We Must Not Think of Ourselves: A Novel

We Must Not Think of Ourselves is a historical novel inspired by true events, specifically the Oneg Shabbat Archive, which Lauren Grodstein encountered during a trip to Poland in 2019. The secret underground archive was founded by Jewish historian and social worker Emanuel Ringelblum (“Emanuel Ringelblum and the Creation of the Oneg Shabbat Archive.” Holocaust Encyclopedia), who is a character in the book. The archive began as an individual chronicle, but Ringelblum began to invite multiple contributors once the Jews in Warsaw were relocated to the Warsaw ghetto in 1939.

Ringelblum organized the information and reports that became a part of the archive through the refugee points, soup kitchens, and underground schools in the ghetto. This is how Adam Paskow, a fictional character and the protagonist of the book, becomes an archivist: through his work at the Aid Society and his English literature classes. As Ringelblum warns Paskow in their very first conversation, the members of Oneg Shabbat face constant danger. If their writings were ever discovered by the guards, it would spell immediate death for them. Miraculously, throughout the war, the Nazis never stumbled upon the archive; the documents were recovered only after the war’s end (“The Oneg Shabbat Archive.” Holocaust Encyclopedia).

Ringelblum’s main motivation for the creation of the archive was to ensure the existence of a historical record of the Jewish experience under the Nazis. In keeping with this, one of the things he insisted on was comprehensive documentation and a commitment to the truth (Haberman, Clyde. “Today in History: Who Tells Our Stories?” PBS, 1 Dec. 2021). He insisted that all possible variations of a single event be included in the archive to negate bias and paint a complete picture. This included documenting instances of Jewish complicity in their brethren’s suffering or individual kindnesses on the part of the German or Polish guards. For instance, in the book, when murmurs of Szifra’s closeness with Nazi guards emerge, Ringelblum encourages Adam to uncover her side of the story. This type of thorough documentation was meant not only to preserve Jewish stories but also to present evidence in the event of postwar justice (“The Oneg Shabbat Archive”).

The documentation within the archive ranges from daily life in the ghetto to Judenrat policy, the fate of Jewish children, and any form of resistance that came up. Accordingly, Adam and his fellow archivists report on a variety of events, from impromptu concerts and wedding celebrations to the births and deaths of children. The archive also includes drawings, letters, and other documents, such as restaurant menus from the “ghetto cabarets” (“The Oneg Shabbat Archive”). To represent this in the novel, Adam’s students’ poetry and a woman’s report of a café selling roast goose and fine wine make it into the archive along with reports of social and political events.

The archive was eventually buried in three parts, and following the war, two of the three caches were recovered; Ringelblum did not survive them. In March 1943, Ringelblum and his family escaped the ghetto but returned during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He and his family were caught and deported to the Trawniki labor camp and managed to escape a second time. However, they were discovered yet again in March 1944, and Ringelblum, his family, and the other Jews they had been sheltering with were killed. The Oneg Shabbat Archive that was eventually uncovered helped provide a vivid picture of both the “suffering and the dignity of the Jews of Poland as a whole, and the Jews of Warsaw in particular” (“The Oneg Shabbat Archive”).