We continue Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych's "Taste of Ghetto Life" series, in which the author explores, among other things, the issues of feeding the ghetto's inhabitants, the activities of ad hoc feeding stations for starving residents, and the Transferstelle, a kitchen feeding children and infants.
The author tells the story of the courthouses, which served as a transit point for food smugglers, Janusz Korczak's efforts to obtain aid for the Main House of Refuge, the so-called house committees, and the people and institutions that had to face the nearly impossible task of feeding the poor and saving them from starvation. We publish columns on our website weekly. We invite you to read this challenging book, based on a diverse and solid source base.
Warsaw-born Bogdan (Dawid) Wojdowski, who as a teenager found himself in the Warsaw Ghetto, in his moving novel "Bread for the Dead," based on facts and his own experiences, paints a picture of hunger for the inhabitants of the closed district: "The first days of hunger are the worst, then it becomes bearable. First comes weariness, arms and legs feel heavy, every word grows into a painful clamor in the ears. The colors do not please the eyes, and the light hurts them. (...) One is constantly thirsty, cracked lips dry up. The jaw clenches of its own accord, and a pain erupts behind the ears at the sight of a tin spoon abandoned on the table. Then thoughts of food begin, terrible, exhausting fantasies. The stomach works like a siphon. The thought of a piece of turnip is enough for him, and his teeth crunch through the fibrous pulp, and the juice, faintly reminiscent of black turnip, milder in taste and sweetish, flows down his throat and moistens the swollen tongue, leaving a tart residue in the mouth. (...) The thought breaks away from the turnip and soars high. "When will they bring that bread?" (1971, pp. 24-25).
Bread – the object of desire for tens, hundreds of thousands of people crammed into a small area carved out of the so-called Northern District. The vast majority of whom died of hunger, disease, and exhaustion during the deportation operations and in the Treblinka extermination camp. Food: in the ghetto, alongside those craving bread and dreaming of turnips, there were also those who dined at the "L'Ourse" café, and the "Gazeta Żydowska" of August 1, 1941, reported that the kitchen at 11 Leszno Street "will distribute candy for adults and an additional 50 grams for children." This, however, does not change the overall picture of a place where obtaining food was a matter of paramount importance – a condition for, though not a guarantee of, survival.
Prof. Konrad Zieliński, head of the research department of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum
Femina Theatre – Leszno 35
Besides the longing for nutritious food, the vast majority of people confined within the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto also felt a hunger of another kind. It was the hunger to participate in cultural, literary, and social life. The cultural institutions operating within the ghetto partially responded to this particular need. One such institution was the Femina Theatre, located at 35 Leszno Street in the ghetto. Directed by Jerzy Jurandot, the theatre opened on June 20, 1941, and its auditorium could seat approximately nine hundred spectators. It represented a high artistic standard, and featured outstanding Jewish actors, singers, and dancers. During its existence in the ghetto, the Femina Theatre hosted over ten premieres. These were reported, among others, by the German-licensed "Gazeta Żydowska." Already on July 4, 1941, less than three weeks after its opening, an advertisement placed in the newspaper "Gazinówka" stated that the play entitled "Battalion Humor" was met with general admiration, and that the hall in which the play was performed was "the coldest in the district" (Gazeta Żydowska 1941, no. 54, p. 6).
The Femina Theatre also organized fundraising events, aimed at raising funds for ghetto residents in need of support (including food). Several such events were held in conjunction with the Children's Month campaign in the early fall of 1941. And so, in the pages of the "Gazeta Żydowska" we read: "Last Saturday, a grand inaugural ceremony of the Children's Month took place in the Femina theater hall – a social campaign aimed at poor children, orphans, and homeless street children. The great significance of the aforementioned campaign is evidenced by the arrival of the most important social activists in the Jewish district of Warsaw to the inaugural ceremony. The presidium of the academy sat on the stage beautifully decorated with flowers. At the presidium table were, among others, Mr. Engineer Adam Czerniakow, Mrs. Chairman Czerniakow, and councilors Wielikowski and Zabłudowski. […] The ceremony began with the children's choirs of Tarbut kuchen Centos. Under the direction of Professor Szklar, they sang a series of songs in Hebrew. The whole thing was excellent. Next, Mr. Counselor Wielikowski spoke, briefly emphasizing the lofty goals of the organizers of the Children's Month campaign. The first to deliver a speech was the Chairman of the Jewish Council, Engineer Czerniaków. As the one responsible for the lives of the district's residents, he called on the numerous representatives of the district's Jewish community present to make a generous effort on behalf of our youngest fellow citizens, who need this help even more than anyone else. The Chairman pledged his warmest support for the scale of aid for Jewish children. On behalf of the Jewish Council, he pledged one hundred thousand złoty (Gazeta Żydowska 1941, no. 90, p. 5).
"Occasional speeches urging our society to help were also delivered by Adolf Berman (who reportedly read a report on the lives of thousands of the poorest children in boarding schools, centers, shelters, community centers, meal centers, and Centos day camps), Adam Czerniaków's wife, Felicja, the president of the Supply Plant, Abraham Gepner, the director of the Joint, Icchak Giterman, and others. This "grand inaugural ceremony of Children's Month made a huge impression on the Jewish district of Warsaw, not least because of the lofty goals it was dedicated to and the fact that it was the first social event of its kind in a very long time" (Ibidem.).
Adam Czerniaków wrote in his diary about this event that, "judging by the applause," the greatest success was enjoyed by his wife, Felicja (Adam Czerniaków's diary from the Warsaw Ghetto, ed. M. Fuks, Warsaw 1983, p. 216). The extent to which the funds collected for Children's Month, inaugurated with great pomp at Femina, reached hungry children could be learned by following the articles in subsequent issues of "Gazeta."
Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych – cultural anthropologist, Hebraist, sociologist, in recent years a curator at the Museum of Warsaw, researcher of the life and legacy of Janusz Korczak, collaborator of the Forum for Dialogue Foundation and the Center for Yiddish Culture, author of texts on "last matters" – the last journey of Korczak and his charges, the last performance of the pupils of the Jewish Orphanage and the last notes in Korczak's Diary.
Photo: Femina Theatre, Leszno 35, 1939 (Gabarity Department)
