"Jews are very pious these days. They observe all the religious rites: they are stabbed and pierced like matzos, they have as much bread as during Passover; they are beaten like willow branches on Hoshana, they are drowned out like the name of Haman; they are green like the fruit of the etrog and slender like palm leaves; they fast as on the Day of Atonement; they are burned as on Hanukkah, and their moods resemble those on Tisha B'Av."
| Seder meal at the shelter for displaced persons at 6 Leszno Street (now Solidarności Street), 1940.
Between the German occupation of Warsaw in 1939 and the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, Passover was celebrated four times. Even in normal times, this major Jewish holiday requires extensive preparation and organization to ensure its observance is carried out in accordance with the precepts of Judaism. During the occupation, due to, among other things, legislation introduced by the Germans in occupied Polish territories, this became even more difficult. Chaim Kapłan wrote about the Passover celebrations in 1940: "The synagogues are closed, but a holiday service is held in every courtyard [...] without a doubt, even the poorest Jew has no shortage of matzo. On the eve of the holiday, people ran around with packages of matzo as if a sabotage sword weren't hanging over their heads. The whole situation seems quite unbelievable. By law, we have nothing to eat except bread, issued on ration cards [...]. Beyond this ration, buying or selling bread is punishable by death [...]. In every Jewish home, signs of the holiday are visible [...]. One factor that is not mentioned greatly helped in its preparation, namely [the organization of] the Joint."
Already at this early stage of the war, certain problems with matzo supplies were mentioned. In his diary, dated March 20, 1940, Judenrat Chairman Adam Czerniaków wrote: "A permit for matzo for Jews has been issued." However, in entries dated April 4 and 7, 1940, he also mentioned difficulties in negotiating its acquisition. In the following years, in the ghetto, where hunger was rampant, the special obligation to eat matzo, especially in the early days during the traditional Seder meal, as well as the ban on eating ordinary bread, baked goods, and all leavened foods, caused enormous difficulties and raised doubts.
Before the ghetto was closed, during the first Passover holiday, the situation looked somewhat better than it would a year later. In his diary, Chaim Kapłan, describing the Passover celebrations in 1940, besides commenting positively on the efforts of the organization's members, recalled and explained at length the reasons for the confusion and crowding that prevailed in the offices of the Joint American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee before the upcoming holiday. He bitterly recalled the mismanagement and perceived corruption of the Joint's Warsaw representatives, citing assurances that seven and a half million złoty had been allocated to support the Jewish community during Passover. It appears that the organization opted for food parcels instead of financial assistance, a process so poorly managed that not all the food parcels could be distributed on the eve of the holiday, and distribution was terminated during it.
| Seder table at the shelter for displaced persons at 6 Leszno Street, 1940.
Due to a price dispute, the Joint Company did not order matzo from Warsaw bakers, opting instead to purchase it from other cities and even import it from Romania. Some of the flour and matzo were confiscated, so it was sometimes distributed only during the holiday itself. This activity has been preserved for posterity in the form of an album by the Jewish Self-Help Committee, showing the various stages of distribution and the products themselves, including the matzo from Romania.
Rabbi Szymon Huberband also described the preparations for Passover in 1940: "Throughout the winter, Jews were worried about matzo. In the week before Passover, it became clear that although the kahal [actually the Judenrat] would not offer matzo instead of rationed bread, matzo would be available. The rabbis allowed the use of commercially available flour (usually unsuitable for baking matzo). The bakers' ovens were prepared to be kosher for Passover, and then the matzo was baked in them. Its price was high, but the Joint issued huge quantities of machine-made matzo and imported matzo, which helped keep the price under control. The price of a kilogram of matzo was between thirteen and fifteen zlotys. From the grain harvested in the summer of 1939, supervised from harvest time, matzo "shmur" [hand-kneaded] was also baked in the presence of the Jews. There were even matzos prepared on the eve of the holiday, Baked by many Hasidic rabbis for their own consumption. During the baking, Hallel (psalms) were sung, as in the good old days. Peasants brought eggs, potatoes, and various vegetables to the city. Everything was relatively expensive, but there were enough potatoes and vegetables for everyone. During Passover, the wealthy also ate fish and meat. Rabbis arranged contracts for the sale of chametz […]. There was enough wine to fill four cups, and the windows of various shops displayed a wide selection of wines […]."
Huberband, like Chaim Kapłan, recalled the Joint's activity and the involvement of its members in preparations for Passover. He wrote about the aid provided to Warsaw Jews, primarily in the form of parcels with products: "The Joint conducted a massive campaign, distributing food parcels consisting of matzo, eggs, fat, sugar, etc. In addition, the Joint distributed enormous amounts of money. The Coordination Committee (later renamed the Jewish Social Self-Help) also conducted a broad aid campaign [...]." He also described how German prohibitions (the closure of synagogues and the ban on ritual slaughter) were observed and prayers were performed: "Despite the ban on public prayer, people gathered in many courtyards, where a minyan was assembled [...]. After the holiday meals, Hasidim gathered and drank alcoholic beverages. They also sang a little, but quietly. There was no dancing [...]." The fact that only the wealthy could eat meat may have been partly due to the fact that, according to Rabbi Huberband, during the preparations for Passover in 1940, there was virtually no ritual slaughter of animals.
Over the next year, until Passover in 1941, the situation worsened dramatically. The hunger and poverty of the ghetto residents were reflected in questions about Jewish law posed to the rabbis. Can the traditional Seder meal be held without four cups of wine or matzo? Is it permissible to use grape juice pressed directly into the four cups? Is it permissible for a Jew to hide bread before Passover to eat it after Passover without selling it to a non-Jew during the holiday? According to Rabbi Szymon Huberband, in both 1940 and 1941, the rabbis organized chametz sales just as they had done before the war. In 1941, due to the closure of the ghetto, there was a serious problem finding non-Jews to whom the chametz could be sold. However, this was eventually arranged.
These changes are also reflected in the writings of Chaim Kaplan. He recalled how the history and tradition of Passover were interpreted in the context of the occupation: "Like the Egyptian liberation, liberation from Germany will be celebrated for generations. The uncontrolled oppression of each day of this year of suffering will be reflected in the days of the coming holidays." He also referred to the organization of the holiday in 1941, comparing it to the situation from the previous year, being much less critical of the Joint's activities: "Last year, the Joint project was in full swing. It was not carried out properly and many people criticized it, but ultimately it fed the hungry and brought the holiday to every Jewish home. We lacked nothing then. This year everything has changed for the worse, and we are facing a Passover of hunger and poverty, even without the bread of poverty [a reference to matzo]. First of all, the Joint has withdrawn from all holiday-related activities […]. As the holiday approaches, the Self-Help Committee has issued the customary Passover appeal for money for the poor. However, this project was born at an unfortunate moment, and its results will be nil. Currently, a week before the holiday, the project's treasury is empty. So what will we eat during the eight days of the upcoming holiday? There are no synagogues or study halls where one can pray […]. There is neither matzo nor wine to eat or drink.”
Kaplan's notes clearly show how the situation worsened in the months following the closing of the Warsaw Ghetto gates. As we know today, the following months and years brought even more difficult experiences: poverty, hunger, disease, and mass death. A little over a year later, most of the Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto were deported to the Treblinka extermination camp. Passover was celebrated in the ghetto as late as 1942, three months before the so-called Grossaktion. Preparations for it began in 1943, just before the outbreak of the armed uprising. This highlights both the significance of the holiday itself and the need for such gatherings, which draw on both Jewish tradition and recall the old, pre-war life.
Rabbi David Berman
Literatura:
Scroll of Agony – Chaim Kapłan (Indiana University Press, 1999)
Kiddush Hashem
Photos from the Yad Vashem collection.
Video courtesy of PAP.
