Words to Outlive Us: Eyewitness Accounts from the Warsaw Ghetto (review)

Historians continue to search for sources to help us better understand the Holocaust. For those interested in the human experience during those times—loneliness, despair, and fear; love, hope, and faith—we read diaries and other personal writings from the Shoah. One of the most important recent books has finally been published in English— Michał Grynberg's Words to Outlive Us: Eyewitness Accounts from the Warsaw Ghetto. I often assign the Polish edition to students, who regard it as one of the best sources they read.

The book consists of fragments of twenty-nine eyewitness testimonies written inside the Warsaw Ghetto or in hiding on the "Aryan side," all of which have been preserved in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. We know the author's fate in only a few cases; in some we do not even know the diarist's name. Organized in chronological order, the collection underscores important ghetto events. Chapter 1 depicts daily life in the ghetto, where Jews were dying of hunger and disease—particularly typhus. Death was omnipresent; however, the ghetto was also full of life and hope for survival.

Chapter 2 describes ghetto institutions, particularly the Judenrat, or Jewish Council, with a focus on its leader, Adam Czerniakow. Several authors record the impossible decisions his role required him to make, and his eventual suicide. The activities of the Jewish police are detailed by prominent members such as Stanisław Gombiński (also known as Jan Mawult). One diary discusses the Pawiak Prison in Warsaw and Jewish social organizations, such as TOZ (health) and Centos (orphan care), active in the ghetto.

In chapter 3, "Roundups, Selections, and Deportations," we read about the fearful atmosphere prior to the mass deportations that began on July 22, 1942. An Aktion began that morning and continued for several weeks. The Germans surrounded several houses and brought the inhabitants to the common yard to have their documents checked. Those with "good" documents could stay, while the others were escorted to the Umschlagplatz, the railway platform on Stawki Street, north of the ghetto. The Germans or the Jewish policemen then checked targeted apartments, searching for those who remained in hiding. Anyone found was killed on the spot or sent to the Umschlag platz. Some Jews reported there "voluntarily," lured by German promises of three kilograms of bread and two kilograms of jam—an irresistible temptation for those terribly hungry prisoners who had no chance of any ghetto enterprise and who were exhausted from hiding. Many still believed there were labor camps in the East and hoped to join family members who had been taken away earlier.

Chapter 4 is entitled "Passive and Active Resistance inside the Ghetto." Despite frightful conditions, Jews tried to preserve their dignity. People read books, listened to music, and organized concerts and theatrical performances; children studied in clandestine classes; doctors treated the sick. Writers and poets described the horrors of everyday life while believers prayed. Social workers arranged mutual-aid efforts to ease the burdens of the poorest ghetto inhabitants. Meanwhile, political activists published illegal brochures, contacted Jews in other ghettos through a well-organized network of couriers, and gathered information about the German occupation. Even the most "passive" resistance required great courage, but by far the most outstanding event in the three-year history of the ghetto was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

The Jewish insurgents had been preparing for the uprising for a long time—planning strategy, obtaining weapons, gathering food supplies, developing lines of communication, and rooting out traitors. One of most important elements of this uprising was spiritual resistance. A strong will to survive and a desire for revenge combined to create the strength necessary to fight the Germans. The attitude of those not directly participating (i.e., not the cadre fighters) was also important. In addition to building many bunkers, these loyal non-militants established the social base necessary for conspiracy and insurrection. The...