We invite you to read another column by Agnieszka Witkowska-Krych from the series entitled "Life in the Ghetto," in which the author discusses, among other things, the feeding of ghetto residents, the activities of ad hoc feeding stations for starving residents, and Transferstelle, a kitchen dedicated to 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
Cafe "Sztuka" - Leszno 2
Leszno Street (today Solidarności Avenue, and after the war until 1991 Generała Karola Świerczewski Avenue) was undoubtedly one of the most frequently visited streets in the Warsaw Ghetto. It housed offices, cultural institutions, and various establishments, services, and restaurants important to residents. It's important to remember that despite the harsh wartime conditions, which in their most extreme form materialized within the walls of the capital's gated district, cultural life did not completely cease; it simply changed its character. Just as before the war, cafés and restaurants were popular places for meetings and conversations in the ghetto. Their standards, and therefore their prices, varied, of course, although their presence is evidence that, despite the physical oppression, in the prison—as the ghetto was sometimes, and quite non-metaphorically, called—people longed for spiritual freedom and a cultural life that also included participation in various artistic events.
Before the war, Izaak Gertner's famous Warsaw restaurant, owned by Izaak Gertner, was located at Leszno 2 Street, and for a time, a small cinema called "Era" operated in the building's courtyard. After the ghetto was established, one of the most famous ghetto cafés, "Sztuka," was located there, offering its customers both a variety of dishes and an ambitious artistic program. Stanisław Różycki wrote about the context of this establishment's operation while still in the ghetto: "Gertner's restaurant on Leszno Street took over < >, and most of the cafes are located in former offices, institutions, or private apartments. Besides, except for five or six, all the premises are small, one- or two-room. The interior design is quite aesthetic in almost all cafes, and in < >, < > or < > even at the level of pre-war cafes. […] Here [i.e. in < >] the region is led by the Mechesi, the educated bourgeoisie, < > ghetto, proud that they were rich before the war. In < > their longings are unleashed. Mrs. Czarnecka, the co-owner (baptized, her husband works for the Commune), proudly walks around the tables, checking if everything is alright, tending to her sheep. Mrs. […] hosts like the ambassador at her parties, even though the food costs eleven złoty. The waitresses are educated, with < >, suitably inept and suitably chutzpah, they serve guests with kindness and make mistakes too often when calculating bills" (Stanisław Różycki: Study entitled "Cafes" in: "Archiwum Ringelbluma. Getto warszawskie", vol. V, Warsaw 2011, p. 73).
The shortcomings Stanisław Różycki mentioned, however, were offset by an attractive entertainment program and engaging artistic performances. At <>, one could encounter prominent figures of the Jewish scene, including Pola Braunówna, Diana Blumenfeld, Leonid Fokszański, Marysia Ajzensztadt, known as the Nightingale of the Ghetto, pianists Adolf Goldfeder and Władysław Szpilman, poet Władysław Szlengel, and the artist Dwojra Grynberg, already very well-known before the war, performing as Wiera Gran. The latter harbored no illusions that the café's benefits were available to everyone. She wrote after the war: "The regulars at <> are a small percentage of the fortunate who could afford this luxury, as well as those who forgo food to forget the hell surrounding us for two hours over a glass of colored water." (Wiera Gran, "The Relay of Slanderers. Autobiography of a Singer", Paris undated, pp. 20-21).
In the photos: Diana Blumenfeld, Marysia Ajzensztadt, Władysław Szpilman, Władysław Szlengel, Wiera Gran.
The prices of the food and drinks offered at the establishment, even if not excessive, were still completely unaffordable for most. The decision between listening to music over a cup of coffee or buying bread for the family for the same price wasn't really that difficult.
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 at the top and photo on the "News" page: the interior of the café photographed by German soldier and photographer Ludwig Knobloch
