In 1940, in the Jewish ghetto of Nazi-occupied Warsaw, the Polish historian Emanuel Ringelblum established a clandestine scholarly organization called ‘ Oyneg Shabes’. For three years they worked in secret to chronicle the lives of hundreds of thousands as they suffered starvation, disease, and deportation by the Nazis. Shortly before the Warsaw ghetto was emptied and razed in 1943, they buried thousands of documents from this massive archive in milk cans and tin boxes, ensuring the voice and culture of a doomed people would outlast the efforts of their enemies to silence them.
Using newsreels, voice-overs, and re-enactments, Grossman, the documentary’s director paints a comprehensive portrait of the times and risks taken by Ringelblum and his group. According to the film, of some 60 members of the Oyneg Shabes, only three survived until the end of World War II. Portions of the archive had to be excavated from underneath tons of rubble after the war. Parts are still missing.
The Holocaust Learning Center and the Adult Education committee of WJC are proud to present Dr. Kassow in a discussion of the film and book of the same title in a Zoom presentation, on June 14, 2020 at 10:00am.
Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/97228244476
Meeting ID: 972 2824 4476
These introductory remarks are but a fraction of this compelling story of heroism and dedication. Please rent the film, “WHO WILL WRITE OUR HISTORY” on Amazon prior to watching the program via Zoom on June 14.
Professor Samuel Kassow will be the keynote speaker at our Zoom Shoa presentation. He was born in a Displaced Persons Camp in Germany to two Holocaust survivors. As a child of survivors, Kassow was very much affected by his background and developed an interest in Jewish history from a young age. After graduating from college in 1966, he took a Fulbright in England at the London School of Economics and studied at Oxford until eventually deciding to get his PhD in history at Princeton. In 1972, he went back to Trinity as a professor, where he has been teaching ever since.
https://www.wjcenter.org/events/who-will-write-our-history/
https://www.facebook.com/events/2815987391962136/
