Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto
This is the first time the archive has been exhibited outside of Europe.
In partnership with 
Overview
Open at Melbourne Holocaust Museum from Tuesday, November 17, 2024 until Sunday, March 30, 2025, Underground: The Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto displays rare artefacts from the Hidden Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto from the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Poland.
The artefacts on display have never been seen before in the Southern Hemisphere. During the Holocaust, historian Emanuel Ringelblum, who was imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto, enlisted a group of academics, journalists, and activists to create a secret archive. Over a two-year period, they created a comprehensive archive that chronicled life and death in the ghetto.
The archive was secretly buried within the ghetto. After the war, miraculously, a portion of the archive was retrieved from underneath the rubble where the ghetto once stood. The full archive consists of over 35,000 documents, and right here in Melbourne, you can see 12 key documents and one of the metal boxes they were carried in.
The exhibition offers a rare insight into the personal experiences of those incarcerated within the ghetto – showcasing items such as drawings, posters, letters, songs, poems, plays, and even lolly wrappers.
The exhibition also offers a uniquely Melbourne perspective with artefacts and first-hand accounts from survivors who immigrated to Melbourne after the war. More than 8,000 Polish-born Holocaust survivors immigrated to Australia within the first decade after WWII. Most settled in Melbourne, including approximately 2,000 from Warsaw.
This exhibition is unlike many—you will be immersed in this harrowing but intimate attempt to tell the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of its victims. A series of public programs including behind-the-scenes tours, lectures and film screenings also launched alongside the exhibition and can be booked via the museum's website.
Opening hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday 10am to 5pm.
Book your tickets here.
Images: Supplied.
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