“The duty to preserve knowledge and pass it on to coming generations is anchored in the laws of Judaism. The Ringelblum Archive is one of the most harrowing testimonies of tireless commitment to fulfilling this obligation – as are the accompanying poems and diary entries, which speak of suffering and despair, of hope and longing, of the fight to survive and the spirit of resistance among those confined to the ghetto. Thousands of poems were penned during the Shoa – not only by professional writers, but also by ordinary people – perhaps in the hope of being able to rise above their experiences in this way.”
These are the words of journalist Olga Mannheimer, who is hosting an evening of poetry as part of the NS Documentation Center’s current exhibition on the underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto (also known as the Ringelblum Archive), featuring poems and diary-like notes. The keeping of this archive was an act of civil resistance, a first attempt to document and archive the genocide of Europe’s Jewish population directly and contemporaneously.
Singer and harpist Susanne Weinhöppel will sing Lider fun di Getos (songs from the ghetto). Salek Kutschinski and Eli Teicher – both descendants of Shoa survivors – will read selected texts.
In cooperation with the NS Documentation Center as part of the exhibition Wichtiger als unser Leben. Das Untergrundarchiv des Warschauer Ghettos (More important than our life. The underground archive of the Warsaw Ghetto; 29 June 2023 through 7 January 2024).
Tickets are free; there is no need to register in advance. You can find more information on the Lyrik Kabinett website.
LMU and the Lyrik Kabinett have worked together very intensively for over 30 years. The more than 70,000 works subsumed under the Lyrik Kabinett Foundation are available via OPAC to everyone related to LMU. Numerous events provide a fascinating insight into the current poetic landscape.