Photo: Jewish Historical Institute.
On November 3, a never-before-seen set of 39 postcards sent from the Warsaw Ghetto to Lisbon, London, and Paris were added to the archives of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, in Warsaw.
The postcards were presented to Dr. Paweł Śpiewak, Institute Director, by Dr. Anita Prażmowska, a prominent historian at the London School of Economics who took possession of the postcards after Tamara Deutscher, to whom most were addressed, passed away.
Tamara Deutscher, originally from Łódź, left Poland shortly after the start of the war. When her family was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto she was living in London. The correspondence paints a horrifying picture of life in the ghetto, including the constant hunger (“I received two packages of sardines for which I am eternally grateful”), and the unremitting cold (“…could we possibly get some clothes? Some warm underwear, stockings and a warm blouse or sweater.”).
Tamara Deutscher’s executors decided to present this heartbreaking family correspondence to the Jewish Historical Institute, which is the world's leading repository of Warsaw Ghetto documentation. “The Jewish Historical Institute is the archive to which researchers and families search out information concerning Jewish history; hence, this is where the priceless Ringelblum Archive is housed--we should not scatter the sadly scarce testimonies documenting life in the ghetto,” states Marian Turski, who serves on the Institute's board and is the driving force behind the transfer of this priceless gift to the Institute, which has been in operation since 1947.
