Masada - Korczak resistance in the Warszawa Ghetto.
Whilst conditions in the ghetto were tough, some inhabitants were determined to continue the cultural aspects of their previous life. Janusz Korczak was among them.Despite education being banned by Nazis at almost all levels, there were schools throughout the ghetto. Adults could also attend seminars and lectures, often led by those at the top of their field.
The historian Emanuel Ringelblum , in collaboration with others, resisted Nazi rule from within the ghetto by creating an archive documenting the Nazi crimes. Ringelblum’s collection became known as the Oyneg Shabes archive. Facing the threat of deportation to Treblinka extermination camp, Oyneg Shabes buried their extensive collection in milk cans and metal boxes to prevent the archive from falling into the hands of the Nazis.
Jews also physically resisted the Nazi rule. The largest and most significant case of armed resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of 1943.
It is a story about Masada play performed in the Warszawa Ghetto while Korczaks Orphanage was located at 33 Chlodna Street.
The dramatic history behind one of the great landmarks of ancient Israel. In the spring of 73 AD, the rock fortress of Masada on the western shore of the Dead Sea was the site of an event that was breathtaking in its courage and self-sacrifice. Here the last of the Jewish Zealots who, for nearly eight years, had waged war against the Roman occupiers of their country made their last stand. The Zealots on Masada had withstood a two-year siege but with Roman victory finally assured, they faced two options: capture or death. They chose the latter, and when the Roman legions forced their way into the hill fort the following morning they were met only with utter silence by row upon row of bodies. Rather than fall into enemy hands the 960 men, women, and children who had defended the fortress so heroically had committed suicide. The story of the siege and eventual capture of Masada is unique, not just in Israeli legend but in the history of the world. It is a story of bravery that even the Roman legionaries, well used to death and brutality, could see and appreciate. It was a massacre but a massacre with a difference: carried out by the victims themselves. This book tells the story, covering the excavation of the remote hilltop site in the twentieth century.
Korczaks Ghetto Uprise
names, but everyone knew he was referring to Hitler, Goering, Goebbels, and our own hangman, Hans Frank, the boss of the "New Order" in Poland.
People listened and were horrified. Had Korczak gone mad? Some of them even slunk out of the hall and ran home in terror, but Korczak did not even notice. He went on calmly reading to
shvartse, vayse, broyne, gelbe
Andersh zaynen nor di faron
di natur iz dokh di zelbe!
White, Brown, Black, Yellow –
mix the colors all together!
All people are brothers,
From the same father, from the same mother!
And one God has created them all,
and one homeland: the world –
all people are brothers,
that is absolutely certain!
All people are brothers
Black, White, Brown, Yellow…
only the colors are different –
but their Nature is the same!
All human beings are brothers,
Yellow, Brown, Black, White…
nations, races, and climates –
it’s all an Enlightenment fiction!
“The periodical is like a bouquet made up of different flowers. There is no doubt that the bouquet is more beautiful when we can choose its flowers from a wider selection”.
Janusz Korczak, O gazetce szkolnej, Warszawa 1921