33 Photos from the Ghetto (33 zdjęcia z getta)

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Let's move now to Poland and a discovery being hailed

as a rare firsthand look

at one of the most crucial chapters of the Holocaust.

These are of great historical value,

that saw light after 80 years.

This is a negative,

the only one existing in the world,

from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising,

from the inside, from the ghetto.

Images to express the inexpressible.

Fragments of lives captured in 33 photographs.

These photos were taken

by Grzywaczewski, a 23-year-old Polish firefighter.

The Warsaw Ghetto Revolt

was the act of resistance of Jews

against Nazi regime during the Holocaust.

Historians consider these photos valuable

because they are the only known images of the ghetto uprising

not taken for Nazi propaganda.

Documentation that's there is the sense of

what an ordinary person would see

and how that ordinary person framed

all of the incredible things that were happening

in April 1943.

Most of my life, I tried to forget all of this.

Stop.

33 PHOTOS FROM THE GHETTO

NEW YORK, 1968

Dearest daughter,

While putting his life at risk,

Leszek managed to take some photographs.

Knowing this, I asked him ten years ago,

if he would send them to me.

FROM THE LETTERS OF HILARY LAKS TO HIS DAUGHTER, ROMA

I received some of them and kept them with me until now.

These pictures tell a story which is ours, as well as his.

The negatives are still with Leszek.

These photographs have never been published.

I kept them with me for this long on purpose.

I thought I would publish them

when the world began to forget what had happened.

I don't know if the time is right,

but my own time is passing.

MACIEJ GRZYWACZEWSKI LESZEK'S SON

Well, this apartment looked a bit different.

But maybe let's go here because this was Dad's room.

And when we were cleaning after Dad's death,

we noticed that these boards down here were loose.

In this hideout, we found Dad's journals.

[gentle, solemn piano music plays]

My sister and I didn't know these journals existed.

He never told us about any of this.

The times we live in

are more interesting than any others.

FROM THE JOURNALS OF LESZEK GRZYWACZEWSKI (1938-1940)

I chose a good year to keep a journal.

THE BEST FORM OF DIPLOMACY IS A STRONG ARMY!

I went to a big demonstration today.

The mood was so-so. Not much passion.

The speeches were stereotypical.

Nationalists shouted, "Away with the Jews!"

I shouted until my voice got hoarse.

But none of it matters now

because final exams are the day after tomorrow.

WARSAW, 1939

On our way back from school, our friend said,

"I'm so convinced war is coming,

I'm not studying for the exams at all."

Friday morning, September 1st, I heard the air raid siren.

"Close your windows!"

That woke me up.

I saw the first German planes above Warsaw.

[bright martial horn music plays]

We're staying home today.

The Germans might round people up for work.

Many SS troops and military police showed up

and began detaining and checking IDs

of whoever they saw fit.

They began firing public servants,

or the workers of German companies.

Those captured were gathered into columns

and walked or driven to be loaded onto trains.

Two of my friends were captured.

Only Jews are worse off than us.

Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation.

My name is Dina Cohen.

Today is November 7th, 1996.

I am conducting an interview with Romana Kaplan, born Laks,

in Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA.

The interview will be in English.

And when were you born?

I was born in Poland, Warsaw.

Could you please describe your family?

My father was a chemical engineer,

uh, and had a, um, very, um, prestigious position.

It was a factory that produced soaps, perfumes, and candles.

Dear Romechka,

You asked me if I could write about the past...

FROM THE LETTERS OF HILARY LAKS TO HIS DAUGHTER, ROMA (1968)

...especially about those experiences,

those shameful times,

which you may not remember

because you were too little.

I will try to write a letter,

but I don't know if I can or how much I will be able to.

Our world started to fall apart.

WARSAW, 1940

Just because we were Jews,

to Germans, we were a threat.

We were subhumans, a race to be annihilated.

We were forced to wear an armband with the Star of David.

All Jewish companies were taken over by the Germans.

Jewish bank accounts and deposits were confiscated.

So they could isolate us from the rest,

a ghetto was created in Warsaw in the autumn of 1940.

We were surrounded by a wall.

All Warsaw Jews who lived outside the ghetto

were resettled within it.

With time, the ghetto was shrunk,

and we, too, had to move,

abandoning many of our possessions.

Soon, the ghetto had about half a million people.

Poverty among the Jewish masses grew every day.

I remember having a doll, a large doll

that was given to me by my father's boss...

ROMA LAKS KAPLAN DAUGHTER OF HILARY LAKS (1996)

...and I called her Krystyna.

I remember my mother sewing up, uh,

some of the jewelry in the doll.

We ran out of money.

You can't find paid work,

and everyone tries to get fake jobs.

FROM THE JOURNALS OF LESZEK GRZYWACZEWSKI (1940-1941)

I got in touch with an old classmate.

He works for the Fire Guard at a school in Zoliborz.

With his help, I can get in.

I went to Zoliborz.

At the alarm, firefighters

started to slide down the poles,

put on their clothes, belts, their helmets, and assemble.

CENTRAL FIREFIGHTING ACADEMY

My mom lived on the street next to that school.

My father loved to take pictures of my mom.

She was his favorite subject throughout his entire life.

I really like Marysia.

She has really nice legs.

She's full of life, incredibly warm and kind.

Apparently, she likes me too.

Marysia has a camera.

I bought a roll of film.

It took almost an hour of fiddling under the blanket

to load it into the camera.

I did it incorrectly

so part of the film tore off and was wasted.

I was able to procure a photo enlarger.

After a few failed attempts, I started to make good prints.

Getting to know this craft

might have a huge importance for the future.

I long for a bigger operation

where I can have a chance to prove myself.

Alarm!

In a heavily loaded vehicle,

we speed through the crowded streets of the ghetto.

I got a spot on the ladder by the third floor window.

I waited a bit for water, and got inside.

It became completely dark,

surrounded by thick smoke and steam.

I started to cough and cry.

I couldn't breathe.

My legs became soft as rubber.

I hear, "Run!"

So I dashed out the window.

We barely moved the ladder away and that window collapsed.

I talked to the Jews a bit.

They live very poorly.

I felt like I was talking with people condemned to die.

Kaddish.

To me, that was the most frightening thing.

Because I heard it over and over again.

And I had no means...

ROMA LAKS KAPLAN DAUGHTER OF HILARY LAKS (1996)

...of, um, knowing what it meant.

When I think about it today,

seems to me that Germans' initial theory

was that Jews, closed off in the ghettos,

would smother each other like rats

or quickly die of starvation and infectious diseases.