Hannah Wolinsky- Blog Question for Wednesday November 20, 2013

Hannah Wolinsky

What do these two diaries (by Chaim Kaplan and Janusz Korczak) reveal about life in the Warsaw Ghetto?

Chaim Kaplan’s Diary:

March 10, 1940: This diary entry opens up with the idea that hate towards Jews has become so normal and overlooked. “The Jew is filthy; the Jew is a swindler and evil; the Jew is the enemy of Germany and undermines its existence; the Jew was the prime mover in the Versailles Treaty; the Jew is Satan.” He then goes on to talk about how the Germans believe that Judaism and Nazism cannot exist together because they are so conflicting. The Germans believe that humanity must either be German or Jewish. Kaplan feels that the entire Jewish community no longer has a grip on life in the Warsaw Ghetto. The diary entry then turns around and becomes more optimistic, discussing how there is a hidden power in the Jewish community that keeps them alive. Although the Jews are being persecuted, humiliated, and broken, they continue to love life and fight for their rights to survive. The fact that the Warsaw Ghetto has seen hardly any suicides is proof of that hidden strength.

October 2, 1940: Even on holidays, the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto are not allowed to have public prayers. Kaplan remarks what a wonder it is how they are still surviving. The Jews of this ghetto are not allowed to do virtually anything, yet they still find a way to make a life for themselves. Their emotions have become numbed by the circumstances in which they have been treated.

Janusz Korczak’s Diary:

Korczak mentions how hard life is, but how easy death is. He greets a young girl and pleads for her to smile but all he sees is an “unhealthy, pale, lung-sick smile.” He then speaks of hunger and misery later on in this diary entry. As a guard is watching Korczak water flowers, he wonders why this man is standing so calmly. Perhaps he doesn’t know how bad things were in this ghetto.