In honor of its 75th anniversary, the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, together with the Yale University Fortunoff Archive and the Yeshiva University Emil A. and Jenny Fish Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, will host an international conference in Warsaw on May 23-26, 2022, dedicated to bridging historiographical and disciplinary divides. The event is also part of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the extermination of Jews as part of the German operation "Reinhardt". Follow the conference live on YouTube.

On May 23, 25 and 26, exhibitions at the Jewish Historical Institute are open until 4 pm. Last entry at 3 pm.

„My dream has come true. Jewish self-defense in the ghetto was a fact. Jewish armed resistance and vengeance have become reality. I was a witness of great, heroic struggle of Jewish fighters”, wrote Mordechaj Anielewicz on 23 April 1943 to Icchak Cukierman, responsible for contact with Polish underground, who remained outside of the Warsaw Ghetto at that time.

Until the Second World War, Warsaw had the largest Jewish community in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Jewish residents needed numerous synagogues and houses of prayer. The most distinguished synagogue in Warsaw was the Great Synagogue located by Tłomackie Square.

We are pleased to announce that Professor Jonathan Brent, director of YIVO, historian and translator, an outstanding expert on the history of Jews and the USSR, has joined the Editorial Board of the "Jewish History Quarterly".

Mordechai Anielewicz, the commander of the Jewish Combat Organization in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, died on May 8, 1943 in a bunker at Miła 18 street. Surrounded by the Germans, most likely due to treason, the fighters committed mass suicide.

On 27 April 2022, 2Lt. Teodor Pajewski, pseudonym “Szalony” [“Crazy”], and Emilia Kossower-Rozencwajg, pseudonym “Marylka”, were awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta for heroic attitude and extraordinary courage shown in saving the lives of Jews during World War II, as well as for outstanding services in the defense of dignity, humanity, and human rights. The ceremony took place at the Belweder Palace in Warsaw.

One of the most celebrated Jewish scholars, blessed with outstanding intellect and wisdom, the Vilna Gaon was a legendary figure in his lifetime and after his death. For many people, he became a symbol of Jewish Lithuania, and he stayed a patron of the Vilna Jews even after the destruction of their community and religious life during World War II.

Interesting discoveries happen in every library and the JHI library is no exception. This time I came across a work Rishmey Sheela, published in Warsaw, by Israel Moshe ben Arie Leib, a rabbi in Zabłudów. The Hebrew year [5]571, given in the chronogram, is the year 1811 in the Gregorian calendar. The volume belonging to the collection of the Jewish Historical Institute is the oldest book printed in Hebrew in Warsaw by a Jewish printer.

On April 19, 2022, we celebrated the 79th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At 12 AM sirens sounded all over the city.