno.

00:57:46.379 --> 00:57:49.465
This was the first
ever description

00:57:49.507 --> 00:57:53.469
of the mass murder of
Jews in a death camp.

00:57:55.763 --> 00:57:57.891
- [Hersh] There were two
additional men

00:57:58.641 --> 00:58:01.728
who arranged the corpses

00:58:02.812 --> 00:58:06.941
so they were lying face down.

00:58:09.152 --> 00:58:10.944
- [Historian] So the killing
is to the east of Warsaw

00:58:10.945 --> 00:58:12.989
and to the west of Warsaw.

00:58:16.576 --> 00:58:20.246
(gentle instrumental music)

00:58:33.885 --> 00:58:37.137
Now, the agenda of
the archive changed

00:58:37.138 --> 00:58:40.183
to something totally
new and horrible.

00:58:41.601 --> 00:58:44.312
The documentation
of mass murder,

00:58:46.356 --> 00:58:49.024
the gathering of information

00:58:49.025 --> 00:58:51.443
that might help
prosecute the killers

00:58:51.444 --> 00:58:52.695
when the war was over.

00:58:55.823 --> 00:58:57.616
- [Emmanuel] For
long, long months,

00:58:57.617 --> 00:59:00.328
we tormented ourselves
with the question,

00:59:02.413 --> 00:59:04.457
Does the world know
about our suffering?

00:59:08.586 --> 00:59:12.674
And if it knows,
why is it silent?

00:59:16.302 --> 00:59:18.887
Everybody agreed that
the most important thing

00:59:18.888 --> 00:59:20.764
was to arouse the world to

00:59:20.765 --> 00:59:24.184
the horror of the
organized extermination.

00:59:24.185 --> 00:59:27.981
(building instrumental music)

00:59:29.440 --> 00:59:32.485
- The Oyneg Shabes put out
a clandestine bulletin.

00:59:33.569 --> 00:59:35.821
The main message
of that bulletin

00:59:35.822 --> 00:59:39.574
was that the Germans
were hell bent

00:59:39.575 --> 00:59:43.288
on the total murder of
the Jewish population.

00:59:45.665 --> 00:59:47.917
And that surviving
Jews should not

00:59:47.959 --> 00:59:49.585
believe anything different.

00:59:52.714 --> 00:59:55.383
And using the channels of
the Polish underground,

00:59:56.884 --> 00:59:59.971
the Oyneg Shabes sent
four reports to London.

01:00:05.268 --> 01:00:08.104
(radio crackling)

01:00:12.025 --> 01:00:15.278
(gentle foreign music)

01:00:21.159 --> 01:00:22.951
- [Reporter] This is the BBC.

01:00:22.952 --> 01:00:25.120
We will now broadcast
a special program

01:00:25.121 --> 01:00:28.373
about the horrific bestialities
that the Nazi occupier

01:00:28.374 --> 01:00:30.043
is perpetuating on the Jews.

01:00:31.419 --> 01:00:33.420
Exhaustive information
has reached London

01:00:33.421 --> 01:00:35.506
to fully convey the cruel,

01:00:35.548 --> 01:00:37.299
premeditated system
through which

01:00:37.300 --> 01:00:39.634
the Jewish population
is being executed

01:00:39.635 --> 01:00:40.635
by the thousands.

01:00:41.846 --> 01:00:44.181
According to the
information available now,

01:00:44.182 --> 01:00:45.432
the Germans have murdered

01:00:45.433 --> 01:00:48.353
about 700,000
polish Jews in all.

01:00:49.604 --> 01:00:51.355
These inhumane crimes being

01:00:51.356 --> 01:00:53.273
committed against
defenseless people

01:00:53.274 --> 01:00:55.610
call for fair and
severe punishment.

01:00:57.987 --> 01:00:59.613
- [Emmanuel] Friday, June 26,

01:00:59.614 --> 01:01:01.866
has been a great day
for Oyneg Shabes.

01:01:04.410 --> 01:01:07.245
This morning, the
English radio broadcast

01:01:07.246 --> 01:01:09.165
about the fate of Polish Jewry.

01:01:10.625 --> 01:01:12.377
We raised a cry to the world

01:01:12.418 --> 01:01:14.127
with exact information

01:01:14.128 --> 01:01:16.297
about the greatest
crime in history.

01:01:22.095 --> 01:01:25.181
And perhaps saved hundreds
of thousands of Polish Jews.

01:01:30.603 --> 01:01:32.855
We have struck the
enemy a hard blow.

01:01:35.483 --> 01:01:37.110
And if England keeps its word,

01:01:40.113 --> 01:01:41.280
then perhaps,

01:01:43.533 --> 01:01:44.575
we shall be saved.

01:01:47.286 --> 01:01:50.456
(gentle violin music)

01:02:08.975 --> 01:02:12.478
(gentle orchestral music)

01:02:33.875 --> 01:02:37.128
(dramatic tense music)

01:02:40.840 --> 01:02:44.926
- [Abraham] Wednesday,
July 22nd, 1942.

01:02:44.927 --> 01:02:47.180
A day of turmoil,
chaos and fear.

01:02:48.931 --> 01:02:50.390
The news about the
expulsion of Jews

01:02:50.391 --> 01:02:53.143
is spreading like lightning
through the Ghetto.

01:02:53.144 --> 01:02:55.563
Jews are running, as if insane.

01:02:56.981 --> 01:02:59.108
Mothers and children wander
around like lost sheep,

01:03:00.860 --> 01:03:01.903
where is my child?

01:03:04.363 --> 01:03:06.990
- [Historian] During
the Great Deportation,

01:03:06.991 --> 01:03:10.410
the Germans ordered
the Jewish police

01:03:10.411 --> 01:03:13.706
to collect five to
7,000 Jews every day.

01:03:14.874 --> 01:03:18.460
The Jewish police were
told that if you don\'t,

01:03:18.461 --> 01:03:20.379
we\'ll deport you
and your family.

01:03:21.797 --> 01:03:25.008
And the Jewish police were
turned into bloodhounds

01:03:25.009 --> 01:03:26.928
in order to save their own skin.

01:03:33.142 --> 01:03:34.477
-[Lewin] Hurry! Hurry!

01:03:34.769 --> 01:03:35.895
-[Luba] Come on sweetheart.

01:03:42.235 --> 01:03:43.945
- [Emmanuel] Sunday, July 26th.

01:03:45.738 --> 01:03:47.322
The action continues.

01:03:47.323 --> 01:03:48.449
Shouts and screams.

01:03:49.951 --> 01:03:52.035
Outside my windows,
they are checking papers

01:03:52.036 --> 01:03:53.120
and arresting people.

01:03:56.290 --> 01:03:59.459
The seizing of an 8-year-old
girl, prettily dressed.

01:03:59.460 --> 01:04:01.796
She screams mommy!

01:04:03.339 --> 01:04:05.549
Those rounded up are divided up

01:04:05.550 --> 01:04:08.134
into those fit to work,
those able to survive,

01:04:08.135 --> 01:04:10.805
and those not fit
to be transported.

01:04:14.058 --> 01:04:15.893
The last group is
killed on the spot.

01:04:19.063 --> 01:04:21.065
Grandmother was killed
by a single shot.

01:04:23.192 --> 01:04:26.319
(building dramatic music)

01:04:26.320 --> 01:04:29.407
- [Historian] The writings
that were written in real time

01:04:29.448 --> 01:04:31.200
during the deportation,

01:04:32.285 --> 01:04:34.996
are full of blazing anger.

01:04:36.247 --> 01:04:37.999
Anger at other Jews.

01:04:41.961 --> 01:04:43.128
- [Abraham] The savagery
of the Jewish police

01:04:43.129 --> 01:04:44.839
against their
unfortunate victims.

01:04:46.132 --> 01:04:49.551
They beat viciously, they steal,

01:04:49.552 --> 01:04:52.305
and they loot and pillage
like bandits in the forest.

01:04:54.140 --> 01:04:56.517
Who has raised these
bitter fruits among us?

01:04:58.311 --> 01:05:01.397
- [Historian] This is one
of the major differences

01:05:01.439 --> 01:05:04.107
between the
contemporaneous writing

01:05:04.108 --> 01:05:06.318
that you find in the
Ringelblum archive

01:05:06.319 --> 01:05:07.903
and post-war writing.

01:05:09.739 --> 01:05:12.033
After the war, you
would never find this.

01:05:15.661 --> 01:05:18.414
- [Abraham] Friday,
July 31st, 1942.

01:05:19.582 --> 01:05:20.832
The 10th day of the slaughter

01:05:20.833 --> 01:05:22.752
that has no parallel
in our history.

01:05:24.253 --> 01:05:28.006
(machines whirring)

01:05:28.007 --> 01:05:29.883
Last evening ended in a massacre

01:05:29.884 --> 01:05:32.261
and with a large raid
on the brush workshop.

01:05:35.806 --> 01:05:38.308
About 1,600 people were removed.

01:05:38.309 --> 01:05:39.309
Eight were killed.

01:05:43.522 --> 01:05:46.150
Among those taken away
was Rabbi Huberband.

01:05:48.694 --> 01:05:50.945
(building tense music)

01:05:50.946 --> 01:05:53.823
- [Historian] Those 60
members of the Oyneg Shabes

01:05:53.824 --> 01:05:56.577
quickly became 50, 40, 30.

01:05:57.495 --> 01:05:59.537
Every day somebody else

01:05:59.538 --> 01:06:01.332
would be taken to the trains.

01:06:03.167 --> 01:06:05.586
And during that terrible summer,

01:06:06.629 --> 01:06:09.547
they decided that it was time to

01:06:09.548 --> 01:06:14.303
bury everything that they
had collected so far.

01:06:16.180 --> 01:06:18.015
There was no time to lose.

01:06:21.602 --> 01:06:23.521
- [Rachel] Wasser came to
me late in the afternoon

01:06:23.562 --> 01:06:25.481
when one could move
on the streets.

01:06:27.817 --> 01:06:29.359
He took from me the last

01:06:29.360 --> 01:06:31.362
torn out pages from my diary.

01:06:33.572 --> 01:06:35.700
- She gives her unfinished works

01:06:35.741 --> 01:06:36.659
to the archives.

01:06:36.660 --> 01:06:38.661
And then she goes on to hide.

01:06:39.870 --> 01:06:42.288
They had a hideout
under the floor

01:06:42.289 --> 01:06:44.250
hidden by a carpet and a table.

01:06:53.008 --> 01:06:55.678
(door knocking)

01:07:13.821 --> 01:07:15.448
- [Judyta] Please be
careful, Hersh.

01:07:15.740 --> 01:07:16.740
I beg you.

01:07:16.866 --> 01:07:18.117
-[Hersh] I\'ll be careful.

01:07:30.171 --> 01:07:32.423
- [Emmanuel] I do not know
who of our group will survive

01:07:32.465 --> 01:07:34.508
to work through our
collected material.

01:07:38.137 --> 01:07:40.389
But one thing is
clear to all of us.

01:07:42.725 --> 01:07:44.894
Our devotion and
constant terror,

01:07:47.438 --> 01:07:49.356
our toils and tribulations,

01:07:52.568 --> 01:07:53.652
have not been in vain.

01:08:06.165 --> 01:08:07.666
-[Lewin] Luba?

01:08:12.004 --> 01:08:13.088
Luba?

01:08:13.964 --> 01:08:16.383
(somber instrumental music)

01:08:17.843 --> 01:08:21.180
- Eclipse of the sun,
universal blackness.

01:08:24.517 --> 01:08:26.601
My wife, Luba, was taken away

01:08:26.602 --> 01:08:28.938
during a blockade
on 30 Gesia Street.

01:08:34.026 --> 01:08:35.903
I ought to go after her,

01:08:37.238 --> 01:08:38.239
to die.

01:08:41.283 --> 01:08:43.452
But I have no strength
to take such a step.

01:08:46.372 --> 01:08:48.165
Today is Ora\'s 15th birthday.

01:08:51.377 --> 01:08:54.004
What a black day in her
life and in my life.

01:08:55.881 --> 01:08:57.466
Ora was talking in her sleep,

01:08:59.009 --> 01:09:00.177
mama, don\'t leave me.

01:09:02.054 --> 01:09:03.471
She went out in a light dress,

01:09:03.472 --> 01:09:05.683
without stockings, with
my leather briefcase.

01:09:08.185 --> 01:09:11.647
A life together
of over 21 years,

01:09:12.648 --> 01:09:14.567
has met with such a tragic end.

01:09:19.363 --> 01:09:22.240
- The day the great
deportation began,

01:09:22.241 --> 01:09:24.994
Abraham Lewin changed
the language of his diary

01:09:26.036 --> 01:09:28.205
from Yiddish to Hebrew.

01:09:31.166 --> 01:09:34.919
Lewin may have realized
that his own story

01:09:34.920 --> 01:09:37.756
had now turned into
something eternal.

01:09:40.342 --> 01:09:42.302
Something that
linked his experience

01:09:42.303 --> 01:09:44.555
to all of past Jewish history.

01:09:45.723 --> 01:09:48.976
And the language of the
eternal Jewish past.

01:09:51.604 --> 01:09:55.190
(tense instrumental music)

01:10:04.617 --> 01:10:08.120
(banging and dogs baking)

01:10:18.255 --> 01:10:23.260
(guns firing)
(people shouting)

01:10:24.637 --> 01:10:27.222
- [Nahum] There\'s terrible
shooting going in the street.

01:10:28.474 --> 01:10:31.435
I just heard my parent\'s
building is surrounded.

01:10:32.561 --> 01:10:33.937
I am going to run to my parents

01:10:33.938 --> 01:10:35.439
and see if they are all right.

01:10:39.318 --> 01:10:41.946
Remember, my name
is Nahum Grzywacz.

01:10:51.997 --> 01:10:53.916
- [Israel] I do not
ask for any praise.

01:10:56.335 --> 01:10:58.253
I only wish to be remembered.

01:11:01.924 --> 01:11:03.509
I wish my wife to be remembered,

01:11:05.511 --> 01:11:06.929
the artist Gele Sekstein.

01:11:09.098 --> 01:11:11.182
The past three years,
she worked with children

01:11:11.183 --> 01:11:13.101
in the ghetto as a teacher.

01:11:13.102 --> 01:11:14.352
She designed stage sets

01:11:14.353 --> 01:11:16.188
and costumes for the
children\'s theater.

01:11:21.694 --> 01:11:23.988
My daughter Margalit
is 20 months old today.

01:11:26.115 --> 01:11:27.532
She has fully mastered Yiddish

01:11:27.533 --> 01:11:28.784
and speaks it perfectly.

01:11:32.496 --> 01:11:35.249
I pity this lovely
little talented girl.

01:11:38.002 --> 01:11:39.795
She, too, deserves
to be remembered.

01:11:47.219 --> 01:11:49.263
- [David] We were not
afraid of the risk.

01:11:52.057 --> 01:11:53.475
What we were unable to cry

01:11:53.517 --> 01:11:55.518
and shriek out to the world

01:11:55.519 --> 01:11:56.812
we buried in the ground.

01:12:00.566 --> 01:12:02.400
I would love to live
to see the moment

01:12:02.401 --> 01:12:04.528
in which the great
treasure will be dug up,

01:12:07.823 --> 01:12:09.742
and scream the
truth at the world.

01:12:14.288 --> 01:12:17.165
- [Historian] In six weeks,
the largest Jewish community

01:12:17.166 --> 01:12:19.334
in Europe was shipped off

01:12:19.335 --> 01:12:21.503
in cattle cars to Treblinka.

01:12:23.756 --> 01:12:28.052
Among them, most of the
staff of the Oyneg Shabes.

01:12:29.344 --> 01:12:30.762
The Ghetto was essentially

01:12:30.763 --> 01:12:32.306
turned into a labor camp.

01:12:33.682 --> 01:12:36.309
Only 60,000 people remained.

01:12:36.310 --> 01:12:39.021
And they knew that their
days were numbered.

01:12:47.946 --> 01:12:49.740
- After the Great
Deportation ended

01:12:49.782 --> 01:12:51.241
and it was safe to go out,

01:12:52.659 --> 01:12:55.496
Rachel Auerbach goes back
to work in the soup kitchen.

01:12:59.458 --> 01:13:01.292
She is practically
the only person

01:13:01.293 --> 01:13:03.003
surviving out of
the kitchen staff.

01:13:11.386 --> 01:13:13.388
- [Rachel] I remember
my first walk

01:13:13.389 --> 01:13:14.807
after the Great Deportation.

01:13:20.145 --> 01:13:22.480
At the beginning of Autumn,

01:13:22.481 --> 01:13:24.733
a peculiar fluttering
of strange snow.

01:13:32.407 --> 01:13:33.658
Every once in a while,

01:13:33.659 --> 01:13:35.577
the wind picked up
the white stuff.

01:13:42.751 --> 01:13:45.129
And what it was, was feathers

01:13:46.880 --> 01:13:48.465
let loose from the bed quilts

01:13:49.758 --> 01:13:50.843
of murdered people.

01:13:57.099 --> 01:14:00.852
Oh, the crying of
things forever abandoned

01:14:00.853 --> 01:14:01.979
by their owners

01:14:06.316 --> 01:14:09.528
becoming degraded
in strange hands.

01:14:11.697 --> 01:14:13.532
Like corpses not buried.

01:14:20.956 --> 01:14:23.584
Who have no one to
do right by them.

01:14:31.550 --> 01:14:33.342
He who has not seen

01:14:33.343 --> 01:14:35.345
the weeping of dead things,

01:14:38.599 --> 01:14:40.808
he has not heard or seen

01:14:40.809 --> 01:14:43.604
in his life any sad things.

01:14:55.032 --> 01:14:57.284
(whistles)

01:15:07.169 --> 01:15:09.462
- [Rachel] Dr. Emanuel
Ringelblum crossed

01:15:09.463 --> 01:15:12.216
to the Aryan side of
Warsaw in February.

01:15:13.675 --> 01:15:17.762
He sat for almost nine
months in a hiding place,

01:15:17.763 --> 01:15:21.892
deeply absorbed in the work
of his historic materials.

01:15:23.936 --> 01:15:27.188
- [Historian] The bunker was
located under the greenhouses

01:15:27.189 --> 01:15:29.066
of a very courageous Pole.

01:15:30.067 --> 01:15:31.359
The Nazis made it very

01:15:31.360 --> 01:15:33.861
dangerous for
well-meaning Poles

01:15:33.862 --> 01:15:35.948
to hide their Jewish neighbors.

01:15:40.285 --> 01:15:42.203
And some who did were murdered

01:15:42.204 --> 01:15:43.956
along with their families.

01:15:48.252 --> 01:15:49.835
But there were also
Polish blackmailers

01:15:49.836 --> 01:15:52.089
actively hunting for Jews.

01:15:52.130 --> 01:15:54.383
(giggling)

01:15:56.885 --> 01:15:58.970
- [Emmanuel] Dear Friends,

01:15:58.971 --> 01:16:00.304
We write to you at a time

01:16:00.305 --> 01:16:03.683
when 95% of the Polish Jews

01:16:03.684 --> 01:16:05.851
have already died in
the gas chambers of

01:16:05.852 --> 01:16:09.606
Treblinka, Sobibor,
Chelmno, Auschwitz.

01:16:11.984 --> 01:16:13.901
10s of crates were
collected with

01:16:13.902 --> 01:16:16.280
extraordinarily
valuable documents.

01:16:17.906 --> 01:16:19.365
A great deal was written,

01:16:19.366 --> 01:16:21.325
but the overwhelming
majority of it

01:16:21.326 --> 01:16:23.537
was destroyed in
the deportations.

01:16:25.914 --> 01:16:27.832
All that remained
are the materials

01:16:27.833 --> 01:16:29.459
preserved in the Archives.

01:16:31.503 --> 01:16:33.170
There has been no major event

01:16:33.171 --> 01:16:34.380
in the life of the Jews

01:16:34.381 --> 01:16:35.840
that was not reflected in

01:16:35.841 --> 01:16:37.843
the materials of
the Oyneg Shabes.

01:16:40.971 --> 01:16:42.263
And the life of every Jew

01:16:42.264 --> 01:16:46.351
during this war, is
a world to itself.

01:16:47.352 --> 01:16:51.023
(gentle instrumental music)

01:17:06.455 --> 01:17:07.873
-[Guard] Name and Surname?

01:17:08.498 --> 01:17:09.916
-[Rachel] Aniela Dobrucka

01:17:14.004 --> 01:17:15.005
-[Guard] Surname?

01:17:15.380 --> 01:17:16.380
-[Man] Pajewski.

01:17:16.882 --> 01:17:17.549
-[Guard] What?

01:17:17.758 --> 01:17:18.758
-[Man] Pajewski.

01:17:24.389 --> 01:17:26.475
- [Guard] First name?
- [Man] Tadeusz.

01:17:27.559 --> 01:17:28.810
- [Guard] What were you
doing in the Ghetto?

01:17:29.061 --> 01:17:31.188
- [Man] Visiting the owner
of a factory with my wife.

01:17:35.400 --> 01:17:36.610
Thank you.

01:17:39.404 --> 01:17:41.739
- [Rachel] With the
help of Dr. Ringelblum,

01:17:41.740 --> 01:17:44.326
I crossed to the
Aryan side of Warsaw.

01:17:46.203 --> 01:17:48.914
I wore the red scarf
that Halina had given me.

01:17:51.708 --> 01:17:53.418
I never took it off.

01:18:01.134 --> 01:18:03.970
- [Emmanuel] Whomever you talk
to, you hear the same cry,

01:18:05.430 --> 01:18:07.349
We should have run
out into the street,

01:18:08.475 --> 01:18:10.727
set fire to everything in sight,

01:18:10.769 --> 01:18:11.894
torn down the walls,

01:18:11.895 --> 01:18:13.438
and escaped to the Other Side.

01:18:15.607 --> 01:18:18.526
The Germans would have
taken their revenge.

01:18:18.527 --> 01:18:19.777
It would have cost 10s of

01:18:19.778 --> 01:18:23.365
thousands of lives,
but not 300,000.

01:18:25.826 --> 01:18:27.577
This must not be repeated now.

01:18:30.664 --> 01:18:32.249
We must put up a resistance.

01:18:36.294 --> 01:18:39.172
- [Historian] On the
eve of Passover 1943,

01:18:41.258 --> 01:18:44.135
Emanuel Ringelblum
was once again

01:18:44.136 --> 01:18:46.303
in the Ghetto to meet with

01:18:46.304 --> 01:18:49.266
the few surviving
members of the archive.

01:18:55.647 --> 01:18:58.066
The uprising started
the next day.

01:19:00.444 --> 01:19:03.320
(gentle tense music)

01:19:03.321 --> 01:19:06.407
(guns firing)

01:19:06.408 --> 01:19:09.493
- [Man] The Jews showed the
world that they could fight,

01:19:09.494 --> 01:19:10.494
weapon in hand,

01:19:12.706 --> 01:19:14.331
that they know how
to die honorably

01:19:14.332 --> 01:19:16.584
in the battle against
the deadly enemy

01:19:16.585 --> 01:19:19.004
of the Jewish nation
and all of humanity.

01:19:22.215 --> 01:19:23.467
- [Historian] The
Warsaw Ghetto uprising,

01:19:23.508 --> 01:19:25.885
was an act of
despair and courage

01:19:25.886 --> 01:19:29.473
and it really had no
military objectives.

01:19:29.514 --> 01:19:32.850
It was a statement that
we will die fighting,

01:19:32.851 --> 01:19:34.769
that, we will not go quietly.

01:19:37.564 --> 01:19:40.233
The uprising caught
the Germans unawares.

01:19:42.152 --> 01:19:44.361
In the face of mounting losses,

01:19:44.362 --> 01:19:47.281
they started simply to
burn down the Ghetto,

01:19:47.282 --> 01:19:48.950
block after block.

01:19:52.204 --> 01:19:54.789
Burning people alive, all
those who were hidden.

01:19:56.541 --> 01:19:57.875
It took them four weeks

01:19:57.876 --> 01:19:59.877
to win the battle against

01:19:59.878 --> 01:20:02.255
these largely unarmed Jews.

01:20:15.769 --> 01:20:19.022
- Auerbach is there, in
Warsaw on the Aryan side,

01:20:21.399 --> 01:20:23.901
She has this non-Jewish look,

01:20:23.902 --> 01:20:25.444
and she speaks perfect Polish,

01:20:25.445 --> 01:20:27.614
so she can hide in the open.

01:20:30.116 --> 01:20:32.034
She can see the Ghetto burning.

01:20:32.035 --> 01:20:33.452
She cannot cry.

01:20:33.453 --> 01:20:34.788
She cannot show emotion.

01:20:35.956 --> 01:20:38.291
But the smoke is
there, everywhere.

01:20:41.169 --> 01:20:43.128
- [Rachel] For four months,
we did not know what

01:20:43.129 --> 01:20:46.549
happened to Ringelblum
during the battles,

01:20:46.550 --> 01:20:48.760
fires and mass executions.

01:20:53.181 --> 01:20:56.016
Then, in July, a postcard
came to a Polish address

01:20:56.017 --> 01:20:59.271
with the news that he
was in a labor camp.

01:21:02.190 --> 01:21:04.316
The Jewish underground
on the Aryan side

01:21:04.317 --> 01:21:06.068
sent the Polish train employee

01:21:06.069 --> 01:21:08.113
who had taken me
out of the Ghetto.

01:21:16.830 --> 01:21:19.749
(relieved sighing)

01:21:41.980 --> 01:21:43.564
- [Emmanuel] Remember
that our workers

01:21:43.565 --> 01:21:46.191
were ever faithful to the ideals

01:21:46.192 --> 01:21:48.320
of our culture until
their dying moments.

01:21:51.323 --> 01:21:56.243
The flag of culture and
of struggle with barbarism

01:21:56.244 --> 01:21:58.163
was clenched in their
hands until death.

01:22:00.624 --> 01:22:04.502
(speaking in foreign language)

01:22:05.670 --> 01:22:07.254
Whether we shall
have the opportunity

01:22:07.255 --> 01:22:08.923
to meet with you is doubtful.

01:22:13.511 --> 01:22:15.096
We send our warmest greetings.

01:22:18.808 --> 01:22:20.226
Dr. E. Ringelblum.

01:22:25.190 --> 01:22:26.774
- [Rachel] A Polish
police unit dedicated

01:22:26.775 --> 01:22:28.817
to finding Jews in hiding,

01:22:28.818 --> 01:22:31.571
betrayed a large
bunker to the Nazis.

01:22:44.626 --> 01:22:47.961
Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum,
his wife Judyta,

01:22:47.962 --> 01:22:50.882
and their 12-year old son Uri

01:22:52.008 --> 01:22:54.636
were shot and killed
three days later

01:22:56.846 --> 01:22:58.138
along with the other Jews

01:22:58.139 --> 01:23:00.599
from the bunker and
the Polish gardener

01:23:00.600 --> 01:23:01.893
who had been hiding them.

01:23:06.606 --> 01:23:09.275
We could not make
peace with this news.

01:23:12.070 --> 01:23:13.279
Even until today.

01:23:20.078 --> 01:23:22.414
(exploding)

01:23:28.336 --> 01:23:30.922
So passed one phase
after another.

01:23:37.887 --> 01:23:39.805
Today, we know the end.

01:23:39.806 --> 01:23:43.476
(gentle instrumental music)

01:24:11.504 --> 01:24:13.881
Should I regret that
I did not flee Warsaw

01:24:13.882 --> 01:24:15.008
before the war?

01:24:17.886 --> 01:24:19.470
Maybe I could have
managed to save

01:24:19.471 --> 01:24:21.765
some of my most
beloved closest ones?

01:24:27.854 --> 01:24:30.355
The memories of
those who survived

01:24:30.356 --> 01:24:33.693
are often as hurt and
broken as their lives.

01:24:37.197 --> 01:24:39.865
That is why the most
believable witness

01:24:39.866 --> 01:24:42.327
will be the written
word from those years.

01:24:44.954 --> 01:24:48.791
Which is now under the
ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto.

01:24:48.792 --> 01:24:52.044
(building instrumental music)

01:24:52.045 --> 01:24:55.255
- The Warsaw Ghetto was
just a heap of rubble.

01:24:55.256 --> 01:24:57.049
It was hard to know
where a street had been,

01:24:57.050 --> 01:24:59.302
much less where a
building had been.

01:25:01.513 --> 01:25:05.225
Luckily, they had pre-war
aerial photographs.

01:25:07.852 --> 01:25:11.105
Using the spire of
a Catholic church,

01:25:12.565 --> 01:25:15.276
they estimated where the
building would have been,

01:25:17.695 --> 01:25:19.614
and that\'s where
they started digging.

01:25:22.492 --> 01:25:24.494
- [Rachel] A message
came to me in Lodz.

01:25:25.495 --> 01:25:27.037
The foundation of the building

01:25:27.038 --> 01:25:28.289
has now been reached.

01:25:29.916 --> 01:25:33.086
Will it be possible to get
to the necessary place?

01:25:37.841 --> 01:25:39.592
Will anything be found?

01:25:45.223 --> 01:25:47.809
-Hello?

01:25:50.228 --> 01:25:52.897
-Maybe they found damaged tins,

01:25:54.065 --> 01:25:56.693
strewn about with
half rotten papers?

01:25:58.987 --> 01:26:01.405
And maybe there\'s
not a shred left

01:26:01.406 --> 01:26:05.158
of what for us is a
more important treasure

01:26:05.159 --> 01:26:08.078
than all the money
and gold hidden

01:26:08.079 --> 01:26:10.623
in the secret places
of the Ghetto.

01:26:13.751 --> 01:26:15.551
- [Rachel] Good morning.
- [Man] Good morning.

01:26:15.837 --> 01:26:17.546
- [Rachel] Do you know
if they found

01:26:17.547 --> 01:26:18.673
anything from the Archive?

01:26:18.965 --> 01:26:20.967
- [Man] Sure.
It\'s upstairs.

01:26:24.012 --> 01:26:27.682
(gentle instrumental music)