In the 'Closed City': Spaces and Proxemics of the Warsaw Ghetto

• In Event: Microhistories of the Holocaust in Occupied Poland

Abstract

When Warsaw Ghetto tends to serve as a pars pro toto of experience of Jews isolated in ghettos in occupied Poland, I shift this approach to study unique features of that space. Using microhistory, spatial theory and in particular proxemics (that analyses the relationships between people and their surroundings) I explore how the ghetto’s (dis)functions shaped interactions, survival tactics, and resistance efforts among its residents. My presentation, based primarily on personal documents (diaries, letters, interviews) preserved by the Warsaw Ghetto underground archive (Ringelblum Archive), provides spatial analysis of the public (streets and buildings) and private spaces (apartments), demonstrating how these environments were not only sites of Nazi oppression but also spaces of struggle for life. The analysis of these spaces clearly shows that overcrowding, noise, and odors exacerbated the sense of confinement and tension. Given that streets filled with beggars, performers, and corpses were the sensory assault of daily life, I question whether private spaces offered any reprieve and limited refuge under ghetto conditions.

Author

• Justyna Majewska, Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute (Poland)