Emanuel Ringelblum

Emanuel Ringelblum (November 21, 1900 – March 7, 1944) was a Polish-Jewish historian, politician and social worker, known for his "Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto", "Notes on the Refugees in Zbąszyn" chronicling the deportation of Jews from the town of Zbąszyń, and the so-called "Ringelblum's Archives of the Warsaw Ghetto".

During World War 2, Ringelblum and his family were resettled to the Warsaw Ghetto. There he led a secret operation code-named Oyneg Shabbos (Yiddish for "Sabbath Delight"). The activities of the group were kept so secretive that not even the inhabitants of the ghetto were aware of the operation.

He spent his days collecting information, and wrote notes at night. Together with numerous other Jewish writers, scientists and ordinary people, Ringelblum collected diaries, documents, commissioned papers, and preserved the posters and decrees that comprised the memory of the doomed community. Among approximately 25,000 sheets preserved there are also detailed descriptions of destruction of ghettos in other parts of occupied Poland, the Treblinka extermination camp, Chełmno extermination camp and a number of reports made by scientists conducting research on the effects of famine in the ghettos.

The operation used the Jewish Social Self-Help (Żydowska Samopomoc Społeczna - ZSS), an organization tolerated by the Nazi Party, to help the starving people of the Warsaw Ghetto, as a cover for its activities. The office of this social service is now the storage site of the archives. On the eve of the ghetto's destruction in the spring of 1943, when all seemed lost, the archive was placed in three milk cans and metal boxes. Parts were buried in the cellars of Warsaw buildings.

Ringelblum and his family escaped from the Ghetto and found refuge on the Polish side of Warsaw. However, on March 7, 1944 their hiding place was discovered by the Gestapo. Soon after, Ringelblum and his family were executed, along with the Polish rescuers Mieczysław Wolski and Janusz Wysocki, in Pawiak Prison.

The fate of Ringelblum's archives is only partially known. In September 1946, ten clay-covered tin boxes were found in the ruins of Warsaw. Although they were damaged by water, the contents of the boxes were able to be salvaged by conservators. In December 1950, two additional milk cans were found in a cellar of a ruined house at 68 Nowolipki Street. The second archive was not only found in much better condition than the first, but also contained a larger variety of artifacts. Among them were copies of several underground newspapers, a narrative of deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto, and public notices by the Judenrat (the council of Jewish leaders), but also documents of ordinary life, concert invitations, milk coupons, and chocolate wrappers. The archival treasure provides insight on the daily lives, struggles, and sufferings of Polish Jews living in a pivotal area during the Holocaust. Despite repeated searches, the rest of the archive, including the third milk can, has yet to be found. It is rumored to be located beneath what is now the Chinese Embassy in Warsaw.

The Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw is named for him. The Oyneg Shabbos archive has been preserved as a first-hand of the Holocaust as it was happening. The documents found in the archive have been published in a book to help ordinary people understand what everyday life was like in the German-run Warsaw Ghetto.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Ringelblum