Examines the final years of the Warsaw ghetto, the uprising, and the varied, nuanced ways Jewish people resisted Nazi rule.
The People's Uprising and the Fall of the Warsaw Ghetto, April 1942–June 1943 sheds light on the lives, choices, and experiences of the tens of thousands of Jews who were not part of the underground armed resistance but nonetheless supported the famed Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This riveting and dramatic account focuses on the final year of the Warsaw ghetto, from the Great Deportation in the summer of 1942 through the suppression of the uprising in mid-1943. Drawing on powerful contemporary testimonies, diaries, and documents—many of them previously unexplored—Havi Ben-Sasson Dreifuss
reveals how members of the broader Jewish population struggled to survive, maintain family and community life, and make impossible moral decisions in the face of fear, hunger, and daily violence. Looking beyond the fighters themselves, the book offers a story of devastation, but also of resilience and human dignity.
Published in association with Yad Vashem.
By:
Havi Ben-Sasson Dreifuss
Imprint: Brandeis University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 36mm
Weight: 739g
ISBN: 9781684583065
ISBN 10: 1684583063
Series: The Tauber Institute Series for the Study of European Jewry
Pages: 472
Publication Date: 11 April 2026
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface to the English edition Introduction Chapter One The Twilight Days: April 18–July 21, 1942 The Warsaw Ghetto prior to April 1942 Economic Conditions and the Struggle for a Livelihood Jewish Society and Its Various Circles The Jewish Street and Ghetto Housing April–July 1942: A Reign of Terror in the Streets and Houses in the Ghetto A Chronicle of Edicts and Persecutions The Rumor Mill and Fears Chapter Two The Great Deportation: July 22–September 21, 1942(Eve of the Fast of the Ninth of Av 5702–Yom Kippur 5703) The Beginning The Destruction of the Public and Private Spaces in the Ghetto: “[Your] Streets Have Died” Late July to Mid-August 1942: Workshop Mania Mid-August to September 6, 1942 Families and Women during the Deportation Where to? “I Am in Treblinka” The Umschlagplatz during the Great Deportation September 1942: The “Cauldron Roundup” and the Conclusion of the Great Deportation Chapter Three An Abandoned, Beaten Remnant in a Painful Awakening: Mid-September 1942–Mid-January 1943 Life amidst the Ruins of the Past A New Social Stratification “Let Us Eat and Drink for Tomorrow We Die” Abnormal Routine Chapter Four The Second Deportation, the January Uprising, and Their Ramifications—Between Hope and the Awareness of Loss: January 18 to Mid-April 1943 The Future of the Warsaw Ghetto and Its Remnants in the Eyes of the German Authorities: Jewish Labor or Extermination of the Jews The Second Aktion In the Absence of a Future: Work, Hiding in the Ghetto, or Escape to the Aryan Side From the Warsaw Ghetto to Lublin? Preparations of the Resistance Organizations Chapter Five The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Passover Eve 5703, April 19 to June 1943 The First Day of the Uprising: April 19, 1943 The Second Day of the Uprising: April 20, 1943 The Third Day of the Uprising: April 21, 1943 The Fourth Day of the Uprising: April 22, 1943—What Remained of the Fighting Afterward? In the Apartments and Bunkers The Fires The End of the Uprising and Its Final Suppression: The Exit from the Ghetto and the Bunkers The Umschlagplatz Among the Ruins “There is no longer a Jewish Residential Quarter in Warsaw!” Summary and Conclusions Bibliography Index
Havi Ben-Sasson Dreifuss is professor of Jewish history at Tel Aviv University, where she heads the Institute for the History of Polish Jewry and Israel-Poland Relations. She also serves as the director of the Center for Research on the Holocaust in Poland at Yad Vashem. She is the author of Relations Between Jews and Poles: The Jewish Perspective.
Reviews for The People's Uprising and the Fall of the Warsaw Ghetto, April 1942–June 1943
“A brilliantly researched book that draws on recorded statements of the combatants and, for the first time, gives full weight to personal testimonies of Warsaw ghetto inhabitants. A very important contribution to scholarly literature.” -- Jan T. Gross, Professor of History Emeritus, Princeton University “A deeply-researched, clearly-written, and important exploration that brings to light a little-known story of Jewish resistance and bravery.” -- Judy Batalion, author of “The Light of Days” “A meticulously documented examination of the meaning of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, and of the ways in which the very category of Jewish resistance has been constructed.” -- Avinoam Patt, Professor of Holocaust Studies, NYU “This powerful work turns our attention to the Warsaw Ghetto's population as a whole, showing how the uprising sought not just to combat the Nazis with arms but to strike against Nazi ideology as such.” -- Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History, Royal Holloway, University of London
