The Ghetto Fighters’ House, Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum has initiated “Operation Attic” - an international rescue mission of documents, letters, diaries, testimonies, photographs and artifacts from the Holocaust period that are lying in attics, basements and closets in Jewish communities and other communities around the world.
Rami Hochman, director of the museum, stated: “Operation Attic was set in motion as a response to the severe cases of loss, destruction and disposal of documents and artifacts from the Holocaust period that have historical value. Lately, we have been hearing about valuable materials that are located in Jewish homes in communities throughout Western and Eastern Europe, Canada and the USA.
One example of document rescue and restoration is the diary of Pola Elster, who was a fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The diary was brought to the Ghetto Fighters’ House by Nachi Rottenberg, the son of Wanda Elster-Rottenberg, who was also a fighter in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and Pola’ s sister. Wanda, who survived the uprising, found the body of her sister with her diary, which was partly burned, by her side. She took the diary with her, put it in the attic of her home and never looked at it again.”
After Wanda’s death, her son, Nachi Rottenberg, found the diary. He knew how to read the diary, but could not imagine its value. Still, he decided to bring it to the Ghetto Fighters’ House archives. A tedious restoration process to prevent further deterioration of the diary began. As well, all the pages that survived the fire were translated. In the end, a hidden treasure of information about the days of the uprising was discovered as described in the words of Pola Elster.
The director of the archives, Yossi Shavit, had this to say: “Among the pages that were translated are memories of the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto (April 1943), including the assemblage of Jews at the Umshlagplaz (train station), the boarding onto the trains, and the riding in the cars on the way to the Poniatowa camp. These memories were written after Pola’s rescue from Poniatowa by the underground in July, 1943.
At the launching, Nachi Rottenberg commented: “In our house we talked about the Holocaust, but the attic was always out of bounds. After my mother’s death, I felt a deep need to bring everything that was lying in the attic for decades to professionals, but I never imagined just how dramatic the outcome of this decision would be. When I was told what the translators from the Ghetto Fighters’ House archives discovered in the diary, I trembled, learning new information of which I had no idea.”
Needless to say, that in the first days after announcing “Operation Attic”, there were many telephone calls to the Ghetto Fighters’ House, including one from a family in Switzerland. The calls came from survivors or their children who have in their possession letters and documents that they are interested in giving to the archives for research and preservation.
For more information contact Shlomo Abramowitz – spokesman
972-50-6550580
Shlomo@dainfo.com
