The Warsaw Ghetto: History as Survival

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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.

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The Warsaw Ghetto: History as Survival: 10. Out of the Ruins

10. Out of the Ruins

BBC Radio 4 - The Warsaw Ghetto: History as Survival, 10. Out of the Ruins

An extraordinary secret wartime archive of life in the Warsaw Ghetto.

From 1940, the Oyneg Shabes archive secretly chronicled daily existence in the Warsaw Ghetto. Rachel Auerbach witnesses the rescue of the historical treasure.

The Oyneg Shabes Archive reveals 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. Episode 10. Out of the Ruins with Tracy-Ann Oberman

In the middle of Europe, in the middle of the 20th Century a half million Jewish men, women & children were cut off, surrounded by the German occupiers, imprisoned behind walls. How do you tell the world about your life and fate? Historian and activist Emanuel Ringelblum devised and directed a clandestine archive- codename Oyneg Shabes (Joy of the Sabbath) to chronicle every aspect of their existence. He recruited over 60 'zamlers' or gatherers to write & compile thousands of pages-diaries, essays, poems, photographs, statistical studies, art, ephemera -a historical treasure that was buried even as the Ghetto was being extinguished so that the world might read and understand. Listen to their stories

10. Out of the Ruins. In the aftermath of the war, Warsaw was nothing but rubble. Rachel Auerbach one of only 3 members of the Oyneg Shabes to survive. Her urgent calls to rescue the archive, buried in the ruins of the vanished ghetto, were answered when the first tranche rediscovered in 1947. 
Narration by Anton Lesser. With Tracy-Ann Oberman as Rachel Auerbach. Translation by Sarah Traister Moskowitz. Historical Adviser 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/

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