Teacher Workshop: Word Smugglers-A Story of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto

The Oyneg Shabes underground archive is the largest collection of Jewish documentation detailing Jewish life under Nazi occupation. Directed and organized by Polish Jewish historian, teacher, and social aid worker Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum, the work of the Oyneg Shabes continued, even when hundreds of thousands of Jews-including members of the archive-were deported from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka in the summer of 1942.

In her book, Word Smugglers: A Story of Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto, Amy McDonald tells the story of the Oyneg Shabes archive from the perspectives of Dr. Emanuel Ringelblum, Rachel Auerbach, Israel Lichtenstein, David Graber, and Nahum Grzywacz. It is a story about a courageous group of men, women, and young people who chose to resist and fight back against cruelty and fear. This group did not fight back with guns and weapons. They fought back with words, stories, and truth.

This two-hour workshop will provide ideas and guidance on incorporating Word Smugglers into middle and high school Social Studies and English/Language Arts curriculum. It will provide historical context for the Nazi invasion and occupation of Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto, and Jewish cultural, spiritual, and armed resistance.