Emanuel Ringelblum

Emanuel Ringelblum (November 21, 1900 – March 7, 1944) was a Polish-Jewish historian, politician and social worker, known for his Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto, Notes on the Refugees in Zbąszyn chronicling the deportation of Jews from the town of Zbąszyń, and the so-called Ringelblum's Archives of the Warsaw Ghetto.

He was born in Buchach, an eastern Galician town, then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now in Ukraine. Due to the strong presence of Yiddish culture in his hometown, Ringelblum developed a strong devotion to the Yiddish language, as well as his political beliefs. In 1914, Ringelblum moved to Nowy Sącz and then proceeded to move to Warsaw in 1920. Ringelblum graduated from Warsaw University, where he completed his doctoral thesis in 1927 on the history of the Jews of Warsaw during the Middle Ages. Thereafter he taught history in Jewish schools and became a member of a political movement known as the “Left Po’alei Zion”. He was known as a historian and a specialist in the field of the history of Polish Jews from the late Middle Ages to the 18th century. Ringelblum worked for a variety of social organizations prior to the onset of World War II. Most notably, he helped Polish Jews expelled from Germany in 1938 and 1939.

Prior to World War II, Ringelblum took part in many organizations that helped to shape his passion for Jewish history, as well as his activity during the war. Ringelblum was a member of Po'ale Tsiyon (Workers of Zion), which sparked his devotion for both the Yiddish language and the history of Judaism and its people. When the party split in 1920, he aligned with the left half of the organization (LPZ), in which he played a large role in cultural work. In 1923, Ringelblum became one of the founding fathers of the Young Historians Circle. With help from co-founder Raphael Mahler, Ringelblum was able to gather more than 40 Jewish history students, as well as a generation of Jewish historians that worked to serve their people. The group was widely recognized for its publication of two journals and its work to defend the right to live in Poland. He proceeded to join YIVO in 1925 as a result of his firm belief in "for the people by the people, and worked in the historical section of the organization. He worked as an editor for the group, and by 1939, Ringelblum had 126 scholarly articles published under his name. Ringelblum was also an active member of the Landkentenish movement, in which he stressed the need to preserve the Jewish link to Eastern Europe. In 1932, Ringelblum began working for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), where he learned how self-help could provide both moral and economic assistance to Jews in Poland facing discrimination as a result of pogroms. Due to his success, the organization sent him to help Polish refugees in 1938. Following his work with JDC, Ringelblum served as the leader of Aleynhilf, which later became a key relief organization in the Warsaw Ghetto by working against the Warsaw Judenrat and the Jewish police. The group provided job opportunities for the Jewish elite, and this served as the basis for Oyneg Shabes. He also founded a Yiddish culture organization entitled Yidishe Kultur Organizatsiye.

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