Memorial cube marking Ringelblum Archive discovery unveiled

The glass installation is a homage to the Oneg Shabbat group, led by Jewish historian Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum, whose efforts helped to preserve a priceless collection of documents, known as the Ringelblum Archive.

The symbolic monument was erected thanks to the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute and the Stacja Muranów Association.

The cube was unveiled in a small square at 28 Nowolipki street - the place where the Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto had been discovered.

The main focal point of the monument is a page from the archive - a handwritten memoir of 19-year-old Dawid Graber. On this page the young member of the Oneg Shabbat group wrote his message to the world: "What we were not able to pass through our cries and screams, we hid underground".

The documents were hidden in a basement of a former school whose address at the time was 68 Nowolipki street.

The archive contains accounts of German crimes, and collection of materials on institutions and organisations which functioned in the ghetto. Furthermore, Oneg Shabbat gathered private writings, chronicles, correspondence, underground press, accounts of relocated people regarding situation of Jewish people in other places, as well as ordinances officially issued by German authorities and announcements of the Jewish Council. Also found in the archive were various scientific works pertaining to social, economic and demographic issues.

In 1946, ten metal boxes containing the first part of the archive were uncovered, whereas four years later, the second part was found in milk cans. The third part has not been found as of yet.

The collection of over 35,000 pages of documents has been listed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.