For the past three and half years of the war, an archive was established in the ghetto
by the Oyneg Shabbes group.
This curious name stems from the fact that the group convened on Saturdays; and for reasons
of secrecy, the entire institution was called "Oyneg Shabbes"' [Joy of the Sabbath]
I began collecting material on contemporary times back in October 1939
when, as head of the Jewish Self-Help Society,
I was in direct daily contact with life in the surroundings.
I was receiving news of what was happening to the Jews in Warsaw and its suburbs.
In the evenings I noted everything I had heard during the day and added my own comments.
The war produced rapid changes in Jewish life in the towns of Poland. Each day was different
from the next. It was therefore important to capture every event in the heat of the moment,
when it was still fresh and pulsating.
A rich community life began to develop in Warsaw,
with readings, lectures, memorial meetings and concerts,
all of which broadened and deepened the Oyneg Shabbes work.
Despite the broad dimensions of our work, the need for secrecy
inevitably restricted its scope.
"I consider it a sacred duty for everyone
to write down everything he has seen or heard from others about what the Germans have done"
"It must all be recorded without a single fact left out. And when the time comes -
as it surely will - let the world read and know what the murderers have done.
When the mourners write, this will be their most important material."
In May 1940, I thought it expedient to organize this highly important work
as a group undertaking. Not only adults, but also young people and,
in some instances, even children, worked for Oyneg Shabbes.
Our aim was a presentation of a photographically true and detailed picture
of what the Jewish population had to experience, to think and to suffer.
The Saturday the ghetto was introduced, the 16th of November, was terrible.
People in the street didn't know it was to be a closed ghetto,
so it came like a thunderbolt.
Details of German, Polish, and Jewish guards stood at every corner searching passers-by
to decide whether or not they had the right to pass.
"I entered. I crossed the boundary not just of a residential quarter
but of a zone of reality, because what I saw and experienced
cannot be understood by our reason, thoughts, or imagination."
"As I write these lines, more streets being taken away, less room, a tighter noose around our neck.
Will we be able to save the Jewish child?"
"The world's turning upside down. A planet melts in tears. And I - I am hungry, hungry.
I am hungry."
So much material was collected
that we all thought the time was ripe for a summary of the various problems
and prominent phenomena in Jewish life...
We colloquially termed this plan 'Two and a Half Years'.
Many writers were already at an advanced stage of work, when a new disaster
descended on Warsaw Jewry.
The deportation began on July 22, 1942,
it marks a new period in the history of Warsaw Jewry,
affecting also the nature of the Oyneg Shabbes work.
There was an interruption of several months in our activities.
At a time when every second threatened capture and transport to Treblinka,
there could be no thought of systematic collection.
Only a handful of people continued to keep diaries and to record their daily experiences
even during the deportations.
"A Jew has returned to our workshop who worked as a gravedigger in Treblinka for nine or eleven days
before escaping in a train-wagon.
According to what he said, not only Jews from Warsaw
are being exterminated in Treblinka, but Jews from all over Europe.
In our courtyard Jews are praying,
pouring out their cares to the Creator."
"I have been charged with the role of guardian of the access gate. I hid the material.
Only I knew. I told only my friend, Hersch Wasser, who is my superior,
where the place is...
It is well hidden.
I do not ask for any thanks.
Only to be remembered is what I wish,
so that my people, my brothers and sisters overseas
should know where my bones have been taken to.
"Dear Friends,
We are writing to you at a time when ninety-five percent of the Jews of Poland
have already perished in gruesome sufferings,
in the gas chambers of the slaughterhouses of Treblinka, of Sobibor, of Chelmno and Auschwitz,
or were murdered in the countless 'liquidation-actions'
in ghettos and camps.
Perhaps some miniscule handful of Jews might survive,
those who live still illegally in constant danger
Will any of us see the end of the war?
- We doubt it.
We would, therefore, like to tell you, as briefly as possible, of our work and activities.
The intensive efforts of our staff resulted in the accumulation of more than ten crates
of particularly valuable documents, chronicles, diaries, photographs, etc.
All these materials were buried underground within the Ghetto.