The Nazi assault against Jewish people was in equal parts an assault against what they perceived to be the spirit of Judaism. Synagogues and study houses were desecrated or destroyed, and Jews whose manner of dress indicated that they were religious faced humiliation and violence. In the face of this onslaught, many nonetheless found ways of spiritually resisting. In this lecture, Simon Holloway will address the nature of religious life during the Holocaust, with a particular focus on the ghetto in Warsaw. Special attention will be given to the secret archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, some of which will be on display in our Underground exhibit.

This talk is presented as part of the public programming running alongside the Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s inaugural special exhibition in the new Alter Special Exhibitions Gallery – Underground: The Secret Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto.On display for the first time outside of Europe, Underground exhibits rare artefacts from the hidden archive of the Warsaw Ghetto. This archive was led by historian Emanuel Ringelblum who initiated an unprecedented campaign to collect material in the ghetto—the collection today known as the Ringelblum Archive. This collective of academics, writers, and activists working secretly in the first attempt to document the German-initiated mass murder of European Jews as it was happening. The exhibition brings home to the viewer the act of resistance that the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto constituted—a never-ending, arduous, harrowing but ultimately successful attempt to write the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims.

Underground is on display at the Melbourne Holocaust Museum from 17 November 2024 to 30 March 2025.

Image | Religious Jews captured by the SS during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The German caption reads: “Jewish rabbis”. Courtesy USHMM.

Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto is presented in partnership with the Jewish Historical Institute, Poland, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, Germany.