Archaeological works are being carried out at the former 18 Miła Street. During them, basement walls were uncovered, which probably formed part of the Anielewicz Bunker. Researchers found thousands of artifacts, including vessels, children’s shoes and fragments of Jewish prayer books.
During archaeological works, researchers reached the buried basements of 19th-century tenement houses that were destroyed during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising or after its end.
The basements of tenement houses located at Miła 18 / Muranowska 39 and Miła 20 / Muranowska 41 were unearthed. – At Miła 20 and Muranowska 41, fragments of structures were uncovered which, in all probability, were part of the so-called Anielewicz Bunker. We found several thousand artifacts, including religious objects such as tefillin, fragments of burned Jewish prayer books, children’s shoes, toys and vessels for ritual hand washing, said Monika Nestorowicz, an educator at the Warsaw Ghetto Museum.
She recalled that archaeological research began in June 2022 with the aim of confirming whether the researched area was the site of the Anielewicz Bunker.
Excavations at the former 18 Miła StreetWarsaw Ghetto Museum/Facebook
– We can say with a high degree of certainty that we are in the bunker area. The location and equipment are correct. We know that there was sewage and electricity here, we see traces of everyday life – she said.
“Space Recovered from Oblivion”
During the work, a corridor was uncovered, which, after further research, confirmed the suspicions that it led to one part of the bunker.
– Initially, the shelter, located at the former Miła 18, was used by smugglers who tried to deliver necessary supplies to the ghetto. Then, during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, it served as the headquarters of the Jewish Combat Organization – she emphasized and added that at the end of the uprising, the ŻOB command, including Mordechai Anielewicz, hid there. On May 8, 1943, surrounded by the Germans and deprived of the opportunity to continue fighting, they committed collective suicide.
She mentioned that during their work, the researchers were visited by local residents who gratefully said that they were glad that this place had been discovered and “this space had been brought out of oblivion.”
– I hope that an educational pavilion will be built in this place as part of it Warsaw Ghetto Museum. I think that there are many undiscovered places in Warsaw, which is why awareness and historical memory of where we are and what our city was built on are so important, concluded Nestorowicz.
Archaeological works at Anielewicza (March 2023)Mateusz Szmelter/tvnwarszawa.pl
Main photo source: Warsaw Ghetto Museum/Facebook