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SUMMARY:Will These Words Reach You? The Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto
UID:https://instytutpolski.pl/newyork/2026/08/10/will-these-words-reach-you-the-underground-archive-of-the-warsaw-ghetto/
LOCATION:
DTSTAMP:20260918
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20260918
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Warsaw:20270214
DESCRIPTION:September 18, 2026 – February 14, 2027Museum of Jewish Heritage — A
Living Memorial to the HolocaustEdmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Place,
New York, NY 10280
Will These Words Reach You? The Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto
examines one of the most significant acts of Jewish resistance and
historical preservation during the Holocaust: the creation of the Oyneg
Shabes Archive in the Warsaw Ghetto. After the Nazis sealed the ghetto in
November 1940, more than 400,000 Jews were confined under brutal and
dehumanizing conditions. Alongside mass starvation, disease, and violence,
Jewish life faced cultural and historical annihilation. Within this
environment, documenting daily experience became both a risk and a
necessity.
Led by historian and activist Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum, a clandestine group
of Jewish scholars, educators, journalists, religious leaders, artists, and
youth activists formed Oyneg Shabes, meaning “the joy of the Sabbath,”
named for their secret Saturday meetings. United across political and
ideological differences, the group committed itself to recording Jewish
life as it unfolded under Nazi rule. Over three years, they gathered nearly
35,000 documents, including testimonies, diaries, letters, underground
newspapers, artwork, ration cards, children’s writings, and cultural
ephemera. Together, these materials form the most comprehensive
contemporaneous Jewish record of life in the Warsaw Ghetto.
As deportations to concentration camps accelerated in the summer of 1942,
the members of Oyneg Shabes understood that survival was increasingly
unlikely. In a final act of moral courage, they buried the archive in metal
milk containers and boxes beneath the ghetto, hoping it would be recovered
after the war. Only three members survived, Hersh and Bluma Wasser and
Rokhl Oyerbakh, who later helped locate and unearth the archive. The first
cache was recovered on September 18, 1946, with additional materials found
four years later.
Produced by the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw,
Will These Words Reach You? commemorates the 80th anniversary of the
archive’s recovery. Through original artifacts, including one of the
burial containers, along with reproductions, maps, infographics, animated
projections, and film footage of the postwar excavation, the exhibition
intertwines Holocaust history with the lived responses of Oyneg Shabes.
Central to Jewish heritage, the archive stands as a testament to Jewish
agency, intellectual life, and the enduring commitment to memory. By
preserving their voices in the midst of catastrophe, Oyneg Shabes ensured
that Jews would continue to speak across generations.
Will These Words Reach You? The Underground Archive of the Warsaw
Ghetto is made possible, in part, thanks to generous support from George
Klein and Family, the Goldie and David Blanksteen Foundation, the Charina
Foundation, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Matthew F. and Terry
Schwartz Breitenbach, Michael Eberstadt and Nina Beattie, Nancy Fisher,
Patti Kenner, Stacey and Marc Saiontz, and the Nartel Family Foundation.
The Museum of Jewish Heritage’s programs are also made possible by public
funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New
York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the
Governor and the New York State Legislature. (As of July 2026. Subject to
change.)
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