Under the Rubble

Under the Rubble Synopsis

In WWII, the Nazis forced nearly 450,000 Polish Jews into the Warsaw Ghetto. By the end of the war, most had been killed. How did their stories survive?

On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland setting off WWII. The following year Nazis forced Polish Jews into a crowded ghetto in the capital city of Warsaw. By the end of the war, most of those imprisoned were dead, either in concentration camps or in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

But miraculously, their stories survived.

When the Jewish prisoners of Warsaw Ghetto realized that Nazi atrocities might go unanswered, they courageously risked their lives and resisted with just pen and paper as their weapons. In an act of defiance, they wrote and buried deep underground a complete record of what they endured. After the war, Hersh Wasser, the only survivor who knew where the records were buried, lead the effort to recover them.

This true story of the Oneg Shabbat Archive was the subject of an award-winning adult book and documentary film.

Part mystery, part adventure, part tragedy, Under the Rubble tells this courageous, true story as an age-appropriate introduction to the Holocaust. The book includes notes from those who were part of the effort to recover the cannisters.

Extensive backmatter includes a historical note, glossary, and a list of resources for further learning.