“Parliaments of Mothers and Sisters”: Jewish Women’s Social Service in the Warsaw Ghetto

The article explores a broad range of social and aid activities of Jewish women in the Warsaw Ghetto under the aegis of the Jewish Organization for Social Care, known as Jewish Social Self-Help (JSS). Due to hard living conditions, those women were forced into increased outside activities, as well as taking protective actions in aid of strangers, individuals, and families alike. They founded women’s clubs in every house, alongside with many public soup kitchens, common rooms, day care centers and so-called children’s corners, the staff of which would consist mainly of women. All these facilities together formed the largest chain of self-help centers, next to the numerous ghetto House Committees.

The article explores a broad range of social and aid activities of Jewish women in the Warsaw Ghetto under the aegis of the Jewish Organization for Social Care, known as Jewish Social Self-Help (JSS). Due to hard living conditions, those women were forced into increased outside activities, as well as taking protective actions in aid of strangers, individuals, and families alike. They founded women’s clubs in every house, alongside with many public soup kitchens, common rooms, day care centers and so-called children’s corners, the staff of which would consist mainly of women. All these facilities together formed the largest chain of self-help centers, next to the numerous ghetto House Committees.