19 July 2024

The underground city: uncovering traces of the Warsaw Ghetto

When Jacek Konik came across a glass buried in the earth, he was not sure what he had found.

Imprinted with dots and only 6 cm tall, it was too small to be a drinking glass. But the glass caught his attention. Despite more than 80 years underground, it was perfectly preserved.

This glass is one of almost 3,000 objects that Dr. Konik, excavation coordinator for the Warsaw Ghetto site in 2022, and his team found during the excavation of two 19th century cellars within the boundary of the Warsaw Ghetto.

With the lease on the site soon to expire, Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, Albert Stankowski, states that discussions are on-going between the city of Warsaw and the museum about the future of what is thought to be one of the most unique Holocaust-related archeological sites in the world.

Two photos of small glasses with handles shown side-by-side. The glass found at the site of the Warsaw Ghetto excavation shows signs of discoloration.

On the left-hand side, the glass found at the Warsaw Ghetto excavation site. On the right-hand side, the Seder glass held by the Jewish Museum and Synagogue in Oświęcim, Poland. Credit: Jacek Konik.

Passover and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

A few months after finding the glass, Dr. Konik and his wife, Beata, were visiting the Jewish Museum and Synagogue in Oświęcim, Poland, when they were surprised to see an almost identical glass in one of the exhibits.

“It wasn’t exactly the same. It had a different pattern, but the size and shape was almost identical,” said Beata Jankowiak-Konik. “Next to the glass was a description explaining that it would typically have been used as part of the Seder dinner during the festival of Passover.”

Beata could not overlook the significance.

On the eve of Passover in April 1943, the Nazis entered the Warsaw Ghetto to deport the remaining Jewish inhabitants. What followed was the largest uprising of Jews during the Second World War: the well-known story of Mordechaj Anielewicz and around 500 members of the Jewish Combat Organization who resisted the Nazis for almost one month.

On 8 May, 1943, German forces succeeded in locating the organization’s headquarters at 18 Mila Street. Anielewicz and many of his staff commanders are thought to have committed suicide to avoid capture. The site of the headquarters is today marked by a memorial and known as the Anielewicz Bunker.

An aerial photo of the Warsaw Ghetto site shows an excavation site composed of a number of rectangular holes surrounded by an iron fence. There is a small green shed and a yellow digger within the fenced area. Above the excavation site there is a grassy mound with steps leading up to a large stone monument.

A aerial image shows the excavation site at 39 and 41 Muranowska Street. The Anielewicz Bunker monument can be seen at the top of the photo. Credit: Warsaw Ghetto Museum.

Uncovering the underground city

Following earlier non-invasive archeological investigations near the Anielewicz Bunker led by Dr Richard Freund from the Christopher Newport University, in June 2022 the Warsaw Ghetto Museum and the Aleksander Gieysztor Academy in Pułtusk began excavations on the adjacent cellars at 39 and 41 Muranowska Street under the supervision of the Provincial Monument Conservator and the rabbinic supervision of Michael Schudrich, the Chief Rabbi of Poland.

Originally built by smugglers as a place to store goods, the excavation site is thought to be part of one of the largest bunkers in the ghetto. According to witness testimonies, at certain points up to 300 people were thought to have hidden in the bunker at 18 Mila Street.

In the city under the earth, the team were astonished to find thousands of well-preserved objects connected to everyday life – bottles and pans, cups and candlesticks – as well as religious objects such as Tefillin – black leather boxes with straps used for prayer – and fragments of the Talmud.

It turned out that we had discovered an underground city.

Initially, the archaeological excavation was supposed to last four weeks.

However, as Hanna Wróblewska, former Deputy Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum and now Minister of Culture and National Heritage, explained: “at one point we all fell into such an enchanted vortex that we could not stop the excavations, because there were more rooms to discover. It turned out that we had discovered an underground city. And now we are wondering how to take care of this underground city.”

A selection of objects found in the excavation site of the Warsaw ghetto. The objects are laid out on a white background and is taken from above. In the centre of the image is a white plate with a flowery pattern that has been pieced back together and is missing some parts. Surrounding the plate are pots, bowls, and a teapot among other things.

A selection of objects found during the excavation of the Warsaw Ghetto site. Credit: Marcin Czechowicz/Warsaw Ghetto Museum

The future of the Warsaw Ghetto excavation site

The work on the excavation site is now being carried out by a team from the Warsaw Ghetto Museum along with volunteers from the Jewish Studies department at Warsaw University.

While the Minister of Culture and the Warsaw Ghetto Museum both share appreciation for the uniqueness and historical richness of the archeological findings, the lease on the site runs out at the end of 2024 leaving its future up in the air.

Polish law states that the site needs to be returned in the same condition in which the Warsaw Ghetto Museum received it. This means that unless the city decides otherwise, the museum would need to replace the excavated earth, closing the site – possibly forever.

A group of people stand at the edge of an excavation site. Behind them is plastic tarpaulin and in front of them is red and white tape marking off the excavation site. A member of the group holds up a book while the others looks on. Brickwork and wooden planks are visible in the excavation site.

Dr Gilly Carr and the members of IHRA's Safeguarding Sites project tour the excavation site at the Warsaw Ghetto in May 2024. Credit: Robert Wilczynski/Warsaw Ghetto Museum.

For both Dr Konik and the current archeological team, the potential of the site as a place of memory, reflection, and education is convincing. Professor Rajmund Gazda, a professional memorial conservator who directed the reconstruction work at Hatshepsut’s temple in Egypt for many years, was also asked by the Warsaw Ghetto Museum to provide his professional conservation recommendation and he, too, supported the idea of preserving the site.

The Deputy Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, Dr. Katarzyna Person, agrees: “In an ideal world we would keep the site open, protect it, and make it accessible for visitors and researchers.”

In May 2024, the Faculty of Architecture of the Warsaw University of Technology held a discussion about the opportunities and challenges related to the preservation of the cellars. Professor Małgorzata Rozbicka from the Faculty of Architecture emphasized the need to build a structure that would preserve and protect the site while also encouraging passers-by to visit the space.

Archaeology and the challenges of preserving Holocaust sites

Recognizing an opportunity to offer their expertise, IHRA experts and delegates recently visited the Warsaw Ghetto site to discuss the importance of preserving such sites, under the framework of the IHRA Charter for Safeguarding Sites.

The Chair of the project, Dr. Gilly Carr, who is also Associate Professor of Archeology at the University of Cambridge, is clear about the fact that all countries face challenges when it comes to protecting and preserving Holocaust-related sites.

These sites are vulnerable to the impact of climate change, such as flooding and wildfires, to potential looting, a lack of heritage protection, and even destruction during armed conflicts.

 

Archaeology can be a powerful tool for revealing the truth of the past – particularly when a site no longer exists above the soil.

Given the time, money, and resources needed to protect and preserve the Warsaw Ghetto site, is it worth it?

For Professor Carr, the answer is a resounding “yes.”

“The excavation of Holocaust-related archaeological sites is an emerging area of study, yet it remains less prevalent than excavations of other historic or prehistoric sites. This makes the Warsaw Ghetto excavations precious and important,” explained Professor Carr. “Archaeology can be a powerful tool for revealing the truth of the past – particularly when a site no longer exists above the soil.”

“In addition, the richness of the archaeological finds at the site in Warsaw is astonishing in its breadth and survival. These objects will be key for telling the story of the ghetto in the Warsaw Ghetto Museum: showing both daily life among the ghetto fighters and the ordinary people who were not necessarily fighting.”

The city of Warsaw is yet to reach a decision about the future of the excavation site at 39 and 41 Muranowska Street.

As for Jacek and Beata’s glass, it will form part of the permanent exhibition of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum when it opens in 2026. A glass – both unique and ordinary – pulled from the earth to tell the story of those who lived and died in the Warsaw Ghetto.

 

Related
content