The Warsaw Ghetto: History as Survival

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Documentaries

Podcasts

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: History

The story of an extraordinary secret archive recording daily life in the Warsaw Ghetto.

The story of the Oyneg Shabes archive. Between 1940 and 1943 a group of dedicated writers secretly recorded daily Jewish existence in the Warsaw Ghetto.

The story of the Oyneg Shabes archive. Between 1940 and 1943 a group of dedicated writers, led by historian Emanuel Ringeblum, secretly recorded daily Jewish existence in the Warsaw Ghetto. It would become history as survival. Anton Lesser narrates this new 10-part series revealing the lives, stories and destruction of the Ghetto.

BBC Radio 4 FM

The Warsaw Ghetto: History as Survival: 7. The Umschlagplatz

7. The Umschlagplatz

BBC Radio 4 - The Warsaw Ghetto: History as Survival, 7. The Umschlagplatz

An extraordinary underground archive reveals life in the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Oyneg Shabes archive had chronicled daily existence in the Warsaw Ghetto since its inception and then, in the summer of 1942, the Great Deportations began.

The Oyneg Shabes Archive chronicled every facet of life and death in the Warsaw Ghetto between 1940-43. An underground project that became history as survival. Anton Lesser narrates this 10 part series revealing the lives and stories of the Ghetto. Episode7-The Umschlagplatz.

Emanuel Ringelblum had gathered his 'zamler's to collect, write & record daily existence in the Warsaw Ghetto in a clandestine project codenamed Oyneg Shabes (Joy of the Sabbath). Fears of what the Nazi's might be capable of had grown since Ghetto life & the beginning of the archive but few believed they would murder the entire population of Europe's largest Jewish community. By the summer of 1942 appalling evidence of mass murder had been documented and transmitted to London. Then, in July , the Great Deportations began. It was the beginning of the end. No one was safe, even as the terrible roundups got underway, members of the Oyneg Shabes tried to document events and secure the archive. Every day 6000 men, women & children were herded towards the Umschlagplatz where the trains departed daily Eastwards.

Narrator Anton Lesser. Featuring the voices of Richard Katz as Abraham Lewin, Elliot Levey as Emanuel Ringeblum & Tracy-Ann Oberman as Rachel Auerbach. Polish dialogues Gregorz Janiszewski. German dialogues Michael Joseph & Felix Tzapir. Translation by Emma Harris, Christopher Hutton, Sean Gasper Bye & Samuel Kassow.  Written & produced by Mark Burman.

For more information on the Oyneg Shabes/Ringeblum archive go to the website of the Jewish Historical Institute https://cbj.jhi.pl/

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Warsaw Ghetto: History as Survival

7. The Umschlagplatz

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4