Holocaust Memorial Day Trust

Learning lessons from the past to create a safer, better future

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1. What do you think the object is?

2. How old is the object?3. Why do you think someone

has looked after it?4. Who do you think it

belonged to?5. Where do you think it has

come from?

Starter questions

Now look at the object and read Source B below. Can you answer the questions now?

1.What do you think the object is?2.How old is the object?3.Why do you think someone has looked after it?4.Who do you think it belonged to?5.Where do you think it has come from?

Source B

“So the Jews began to write. Everyone wrote: journalists, writers, teachers, community activists, young people, even children.”Emanuel Ringelblum

The object is a milk churn. It was used by Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto to keep the memory of the Jews alive. Three were buried in total (only two have been found). They contained over 30,000 items, from letters, diaries, posters, newspapers, photos and drawings, amongst others, to show what life was like for the Jews in the ghetto. Together, this evidence has created the Oneg Shabbat Archives.

Learning Objectives

• To learn about how the Jewish people in the Warsaw Ghetto tried to keep their memory alive through the Oneg Shabbat archives.

• To consider what we can do to keep alive the memory of Emanuel Ringelblum and the Oneg Shabbat archive.

Keep the memory Alive

Who was Emanuel Ringelblum and what was his involvement in the archives?

Emanuel Ringelblum

Key word definitions

Ghettos An area of a city where Jews were forced to live.

Martyrology The Jews who were killed for their beliefs.

Archive A collection of historical documents or records.

Facilitate To make something / an action easier.

Preservation The action of looking after something.

Labour camp A prison camp for Jews where they were punished

and forced to work, often to death.

questions

1. Who was Emanuel Ringelblum?

2. Where was he forced to go in 1940? Explain what conditions were like.

3. Why did he start making an archive of evidence? What sorts of evidence did they include?

4. Why did they bury the evidence in milk churns?

5. How could they ensure that they had a wide variety of information?

6. How are the archives an example of Jewish resistance?

Keep the Memory Alive

Dawid Graber, was one of the archivists involved. He was only 19 years old when he helped bury the first set of archives.

Before he buried it, he added his own will.

Read an excerpt on the next slide.

‘I would love to see the moment in which the great treasure will be dug up and scream the truth at the world. So the world may know all.

So the ones who did not live through it may be glad, and we may feel like veterans with medals on our chests. May the treasure fall into good hands, may it last into better times, may it alarm and alert the world.’

Historical activity

1. Who wrote the document?

2. Why did they write the document?

3. What was the purpose of them writing the document?

4. What can we tell about the Holocaust from the document?

5. What doesn’t the document tell us?

English activity

1. Prepare your own archives, in groups.

2. Choose a subject for the archive – why have chosen this subject?

3. Each member of your group to choose a different format for your piece of writing

4. Think about how you will present your archive to the rest of the class.

To Conclude:

Choose three words to describe Emanuel Ringelblum and his fellow archivists.

Discuss these words as a class.

How important was their role and why should we learn about them?

How can we keep their memory alive?