“UNDERGROUND” AND “ABOVE THE GROUND”

“When a Jew found himself in the Aryan side, he had two alternatives: either stay ‘on the surface’ or go underground” – these words were written in the autumn of 1943 by Emanuel Ringelblum, a historian and the founder of the Warsaw Ghetto Archives, who was himself in hiding in the “Krysia” bunker at ul. Grójecka 84 in Warsaw, at the residence of the Marczak family.

Life “above the ground” (or “with Aryan papers”) meant staying, using forged identification and an assumed name, in the areas designated for Aryans only.

Hiding “under the surface,” or underground – many instances of which are featured at our website – meant living in confined hideouts with the means of leaving either limited or non-existent. The Jews staying in such hideouts required help from either individuals (Poles or, more seldom, Jews possessing "Aryan" papers) or institiutions ("Żegota" – The Council for Assistance to the Jews). The phrase referring to this model of hiding was often meant quite literally, referring to locations placed physically underground, such as basements, caverns, disused sanitation pipes, or wells.  But the notion could also apply to such hideouts as rooms or parts of rooms (as a pantry, a walled-in recess, or a tile stove), attics, or even entire apartments, physically located above ground, but due to lack – or severe limitation – of any opportunity to leave, defined as “underground.”

Some Jews, attempting to escape the ghettos, had prepared locations on the Aryan side beforehand. Others would look for hideouts while already on the run, after leaving the closed-off district. Their choice of the type of hiding depended on the looks, the knowledge of Polish and the financial capabilities.