Language:
English
Year of publication:
1997
Titel der Quelle:
Gal-Ed; on the History of the Jews in Poland
Angaben zur Quelle:
15-16 (1997) 105-117
Keywords:
Ringelblum, Emanuel,
;
Ringelblum-Archiv
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Historiography
;
Jews
Abstract:
Discusses the approach of Ringelblum (1900-44), who is famous for his diary which survived the Warsaw ghetto and his direction of the "Oneg Shabbat" underground archival project, to the writing of history. Stresses that his approach matured long before the war. Ringelblum was a committed left-wing intellectual, active in the Left Poalei Zion party and devoted to Jewish nationalism and socialism. He initially viewed the documentation project in the ghetto as supporting Jewish communal life but, as the situation of Polish Jewry in general and the ghetto in particular became hopeless, he viewed his task more in terms of helping Jews in the future to understand this community. His socialist outlook led to an emphasis on mutual aid amongst the poor people in the ghetto. He was critical of the selfishness of the assimilated bourgeoisie and of the Judenrat for failing to deal with the daily needs of the lower classes. Yiddish proletarian culture was featured in the "Oneg Shabbat" project and memorialized as one of the important features of Jewish life in the Warsaw ghetto.
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