MEMORY AND COMMEMORATION IN THE ERA OF WEB 2.0 AUSCHWITZ/BUCHENWALD 2011

ISSN 1899-4407ISSN 1899-4407

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no. 28 April 2011

EDITORIAL BOARD:Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine

Editor:Paweł SawickiEditorial secretary: Agnieszka Juskowiak-SawickaEditorial board:Bartosz BartyzelWiktor BoberekJarek MensfeltOlga OnyszkiewiczJadwiga Pinderska-LechArtur SzyndlerColumnist: Mirosław GanobisDesign and layout:Agnieszka Matuła, Grafi konTranslations: David R. KennedyProofreading:Beata KłosCover:Paweł SawickiMiejsce Pamięci BuchenwaldPhotographer:Paweł Sawicki

PUBLISHER:

Auschwitz-BirkenauState Museum

www.auschwitz.org.pl

PARTNERS:

Jewish Center

www.ajcf.pl

Center for Dialogue and Prayer Foundation

www.centrum-dialogu.oswiecim.pl

International Youth Meeting Center

www.mdsm.pl

IN COOPERATION WITH:

Kasztelania

www.kasztelania.pl

State HigherVocational School in Oświęcim

www.pwsz-oswiecim.pl

Editorial address:„Oś – Oświęcim, Ludzie, Historia, Kultura”Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenauul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 2032-603 Oświęcime-mail: os@auschwitz.org.pl

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The Salesian Church in 1914. Photo from Mirosław Ganobis’s collection

This month, once again, we handed over the pages of this monthly to the young participants of the internation-al project Memory and Commemoration in the Era of Web 2.0. In the Febru-ary issue we published articles that came to be during workshops held in Oświęcim. The second part of the pro-ject was held in March at the former Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany. The group effort, in the form of an article, written under the supervision of the chief editor of Oś, can be found on the following pages.

The International Youth Meeting Center, as every year, presented the awards to its Good Spirits. This year’s ceremony took place under the sym-bol of the seashell. In the Center, full of the ocean-themed scenery, consist-ing of the various intricately shaped and colored calcium carbonate won-ders of nature, the donors and friends of the IYMC came together. As to who received an award, you learn from the extensive report about the ceremony.Before the War, where did the Chief Rabbi of Oświęcim live? Down which

streets did the Jewish inhabitants of Oświęcim walk? These and many other questions are answered in the newest project carried out by the Jew-ish Center in Oświęcim—Oshpitzin.This is already the 36th edition of Oś in Polish, which means it is our third birthday. We would like to thank you very much for being with us.

Paweł SawickiEditor-in-chief

os@auschwitz.org.pl

A GALLERY OF THE 20TH CENTURY

EDITORIAL

Easter… The joy of the victory of faith and springtime. A time of hope for the greenery and fl owers. Two in one: a religious theme and that of the spring climate. And in all this, for me, a warm and ten-der Easter is “more important and

better” than the winter-cold of Christmas! In the part of the article, a poem with springtime and Easter themes.

Andrzej Winogrodzki

IMPRESSION

The aroma of the hours, in the mirror of springThe post-winter earth is selfi sh.

The day grows in intensity, a touch of lightThe greenery has awoken in the fi elds.

The trees and maidens sparkle, Among the rapidly feathering birds,

And the wind —Shepard of the grassland in the skyHerds the clouds into enclosures of rain.

And the holidays are coming, a Lenten mood,With nostalgia eating the biting horseradish,

And jumping onto the outdoor table A bright sugary Holiday hare!

Easter in the spring. This year, it is especially a late spring event. Lent. Holy Week. Tomb of the Lord. The Liturgy—fi rst the sad and mourn-

ful, then the Resurrection, and the joyful procession. In our city, in the old parish, an evening procession, at the Salesian Church—and then an Easter Sunday morning.

Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 28, April 2011

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Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

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LAST MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE MUSEUM IN THIS TERM

A GIFT FROM VOLKSWAGEN TO THE MUSEUM

The last meeting of the Council of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in its four-year term of offi ce was held. Council members unanimously approved a report on the activities of the Museum in 2010 and plans for next year.

The Auschwitz Memorial has received a Caravelle T5 car from Volkswagen. This valuable support for the work of the Museum was made possible thanks to the help of the International Auschwitz Committee and the personal involvement of its deputy chairman, Christoph Heubner. It is also a continuation of many years of cooperation

with Volkswagen AG.

One of the main subjects of the meeting was the budget-ary situation of the Memo-rial, deteriorating year by year. At the beginning of the meeting the director of the Museum, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, familiarized the Council with the work of the institution last year.

He talked about the biggest current projects and plans for the current year. Among the topics discussed were a steady increase in the num-ber of visitors to the Memo-rial and the related project to create a new Visitors Service Center. Another important area of discussion was the

restoration work and activi-ties related to the creation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation Perpetual Fund, intended to fund them long term.The next item on the agenda was a speech by Krystyna Oleksy, director of the Inter-national Center for Educa-

tion about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, who spoke about the projects carried out by the ICEAH. Council members raised concerns about the real threat to the development of the Center for Education due to lack of funds for the adaptation of the so-called Old Theater building for the future head-quarters of the ICEAH. The Museum tries to raise the money needed in the fourth stage of the Oświęcim Stra-tegic Government Program,

but still is not quite certain whether this strategic in-vestment will be included in the OSGP.The Museum Council is a consultative body appoint-ed by the Minister of Cul-ture and National Heritage under the Law on museums. It exercises supervision over the statutory activities of institutions and gives its opinion on future plans of action.

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“We would like to pass on the keys to the car,” Chris-toph Heubner said during the ceremony of turning over the car. “Here it will be able to be used to care for former pris-oners and the needs of the In-ternational Center for Educa-tion about Auschwitz and the Holocaust,” added Heubner. “I would like to thank you for this gesture,” said Piotr M. A. Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz Museum. “Of course the needs are enormous and this support is of the essence. You have to remember that we are an institution, away from big university centers, away from the airport. Arrivals of former prisoners, various experts and invited guests require logistical assistance. As this Place is growing and its importance in the world increases, this support, in the budgetary situation we

all know, is really very seri-ous help,” noted Cywiński.Emphasizing the uniqueness of over twenty years of col-laboration between the Me-morial and the Volkswagen company, including inter alia visits of youth groups that help with maintaining the Memorial and at the same time learn about its history. Director Cywiński, address-ing high school students of the VW school, insisted: “For us, your help is support for different sections of our hard work. I also believe that a deeper knowledge of this place will help you to set-tle different things in your minds. It is really good that VW has made this its policy, its clear will. Thank you for your presence and for your willingness to help. Each lit-tle bit of help contributes to securing the future of this Place. We do this in part in

memory of the victims, and in part for future generations.”“Our twenty years of coop-eration means a lot for Volk-swagen,” said the representa-tive of the VW company, Ines Doberanzke. “Young people who come here, take some-

thing back with them. Later they come back, and bring their family and friends. Youth work is a symbol, but also practical help. We also thank you heartily for your cooperation and for what the Museum does for us. Without

this, our project would not be what it is today. Therefore, all the more I am glad that today we can give this car to the Museum,” emphasized Ines Doberanzke.

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The Museum Council meeting

Students of the VW School at the Memorial Site

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MEMBERS OF THE MUSEUM COUNCIL

Kazimierz AlbinAlicja Bartuś

Andrzej BibrzyckiProf. Tomasz Gąsowski

Prof. Jan Kantyka Prof. Edward KosakowskiProf. Stanisław Krajewski

Piotr KućkaJerzy Wróblewski, Chairman

Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 28, April 2011

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Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 28, April 2011

THE FIRST TRANSPORT OF POLISH WOMEN

LUDWINA MAKUCH camp number 6828

Statements Fond, vol. 83, pp. 138-139… they loaded about 70 women (I was among them) into an enclosed vehicle and we were taken away. Al-most all of us were convinced that we were going to the concentration camp in Oświęcim [Auschwitz]. We had heard about this camp before. Some of the women in the transport were deluding themselves that we were not being taken to Auschwitz, because there was no camp for women there. Most of us, however, viewed this with skepticism.

It turned out that our suspicions were unfortunately accurate. We were driven out of the vehicle. We found ourselves inside the Auschwitz camp. ... That, what we saw, shook us to the core. One prisoner from our transport, a Silesian woman named Julia Habryka said, “Girls, here we’re not even going to make it a day.”

JÓZEFA KIWAŁA camp number 6792

Statements Fond, vol. 14, p. 66This was the fi rst transport of Polish political prison-ers. SS-Aufseherin Drexler received the transport, and then the prisoners were escorted to block 2, where they were robbed of their personal items, registered, and given numbers. ... In the evening another trans-port of Polish women from Tarnów arrived, from which Stenia Starostka was selected to be the block elder, and subsequently she became the Lagerälteste.

TERESA WICIŃSKAcamp number 6817

Statements Fond, vol. 43, pp. 46-47Shortly after arrival we had our belongings taken away, our personal details were written down, we were put though the camp’s disinfection as well as bath, and we were assigned some camp clothes—striped uniforms and wooden clogs.

LUDWINA MAKUCHcamp number 6828

Statements Fond, vol. 83, pp. 138-139The baths took place in block 3 or 4. Today I do not remember exactly. After that, we were issued striped uniforms and wooden clogs, and were herd-ed to block number 8. I inhabited the ground fl oor. At that time, there already were the three-level bunk beds. Initially, we slept one to a straw-fi lled mattress, because there were still so few of us. ... Later, a transport arrived from Tarnów. The block elder was a Polish woman from Silesia. Her name was Lidia.

TERESA WICIŃSKA camp number 6817

Statements Fond, vol. 43, pp. 46-47After all the initial steps, which I described above, were done, I was placed in block 8. We slept on three-level bunks and sanitary situation, in com-parison to that later experienced at Birkenau, was good. While imprisoned at the Main Camp, for a short period of time I worked at Buna.

LUDWINA MAKUCHcamp number 6828

Statements Fond, vol. 83, pp. 138-139Upon arrival at the camp we were not put through any kind of quarantine. Already on the second or third day, we were sent to work. Initially, we were working at digging ditches outside the camp. From the camp to the place of labor it was about a 10 km march towards Brzeszcze. Later, we were put to work cleaning the construction site of a factory, probably Buna. We had to cut bushes, pull weeds, and perform various other jobs.

TERESA WICIŃSKAcamp number 6817

Statements Fond, vol. 43, pp. 46-47August 6, 1942, all women were transferred from the Main Camp to the women’s camp at Birkenau. I remember that it was a sweltering day. We marched on foot, in rows of fi ve. We were put into the brick barracks. I was assigned to a barrack standing near the kitchen—I do not remember the number. We were horrifi ed by the conditions that we experi-enced there. A shortage of water—one well for the whole camp; around the barracks, endless, slippery mud; barracks overfi lled with female prisoners, the bunk-bed compartments fi lled with damp straw. ... At Birkenau, I started working in the camp kitchen. After a month, I was transferred to the Effekten-

kammer, where I worked in sorting and disinfect-ing clothing that remained after the transports were gassed.

KRYSTYNA WITEK (NEE) CYANKIEWICZ, camp number 6820

Statements Fond, vol. 51, p. 3Hygienic conditions at the time were horrifying. The insects proliferated to the unparalleled amounts, es-pecially the terrible plague of fl eas. Sleep was some-thing impossible. When we stood at roll call, fl eas immediately jumped onto the body. In a short time, so many of them glued themselves onto us, that our legs looked black from far away. ... Almost all Pol-ish women worked outside, most often employed in heavy labor. We walked a distance of up to 9 km in the direction of the old riverbed of the Vistula. We were employed in agricultural works, digging drainage ditches, and the dismantling of the houses of those who had been evicted.

JANINA TOLLIKcamp number 6804

Statements Fond, vol. 57, p. 66In the beginning, they took us to carry out agricul-tural and earth works to Babice, and later to Budy. For a relatively long time, I went to work in Pławy and Harmęże. Large fi shponds were found there. The prisoners worked there pulling weeds, cleaning the ponds as well as its banks. This work was very heavy and was carried out in the mud and water.

During the summer I was employed in haymaking on the banks of the old Vistula riverbed. On June 24, 1942, as part of so-called collective responsibili-ty—that related to prisoner’s escape—I was put into the penal company (Strafkompanie – SK) which, at that time, was in a school building in Budy. The time I spent in the SK was very diffi cult for me. ... This is where—in the penal company—that I began sketching scenes of camp life. I created a series of sketches and paintings of landscapes, which sur-round the sad environs around Oświęcim. I wanted to imprint these images in my memory.

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On the morning of April 27, 1942, the Germans brought to Auschwitz the fi rst transport of Polish women from Montelupi Prison in Kraków. Most of the women from this transport were earlier arrested in Kraków for un-derground activities. A few hours later to Auschwitz, another transport of Polish women from Tarnów arrived.

Previously, on March 19, 1942, a transport of 144 women was brought to Auschwitz from the prison in Mysłowice. According to accounts by former prisoners Władyslaw Siwek and Wiesław Kielar, all were shot at the Death Wall. Below we publish a selection of prisoner testimonies from those brought in the fi rst transport from Kraków.

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Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 28, April 2011

REMEMBRANCE AND THE MEDIA

SOMETHING MORE THAN REMEMBERANCE: ACTION!

How can today’s media help in maintaining the memory of the historical events of the Second World War? How can images, text, and sound be used to speak about places such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald? And, in what way can you use the accounts of eyewitness of those times today?

These are just some of the questions that young partici-pants involved in the inter-national project Memory and

Commemoration in the Era of Web 2.0 asked themselves. The event took place this year, fi rst at the Auschwitz

Memorial Site, and later at the former Buchenwald Con-centration Camp. Participants worked in four teams dealing

with the text, audio, video, and Internet. The groups’ work was led by Oś Editor in Chief, Paweł Sawicki. In the

February issue we fi rst pub-lished the work done by the participants. Now it is time for further articles.

Also passionate were the four leaders of the workshop, dealing with: the text, audio, video and Internet—they gave their time to work with a group of “amateurs” in this extraordinary project. Leading the text prepara-tion group was Paweł Sa-wicki, whom I asked what he thought of those under his care. Answering my “sil-ly” question, he replied: “If we take into account that all participants are, fi rst of all, beginners as well as quite busy in their daily lives, it is a major achievement that they have come to the seminar. They decided to spend a few days to visit Auschwitz and Buchenwald, to spend time with survivors, to work on the project. This is already a success, and everything that is created during the project, is a kind of added value.” At the end he added: “Everyone has personally proven that they can add their little piece

to the puzzle for some greater good—their experience, their point of view, their personal perspective.”Indeed, each of the partici-pants had a chance to realize their ideas, but also to learn about and share their insights with the witnesses. Each per-son had a slightly different motivation in doing this pro-ject. And what were the mo-tivations of leaders: is it the work, or rather the pleasure? “On one hand this was a pro-fessional undertaking. I am a journalist, and I teach media and at the same time I was able to run this kind of work-shop. But the subject matter of this meeting is also a very important reason for my par-ticipation in this project,” said the head of the audio group, Paweł Kamiński. “I am inter-ested in history in general, but I am also interested in the history of the Holocaust, and I feel that this topic is not discussed enough and these

events do not occupy an ap-propriate place in the col-lective memory,” he added. Paweł also spoke about the fact that a journalist should understand how individuals as well as European politics cope with the subject of the Holocaust.We also talked about the dif-fi culties. For the young leader of the video group, Adam Sy-monowicz, the problem was the language barrier. “I had some problems interacting with some members of the group, because English is not my strong point,” he said. But at the very end all spoke one language, the language of cre-ativity. You can check it out and enjoy the great results of work of the group that creat-ed the excellent fi lms. Which video was the most important for the group? Adam replied in the following manner: “The text preparation and au-dio groups are, of course, no less important than we are. What made us different was the fact that we could actually

show the audience the places and people that had taken part in the project.”Without the groups working on the text, audio, and video, the project would not have been complete; because this is also about Web 2.0 as well as social media. The group dealing with the Internet, led by Sebastian Schroeder-Esch, had an extremely challenging job. Its members had to col-lect the resulting work of the three teams, and show this in an attractive way to the wide audience on the world wide web. “This is an integral part of the whole project,” said Se-bastian. “The most interesting part is that the entire platform is free. How is that possible? Well, the answer is simple—the blogosphere! Blogging allows all participants to publish their work. Everyone can watch, read, and listen to them as well as make com-ments, of course. A true Web 2.0 project!,” he added.This method also involves challenges. “We want the

blog’s content to be available in different languages and we are constantly working on the most effective resolution. A professional website is a very expensive answer to this, we are looking for good alterna-tives,” said Sebastian. It must be remembered that all the teams worked on the various topics related to the Holocaust, together with sur-vivors, and in order to create something that is lasting for future generations. As Paweł Sawicki has said, “Everyone has personally proven that they can add their little piece to the puzzle.”Most important is the fact that we had the chance to talk and listen to stories of survivors. Thanks to that, we have wit-nessed their history. We re-member and commemorate, but the most important thing is that in addition to this re-membrance, we have chosen to be active.

Mustafa Yakupov

When I sent the fi rst application for the workshop held by the Association Maximilian Kolbe-Werk, I received a reply that, though there was not a thought at all about Macedonia, they were happy that I was interested and I might have the opportunity to go... and that is what happened. I was a participant in the project Memory

and Commemoration in the Era of Web 2.0. Why was I able to do so, although my country was not even taken into consid-eration when creating the seminar? I was active... I was truly passionate!

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The story of Isaac Segalis, who was three years old when he was taken to the ghetto of Kaunas, was full of personal emotions, fragmen-tary memories, and colorful scenes which remained in his memory. His fi rst mem-ory was the inhumane divi-sion of all prisoners into two groups. Some were sent to a brutal death in the gas cham-bers, however, others were allowed to live, or rather ex-ist, within the ghetto. “My entire family ended up be-hind the walls: my mother, father, sister, grandparents, and I,” Mr. Segalis said. “A long queue formed at the gate. Before us, stood a per-son in a uniform, who loud-ly screamed ‘Left! Right!’ in German. My mother, father, sister, and I ended up on the right side. My grandpar-ents on the left side, in other words, sent to die. I did not understand that I would not see them ever again.” Another clear memory he possessed was that of hid-ing under the fl oor, located in the house where Isaac and his mother were hid-ing from being deported to a labor camp, where people were chosen to be killed. “To make the hide-out harder to fi nd, my father covered the entrance with a heavy oven. One day, as my sister, moth-er, and I remained in hiding, the Germans ordered my fa-ther to leave the house. Had

it not been returned, we wouldn’t have been able to get out of there, because no one would have moved the stove. I do not know how or why, but he was allowed to return home. Thanks to that we managed to survive,” he said.As a small child in the world of the concentration camp, Mr. Segalis began thinking

about death very early on; something that he actually saw on a daily basis. “I re-alized that the worst thing you could do to me was to kill me. I did everything to stay alive,” he said. The ex-traordinary story of a child who survived Nazi brutality symbolizes the fate of thou-sands of children who were deprived of a normal, happy

childhood spent with their family, without hunger and fear.The story of Vasily Volodko was completely different. He was arrested in 1943 when he was 19 years old. His story was more concise, constructive, based on his-torical facts and dates, but, of course, his emotions were also present there. His most terrible experience was be-ing held in a Gestapo prison. The Germans treated him very brutally, which had affected his health. Para-doxically, it was thanks to this that it was a bit easier to survive the Dachau Con-centration Camp, where he was sent to the hospital and avoided the exhausting slave labor. Mr. Volodko talked about the every day function of the Gestapo prison: “Every morning, the Germans ordered us, the weak and starved to do jumping until we lost our energy. They tied the bags of bricks to the backs of some prisoners and forced them to exercise.”The 86-year-old Vasily can talk about his experiences with a touch of bitter humor, but somewhere behind it,

there are deep, hidden emo-tions hidden.” Hunger, the omnipresence of death, survival in inhuman conditions, and the constant fear of death are terrible things. Terrifying for those of all ages. A child’s psyche is not able to survive this un-scathed. We know the stories of the child survivors of the camps who played at doing “selections” and “pogroms,” rather than normal games. Only in adulthood did they recognize the horror of those events. Isaac Segalis was lucky because he remained with his family. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, he had his family with him. When Vasily Volodko was sent to the camp, he did not have anyone with whom he could share the darkest mo-ments of his life. The fact that he had such great cour-age and did not break down in the terrible conditions of the Gestapo prison and later at Dachau is unusual. Child and adult, Isaac Sega-lis and Vasily Volodko, de-spite their differences, share a burden—the burden of a tormented, but unbroken human being.

Juliana Ryazantseva

THE WAR THROUGH THE EYES OF A CHILD AND AN ADULT

We, the young participants in the project run by the Association Maximilian Kolbe-Werk, heard many sto-ries told by witnesses of history. Sharing their stories were, among others, two survivors: Isaac Segalis and Vasily Volodko. Mr. Segalis ended up in a ghetto as a child. Vasily Volodko was deported to a con-

centration camp as an adult. Two different fates, two different views of Nazi terror. How is a concentration camp remembered through the eyes of a child and how is it remembered through the eyes of an adult?

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The coordinator of the project Memory and Commemoration in the Era of Web 2.0 was the Association Maximilian Kolbe-Werk. The progress of the participants’ efforts can be followed on the website: Maximilian-Kolbe-werk.blogspot.com

THE WORLD VISITS AUSCHWITZ DURING THE WORLD CAFÉ

Lovely tables, lively discussions, and menus placed on the tablecloths: a pleasant, normal coffee shop. How-ever, upon closer scrutiny this is something completely different; conversations in English, Polish, Russian, and German resound throughout the room, the tablecloths are made of paper, and on the menus, instead of

the dishes offered, there are questions: What impact does the memory of the Second World War have on the crea-tion and development of a national identity? Is it possible to create a common international culture of memory? Instead of coffee there is a serious discussion.During the international meeting in Oświęcim, par-ticipants took part in work-shops devoted to the culture of memory within their own countries. The World Café brought together a variety of perspectives and posed many questions. Small, mixed groups of people from different countries and of different ages sought the answers.The main problem discussed during the meeting was how the mass media and socie-ties deal with the culture of memory. “After the end of World War II German iden-tity had collapsed and, in reality, the situation never truly returned to normal. Showing any trace of pat-riotism was accompanied by a feeling of deep shame. German fl ags and the Ger-man national anthem, ap-peared for the fi rst time only in 2006 when Germany held the world football cham-pionship,” said one of the German participants. On the special card for the writ-

ing of refl ections someone wrote: “To have an identity, you have to have a history. To make history, an identity is needed.”The Israeli guests said that the memory of the Holo-caust has had a profound impact on the identity of the Israelis. Many people have known survivors and every year a national day of remembrance takes place, which touches everyone. The Russian participants observed that the military victory of the Second World War was of greatest pride in the former Soviet Union; however, it is also important to note that, in Russia and in other post-Soviet countries, historians are beginning to address the subject of the Holocaust, because not all the facts are known yet.In contemporary Poland, the culture of memory is a pop-ular phenomenon—much is said about it, but there are also many opportunities to do something concrete, to not forget. “Knowledge of

the past allows us to build the present and the future. We can create a national identity, when we recall the past events” is the common conclusion.That evening an interesting question was asked, as to the way topics such as: the Second World War, Nation-al Socialist ideology and the Holocaust are taught during history lessons in schools. There were various answers to this question. For exam-ple, in Israel, all three themes are interconnected and it is important to possess good knowledge of these issues. Everyone must learn about this, and after a few weeks they must take an exam. The Government supports the commemoration of the Hol-ocaust, even if it is through organizing a day of remem-brance. In Polish education there is more information on the effects of, rather than the causes of the Second World War. Not enough is said about the Nazi era, although there are special educational programs for teachers, while students visit the Memorial Sites. The subject is breached not only during history les-sons, but also during art and literature classes. In Com-munist times there was a se-rious problem, because his-tory was taught differently at home from that in schools. That has now changed.In Russia, the most impor-tant day is Victory Day on May 9. The National Social-ist ideology and the Holo-caust are presented from a political standpoint, and even now, these are diffi cult questions. The anniversary is commemorated annually, but it does not take place in schools, but in various youth organizations.Young people from Germa-ny were divided. For some, the lessons are interesting. You can watch many mov-ies, listen to radio shows and, of course, read a large amount of books devoted to

this period. But some want to know more. You can meet many Germans, who take part in various volunteer programs in Poland and vis-it the places connected with the history of the Holocaust.The discussion on how to create and develop various forms of memory and com-memoration, which does not serve political ends and cannot be used for nation-alistic purposes, presented very many possibilities.

International dialogue and interviews with surviving witnesses should be docu-mented and presented even on the Internet. Also impor-tant are education, intergen-erational communication, pluralism, and diversity. And, as it turns out, every-thing can start from an inter-national discussion, over a cup of coffee.

Anna ReinhardtKatarzyna Gasińska

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Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 28, April 2011

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International Youth Meeting Center

OUR CONSUL

INSIDE THE (SEASHELL) HOUSE

In March 2007, the Consul General of Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Thomas Gläser, had been awarded a statuette of the Good Spirit at the annual meeting of the Good Spirits, Friends and Benefactors of the Internation-al Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim. The statuette was accompanied by a certifi cate, in which the jury justifi ed

its choice, highlighting the remarkable ability of the Consul to combine the functions of a diplomat with sensitivity to the challenges posed by modern times, and the particular understanding of the issues of historical Auschwitz and the modern city of Oświęcim. In early March 2011, we received the sad news Dr. Thomas Gläser had died in Barcelona. A terrible message, unbelievable, that is so diffi cult to come to terms with.

There are individuals that you meet and it changes the way you look at our world, sometimes it also changes relationships among peo-ple. Thomas Gläser was one of these people. If the term “Polish-German reconcilia-

tion” defi nes a certain pro-cess, the work of the former Consul General of Germany in Cracow was the process’ practical realization.He was a remarkable person, combining the seriousness and authority of the offi ce he held with an exceptional openness towards others and a kindness that gained him allies and friends. Few peo-ple in recent years have done so much for bettering the neighborly Polish-German relations, especially for the perception of Germans by the Poles. And although we know that while he was the Consul in Cracow, he was highly valued and respected; his activity and consistently fulfi lled need to get to know the people among whom he lived and worked (his cus-tomary walks through the area covered by the consu-late in Cracow), for us, em-ployees of the IYMC, was a particularly important and close. From the fi rst meeting in our Center, immediately after following his visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, it became clear to us that the problems associ-

ated with this unique place’s history in Poland and Ger-many would become a prior-ity for the Consul.It is impossible to calculate or overestimate the initiatives taken up by Thomas Gläser for the city of Oświęcim as well as the International Youth Meeting Center. The close cooperation with the State Higher Vocational School in Oświęcim (that included a signifi cant exten-sion of its library collection), taking part in the diffi cult discussions to fi nd fi nancial support from Germany for the construction of the Me-morial Hospice in the city of Oświęcim, or his coopera-tion with the Rotary Club of Oświęcim, which he was also a member of, are just some of the very important pro-jects in which Thomas Gläser took part. He also worked in cooperation with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, the International Auschwitz Committee, the Association of Roma in Po-land, the Center for Dialogue and Prayer, and the Jewish Center in Oświęcim. Recog-nition of his work includes

his reception of the Medal of the City of Oświęcim.Thomas Gläser was closely connected to the Meeting Center from the beginning. He participated in countless events carried out by IYMC (lectures, exhibitions, and concerts); a deep relationship that linked him with former inmates of Auschwitz-Birk-enau, the eyewitnesses, and the weight he attached to the visits of young Germans to this especially marked place, allows us to call Thomas Gläser the ambassador who carried the message which fl ows from the International Meeting Center, the peda-gogical concept that “Ausch-witz is a place of learning.” He sponsored the jubilee exhibition The other side of the world which, thanks to his support, could be pre-sented in Cracow as well as in many German cities. He was uniquely consequential and sought to make others aware and appreciate the work the Center is doing in the very complicated fi eld of pedagogy of remembrance. He accompanied a countless number of delegations that

after visiting the Auschwitz--Birkenau State Museum, also had the opportunity to get acquainted with the activities of the IYMC. He supported the active role of Volkswagen AG with re-spect in fostering a culture of remembrance, frequently meeting with the youth in-volved in study programs at the Meeting Center.He knew most of the IYMC staff, valued our home-cooked meals, and when with us, he felt he was among friends. The time spent with Thomas was for the Center and for those of us working here an important and good time. We believe that he felt the same way. He was the Consul General of Germany in Cracow. He was also our Consul.At the end of May 2011, the Judaica Foundation – Jewish Cultural Center in Cracow together with the Interna-tional Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim plan to organ-ize an evening and concert in Cracow devoted to the memory of Consul Thomas Gläser.

Leszek Szuster

“When a quarter of a century ago the creators of this place made it known as the International Youth Meeting Center, it was a slight exaggeration. It’s a bit like the names of newly born babies. We do not know whether the few day old treasure, who we name Victoria will be victorious in life. We do not know whether baby named Peter will truly be real bedrock... Likewise, it was not certain whether the International would be truly international, and would become recognizable in the world,” said Alicja Bartuś, the Chair of the IYMC Foundation Board, opening the yearly meeting of Good Spirits—friends and donors of the Center…

Today no one doubts that this known to us all for 25 years mature and unique “young-ster” is recognizable not only in Poland and Germany, but also in Strasbourg and New York, Eastern and Western Europe, Israel, as well as in... South Africa. And this means that it fully deserves to be called “International.” This is not only the effect of many high-profi le meetings, that have taken place in the Center, such as the recently organized debates with cur-rent and former chairmen of the European Parliament or the meeting that included the presidents of Poland and

Germany. It deserves this merit also due to the many quiet and valuable pro-jects that have created the Center’s unique character: meetings with poetry, art, philosophy, history... and above all—with other indi-viduals.

A place in the heartThe theme of this year’s meeting of friends and do-nors of the IYMC was the seashell. The Good Spirits met at the Center full of maritime scenery, surrounded by vari-ously shaped and colorful wonders of nature intricately

formed out of calcium car-bonate. Małgorzata Szpara, as always, took good care of the fabulous evening’s artis-tic backdrop.Invited to spend a few mo-ments in the quiet serenity of the seashell were the faithful, regular guest of events or-ganized by the International Youth Meeting Center, those former Auschwitz prisoners who have be-come friends of the Center: Zofi a Posmysz, August Kowalczyk, Wilhelm Brasse, Tadeusz Smreczyński, Józef Paczyński, as well as repre-sentatives of the city, county, and province institutions.

Dr. Thomas Gläser

Joanna Galistl, a Good Spirit in the “Donnor” category

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International Youth Meeting Center

For each visitor that crossed the threshold of the IYMC the hosts presented a seashell as a gift—a wonderful gift of the seas and oceans, which could be used by its new owner as a beautiful natural mirror, a household decoration, or even a musical instrument. Many people believe that the shell is a charm that protects against fi re, shows the way, guards against bad luck, and that it also ensures fertility and prosperity.

The shell is also a house…

At the IYMC many people from around the world found a home. “Our sorely missed friend Jadwiga Toczek, who, with her husband Janusz, conjured up for us a series of Poetry Salons in this room, said this. So did our great friend Thomas Gläser, former German Consul in Cracow. Jan Knycz, who from the out-set had been associated with the IYMC, said the same. Former prisoners, no longer with us also said this—Zofi a Łyś and Władysław

Gładyszek. The former pris-oners who are presently here say the same thing and, de-spite the years, they continue to perform their mission—that is how much they enjoy returning here. Teenagers who listen to the words of eyewitnesses say this. As do the great artists, as well as their grateful audience. We hope that, for you, the IYMC has found a place in your heart during the last quarter century,” Dr. Alicja Bartuś emphasized in her introduc-tory speech.

The seashell gives birth to pearls

Shell is an attribute of the deities of the sea. Pearls are born out of it, which sym-bolize beauty. The Meeting Center on March 20, a Sun-day evening, released these pearls and awarded them. For the ninth time already, with the help of artists from the Teatr Gry i Ludzie [The Games and People Theater], extraordinary individuals were honored—the IYMC Good Spirits. “Statuettes of the

Good Spirit are awarded to people who are particularly close to us, and those who, in various ways support, help, and inspire us,” said the IYMC director and host of the evening, Leszek Szuster. This year, Piotr Kudełka was awarded the Good Spirit statuette (in the category: “Artist”)—for outstanding artistic achievement, for his mastery and virtuosity as well as bringing the art of the guitar to young people, for true cooperation with the International Youth Meeting Center in carrying out the most prestigious artistic ven-tures, especially the Cracow Poetry Salon, for including the Kudełka musical fam-ily—his sister Maria and his brother Jan—in the artistic presentation at the Meeting Center, and for his humility and sincerity. For the catego-ry of “Donor,” Joanna Galistl, owner of the bakery “Ptyś” in Chełmek, was awarded for her subtle, long-term, and regular support for the Cracow Poetry Salon; for her poetic artistry in the art of confectionery, with a deep understanding of the ideals of the Center. In the category of “Reliable Rescuer,” the statue of the Good Spirit was given to Marcin Boiński for his sensitivity, kindness, and big heart, but also for the fact that nothing is impossible for him, and for always having time

for the IYMC, when he does not have any time!To fi nish the evening, in-side the musical shell of the IYMC, was a performance by the pearl of Poland’s mu-sic scene—Gaba Kulka—a talented vocalist and pianist, with an exceedingly rich im-agination and fantastic voice. It was an amazing concert with the blend of progres-sive pop, which combines within itself various genres, from jazz to piano rock, and the Weill cabaret created a beautiful setting for another, amazing Meeting with a capi-tal “M.”

Monika Bartosz

NOTES FROM ANOTHER WORLD A MEETING WITH LESZEK ALLERHAND

As part of the series Literature and Memory, on April 1 at the IYMC a meeting was held with Dr. Leszek Allerhand, who spent the last several years carefully examining the history of Jews in

Lviv. The fruit of his labor is his newest publication from 2010—an album, entitled Żydzi Lwowa. Opowieść [The Jews of Lviv. A Story].

It includes, not only ex-tensive historical material, but also the biographical history of the Allerhand family—including Leszek Allerhand’s famous grand-father, Maurice, professor of law at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv. In 2003,

his book Zapiski z tamtego świata [Notes from Another World] was published, in-cluding discovered notes that were written by Mau-rice Allerhand during the occupation on the back of a court document, inter-spersed with memories of

his grandson.Leszek Allerhand was born in Lviv in 1932, to a wealthy, intellectual Jewish family. His father Joachim and his grandfather Mau-rice ran the law fi rm there. In the autumn of 1942, after the seizure of Lviv by the

Józef Paczyński (right) and Piotr Kudełka (left), a Good Spirit in the “Artist” category Gaba Kulka

Good Spirits guest at the IYMC

Leszek Allerhand and Leszek Szuster

Marcin Boiński, Good Spirit in the “Reliable Rescuer” category

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Germans, the family was forced to live in the ghetto, from which they managed to escape and survive the War, hiding in the city. Af-ter liberation, the family was repatriated to Cracow.

Allerhand graduated from the Medical Academy in Cracow, he received a grant from the Ministry of Health and studied at the Train-ing College of Physicians. In 1963, he settled in Zakopane

where he worked as a doctor at a local hospital (a doctor of medicine training), and also assumed a number of other functions; including chief physician of the Polish Olympic winter sports team. In 2009, he was also one of the founders of the Aller-hand Institute.“In autumn 1992, I attended the World Congress of the Association of Children of the Holocaust in Jerusalem. One day, I was visited by Shmuel Krakowski, a repre-sentative of Yad Vashem. He asked me many questions about our family, trying to determine whether I am a member of Maurice Aller-hand’s family,” Leszek Aller-hand recalled, presenting the beginnings of his interest in the history of his family and the wider Jewish community in Lviv. “I learned that Yad Vashem has in its possession a copy of my grandfather’s

memoir from the time during the occupation, which was published in book form after being translated into English and Hebrew. I received a copy of the book, and after returning to Poland I went to the Jewish Historical In-stitute in Warsaw, where the originals of the diaries were made available to me.This discovery determined Leszek Allerhand to relive the events in parallel with the events described in his grandfather’s diary but seen and heard and—as he says—with his very clear child’s eyes and ears. “I then wrote, not realizing that I created my own diary. I assumed that my memoirs had to be only a modest addition to descriptions of my grand-father. Finally, I defi ed the intended proportions, but I hope that my grandfather will forgive me,” he said. The same picture was painted

by the story, summed up by the fi lm, entitled Pasja życia [A Passion for Life] from 2004, fi lmed in Lviv. It was shown during the second part of the meeting.Leszek Allerhand recalls the times of the so-called fi rst Soviets, who took over Lviv at the beginning of the War. The history, while mainly dealing with dramatic ex-periences, was interspersed with amusing comments and anecdotes, as well as a his-torical sketch of the history of the Lviv Jewish commu-nity. Among the guests of the meeting, which was hosted by Leszek Szuster, were rep-resentatives of the Sambor Club in Oświęcim.The Foundation for Interna-tional Youth Meeting Center and the Judaica Foundation – Center for Jewish Culture in Cracow, organized the event.

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SEARCHING FOR TRACES

A summary of the Polish-German seminar for young people from Gliwice and Bielefeld, The fate of the Poles and Jews per-secuted during the Second World War and the Holocaust in the

context of Polish and German post-war literature—searching for traces.

From March 8 to 15, twenty-fi ve participants took part in a seminar organized jointly by the IYMC in Oświęcim, the Middle School in Heepen/Bielefeld, and the FILOMATA Private Sec-ondary School in Gliwice. The seminar’s participants worked together and at-tempted to decipher the his-tory of Auschwitz through the use of literary texts that were created by survivors.Preparing for the seminar, the students developed pres-entations about selected au-thors: Liana Millu, Krystyna Żywulska, Stanisław Hantz, Bogdan Bartnikowski, and Tadeusz Borowski, whose testimony helped the par-ticipants create a literary narrative during a visit to the Birkenau Memorial Site. An equally important aim of the seminar was to bring to-

gether young Poles and Ger-mans, in the context of their biographies, families, and the countries of their origin.In analyzing the texts, the young people searched for specifi c themes that were common in some of the works, such as: love, solidar-ity, protest, struggle to pre-serve humanity in the sense of physical and mental suf-fering, death, injustice, sur-vival strategies, and labor.This allowed a more empa-thetic perception of a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial Site, whose purpose was to deepen knowledge about the topography and func-tion of the Concentration Camp. The fi rst joint discus-sion was about the observa-tions and refl ections on the various ways of the tour of Auschwitz seemed to be ac-cepted among young Poles and Germans. The German participants were troubled by the question of guilt for crimes perpetrated by the Nazi Germans in the his-torical, legal, and moral contexts; as well as whether now, in the 21st century, there are suffi ciently strong legal mechanisms for the protection of human rights that guarantee the preven-tion of genocide. In the Polish group, undoubtedly infl uenced by the current debate that surrounds J.T. Gross’ publication, ques-

tions arose about the joint responsibility of other Eu-ropean nations for the exter-mination of the Jews and the phenomena that were asso-ciated with this. Both groups were convinced that the most important task ahead is to preserve the memory of the victims as well as their suffering and the authenticity of this place that has the power to cre-ate fundamental values of dignity and the equality of every human being. In joint discussions dealing with memory within fami-lies and how it is passed on from generation to genera-tion, the participants often discovered very compli-cated and diffi cult histories. A grandfather of one of the participants from Germany was a member of the SS, something that she only be-came aware of a few years ago following his death. While tidying the attic she came across Nazi propagan-da medals, something that her grandfather was proud of. The family remained si-lent about the subject. The second grandfather was ex-pelled from the territories annexed for Poland after 1945, under the Potsdam Agreement. He lost every-thing he possessed, his fam-ily as well as property. A great-grandfather of another participant was a prisoner in

the camps of Auschwitz and Neuengamme. He brought with him the only memento left after his great-grand-father—a letter from the Auschwitz camp. His grand-mother had given it to her grandson so that he would donate it to the Museum Ar-chives and look for any trac-es of his great-grandfather’s imprisonment in the camp. By discovering the fate of the Poles, Germans, and Jews, the complex picture of the War and the Holocaust was revealed to the young people and taught them mu-tual respect and tolerance. This dialogue was not about fi xing blame for the crimes that had been committed, but to preserve the memory of the victims as well as the events that had taken place more than 60 years ago.

The most important expe-rience for the young Poles and Germans during this seminar in Oświęcim, as was emphasized in the summary session, was the joint liter-ary tour around the Birk-enau Memorial. Tangible, moving, often true-to-life descriptions of places, peo-ple and events that had been chosen by the young people were read out at the authen-tic sites where the events had taken place, this left a deep impact on their psyche.The second part of the pro-ject will be held in the au-tumn in Bielefeld, Germany. The participants will jointly develop a full documenta-tion of the project in the form of an exhibition, which they will present to their peers at school.

Elżbieta Pasternak

Leszek Allerhand

Participants of the seminar at work

Participants of the seminar during their visit to the Memorial Site

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Participants of the seminar during their visit to the Memorial Site

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Jewish Centerter

One of the most original and intriguing artists of the world reggae scene will perform on June 18 in Oświęcim, at the closing concert of the second edition of Oświęcim Life Festival—Festival for Peace. This will be his second visit to Poland. Last year in July he appeared at the Open’er festival in Gdynia,

and also performed an intimate acoustic concert at Temple Synagogue in Cracow during the Jewish Culture Festival.Matisyahu, but actually Matthew Paul Miller, was born in 1979 to a Jewish family in the United States. A trip to Israel in 1995 was a turning point in his life. It was then that he became fas-cinated with Orthodox Juda-ism, and he became a Hasid.He has been actively in-volved in music since 2000, after four years Matisyahu signed with JDub Records, promoting Jewish musi-cians free of charge. In mid-October, that same year, he released his debut album Shake Off the Dust... Arise. A year later the artist’s live al-bum hit the stores, entitled Live at Stubb. In 2005-2006, Matisyahu toured exten-sively in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He has also performed in Isra-el, opening for Sting. At the beginning of March 2006, his second studio album Youth was released, which confi rmed that Matisyahu is one of the leading artists of the contemporary reg-gae scene. The latest, a live album by the artist, Live at Stubb’s Vol 2, was released in February this year.

He moves well within the reggae style, adding to it elements of Hasidic music, jazz, hip-hop, and beat-box, creating a highly origi-nal blend of music. He is known from his very en-ergetic, attention-grabbing shows. As he says, “per-formances on stage are an important part of what I do. It is where energy is produced, something that cannot be achieved in the recording studio.” Over the past few years, Matisyahu has worked with many fa-mous producers and art-ists including Bill Laswell, Sly&Robbie, Muslim beat-boxer Kenny Muhammad, and P.O.D. Moreover, he was also nominated for the prestigious Grammy music award.He is also known to engage in a number of projects pro-moting human rights, so his message perfectly fi ts the idea of Life Festival. In 2007, Matisyahu became in-volved in the formation of the American documentary Unsettled, whose protago-nists were six refugees from Gaza. The musician wrote

the soundtrack, and the movie won the Jury Prize for documentary fi lmmak-ing and was also screened

during the Slamdance Film Festival. A year later, to-gether with, among others, Steven Segal and Jennifer

Aniston he joined the cam-paign drawing attention to human rights abuses in Bur-ma by recording a special video for the song It Can’t be Wait. In 2010, the artist put his support behind the NU Campaign, which pro-duced a special t-shirt with his image, and the income from the sale went to sup-port the work of the Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma to aid the victims of the people af-fected by the earthquake in Haiti. Also last year, in-cluding with American ac-tor Matt Damon, Matisyahu backed the Onexone Ca-nadian Foundation, which aims to improve the liv-ing conditions of children worldwide.In Oświęcim, the artist will perform together with the Brooklyn based Dub Trio, composed of: D.P. Holmes (guitar), Stu Brooks (bass), and percussionist Joe Tom-ino (drums). At this year’s fi nal concert, in addition to Matisyahu, we will also hear James Blunt, T. Love, and RotFront. More on this year’s edition of Life Festival can be found at: www.lifefestival.pl

Artur Szyndler

Matisyahu

Matisyahu

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MATISYAHU IN OŚWIĘCIM

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OSHPITZIN

Before the War, where did the Chief Rabbi of Oświęcim live? Down which streets did the Jewish inhabitants of Oświęcim

walk? Who did President Mościcki visit in Oświęcim? You can fi nd the answer to these and many other questions thanks to the lat-est project of the Jewish Center in Oświęcim, entitled Oshpitzin.

It is a virtual map of the pre-War Jewish Oświęcim, which is combined with historical photographs as well as fi lmed testimonies of witnesses who remember the currently non-existent Polish-Jewish world. The website for the project Oshpitzin is available at www.oshpitzin.pl, and is supple-mented with a book that has been published, entitled Osh-pitzin. A Guide to the Jewish History of Oświęcim.

We sincerely invite you to the offi cial inauguration of the project Oshpitzin, which will take place on Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. at the Oświęcim Jewish Center at 5, Fr. Skarbek Square. The project will be presented by its creators: Tomasz Kunce-wicz, Dr. Artur Szyndler, and Maciek Zabierowski. Admission is free.

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A GUIDE TO THE JEWISH HISTORY

OF OŚWIĘCIM

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GOD, SHED A TEAR...

It should be noted that, in spite of the abyss of evil and despair that emanates from Auschwitz, it would be fi tting to simply remain qui-et and not even to make the most subtle attempt at expressing the

feelings which accompanied us while passing the row of remaining barracks of the former Nazi German Concentration and Death Camp.

History has probably never seen a more brutal mistreat-ment of humans, for whom other people literally become the hell. What can someone, who is preparing for priest-hood, say about this tragedy? A member of the clergy is seen as a person who has a unique connection with God—the God, who is accused of calm-ly watching the hell on earth known as Auschwitz.I hope that it does not sound like an empty statement: that that God suffered in each of the people, who were de-prived of practically every-thing by the inhuman totali-tarianism. In this statement, there is a profound under-

standing of God, who in fact is not indifferent to any hu-man beings. It is worth ask-ing yourself how it became possible to treat entire nations in such a twisted manner. In Auschwitz, the nations on which the Nazis infl icted the greatest cruelty were the Jews and Poles. How could such a tragedy come to be, in which these and many other nations suffered so much?We can imagine three peo-ple, twenty people, or per-haps even a hundred; we cannot imagine a thousand. And what can we say about hundreds of thousands or millions—these numbers be-come statistics. It seems that

when evil gains momentum, it is hard to make it stop. The horror becomes overwhelm-ing when reading about the cold and calculating estimates the creators of the camp had about the effi ciency of the death camp and the manner in which technology can im-prove the technical process of killing. Looking for reasons for this depravity, one must look back upon aversions to a small group, or even to a particular person. “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 Jn 3, 15a).The visit we paid to Ausch-witz was treated by us as a pilgrimage; a pilgrimage to a place where you can gain, or

regain your faith. Someone might think that the former concentration camp is not the most appropriate place for doing such a thing. How-ever, Auschwitz had become a place of the mass murder of many individuals who en-joyed great authority in the interwar period—including doctors, teachers, and clergy. The Nazis were afraid of such people because they could be a source of resistance (it seems that even today an at-tack against these groups of individuals is the questioning

of certain values—they are in fact competent specialists from the realm of the body, soul, and the spirit). Despite this “hell on earth” many prisoners were able to fi nd an unblemished area of freedom in themselves. So intense was this extreme situation, which Maximilian Kolbe and many others experienced that it led them to true holiness. Praying in the places of their execu-tion, such as praying at the Wall of Death, was an oppor-tunity to ask God that their blood, which still cries from the earth (cf. Gen 4, 10), will be the cause of the conver-sion of people who come here and who will be able to learn about the crimes committed at Auschwitz. Similarly, an important element of our pil-

grimage was doing the Way of the Cross at the world’s largest necropolis in Birk-enau. It lasted three hours in the shadows of people who lost their lives here.About 140 hectares, nearly 300 barracks, 16 km of barbed wire fences, gas chambers and crematoria. From this place one does not return the same, part of human being does not come back at all—the memory returns to the hectares of extermination, to the barracks, in which there is a terrifying emptiness left be-

hind by those who had previ-ously been there. One would like to whisper: God, shed a tear! But it was God himself, as Jesus Christ, who gave the meaning of death—even that which is most dreadful. He had gone through it himself. Death becomes the gate nec-essary to pass on to a new life. He also infl icted death onto any death, even the most absurd, though perhaps we do not yet understand this. When Jesus died on the cross, his disciples also did not un-derstand this.

Tomasz Koszarek

Photographs show seminari-ans from Wyższe Seminarium Duchowne in Cracow during their visit to the Memorial Site.

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History Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 28, April 2011

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A friend of mine called me and said that he had some-thing new for my collection. When we met, he brought a small, soiled, and worn sign that had some kind of writ-ing on it. At fi rst glance this was nothing interesting, but it ended up somewhere with-in my museum collection and for some time I forgot about it. I do not like it when something whose mystery is not solved is on the shelf too long. I cleaned the sign—before the War, ones like it were on horse-drawn car-riages. The sign had informa-tion about the owner, from Dwory, written in Polish and German, which testifi es to the fact that the carriage was used during the German oc-cupation. Often, Germans used the owners of vehicles to perform various jobs. In the pictures from the war horse-drawn carts appear even during the deportation of Poles and Jews. Often, such carriages were used in

transporting building materi-als for such projects as the ex-pansion of Auschwitz as well as the building of the IG Far-ben chemical plant. And of course, Dwory was right next to the plant that was being constructed. Residents of the area remembered the name of the man. As it turned out, he has been dead for quite some time, however, all the while his family lives in that same house he had inhabited. Quite by chance, it turned out that the person listed on the sign was the great-grandfa-ther of my friend. His family knew only a little bit of in-formation about him. Urban Kwaczała was born on May 18, 1879 and died on June 10, 1942—the cause of death re-mains a mystery. Did he die a natural death? Or did he die at the hands of the occupier? I hope that one day I can fi nd out more about this story.

Mirosław Ganobis

“Our faith! We hate the stink of incense; it destroys the German soul. We believe in God, but not in his middlemen, priests and worshipers, as it would be pagan. We believe in greatness of our beloved German Fatherland, for which we fi ght and conquer, or die. If we must there-fore die, then we do not ask Mary for assistance, we will depart as freely as we have lived. Our last breath shall be: Adolf Hitler.” Theo-dor Eicke, Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross-with Oak Leaves, Waffen-SS General.

Born May 22, 1926, in the coal miners’ settlement in Brzeszcze known as the “Old Settlement,” she was the fi fth and youngest child of Antoni and Tekla née Hoder. She attended public school in Brzeszcze. When the war broke out, she was thirteen years old and had fi nished six grades in school.Near her home, at the beginning of 1941, Zofi a began encounter-ing the fi rst Auschwitz prisoner labor details marching to work in the Brzeszcze coal mine. Up-set by the sight of these misera-ble-looking men in striped uni-forms, she established contact and then began going daily to the place where they worked with food for them. At fi rst, she helped the prisoners in the labor gang that shoveled slag, the Schlackenkommando. Next, she began helping other labor details, the surveyors and the wicker detail, as well. At fi rst, she did this on her own. Later,

she cooperated with other wom-en—most frequently with one of the organizers of the relief effort in Brzeszcze, Maria Górecka. Zofi a went to Górecka’s house to help her divide up into por-tions the food they acquired, and to make coffee. Since she found it impossible to acquire as much food as she needed for the prisoners, she approached acquaintances, prosperous local residents, and shop owners, and won them over to the cause. She also took letters from the prison-ers and forwarded them to their families. In the spring of 1942, she was arrested on suspicion of con-tacting the prisoners. She was released after undergoing sev-eral weeks of investigation, dur-ing which she refused to confess to the charged. She resumed her efforts to aid the prisoners. In February 1943, after someone informed on her, she was ar-rested again. This time, the Ger-

mans took her to the Auschwitz I-Main Camp and imprisoned her in Block no. 11, the “Death Block.” Despite multiple inter-rogations at the hands of the Gestapo, she again refused to confess to contacting and aid-ing the prisoners. In May 1943, the summary court sentenced her to Auschwitz, where she was registered as prisoner number 44097. She was placed in Block no. 15 in the women’s camp in Birkenau sector BIa. A few days later, she came down with typhus and was admitted to the camp hospital. Now, the same prisoners she had helped when she was on the outside came to her aid. They told the older women prisoners to look after her, and sometimes visited her when they came into the women’s camp on various job assignments.Once the crisis passed and she recovered her strength, she was assigned to labor inside the camp. In the fall of 1944, on a request from prisoner Antonina Piątkowska, who belonged to the resistance movement, Zofi a Gawron applied for assignment to an outside labor detail. With the foreman in charge of her la-bor detail, Franciszek Zabuga,

serving as conduit, Zofi a passed on to her family in Brzeszcze certain documents that had been illegally carried out of the camp, including evidence of the crimes committed there: blue-prints of the crematoria, lists of Polish women who had died or been murdered in the camp, and photographs of Jewish and Roma women and children on whom Dr. Mengele conducted his experiments. Zofi a’s father buried this material in his yard. After Zofi a completed this mis-sion, women fellow-prisoners helped her to obtain an assign-ment to the camp warehouses. She stole, and smuggled out of the camp, warm clothing in-tended for escapees who were fi ghting with local partisan units.In November 1944, Zofi a was unexpectedly summoned to the camp Political Depart-ment (Gestapo) and accused of maintaining contact with the partisans. Despite being bru-tally beaten during her inter-rogation, she refused to admit anything. She never returned to Birkenau, but instead was imprisoned once again in Block no. 11 in Auschwitz I. On Janu-ary 12, 1945, she was transferred

to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp as part of the general evacuation of Auschwitz. She was sent from there to Sweden for medical treatment as part of the Swedish Red Cross relief ef-fort. She returned to Poland in No-vember 1945. Jan Prejzner, who had escaped from Auschwitz in September 1944 and joined a partisan unit, found her shortly afterwards. They soon married and moved to Cracow. Her husband fi nished his schooling, which had been interrupted by the war, and passed his fi nal ex-aminations. Next, they moved to Warsaw, where her husband began studying to become a journalist. After graduation, he took a job with the Polish Press Agency (PAP). Zofi a stayed at home to look after their son and daughter. When the children were older, she took a full-time job, and worked until she re-tired on a disability pension in the late 1970s. She lives in War-saw.For her wartime services, she was decorated with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Poland Reborn and the Oświęcim Cross.

Jadwiga Dąbrowska

PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL

VESTIGES OF HISTORYFROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE AUSCHWITZ MUSEUM

The words of Theodor Eicke, cofounder of the German con-centration camp system, hung on the walls of offi ces and quarters of the SS garrison in Auschwitz. Propaganda un-der Hitler focused mainly on a few constantly repeated points that catered to the emo-tions of its recipients. Every word spoken or printed in the Third Reich was to have an impact on society, to shape the right attitude, or at least praise the alleged greatness, importance, and strength of the regime. The framed SS oath of faith is a perfect exam-ple of this kind of indoctrina-tion. The text is accompanied, in this case, by the typical SS ornamentation: runes and the death’s head, which also ap-peared on the covers of photo albums, tie-pins, and even sig-nets. Within the Museum’s collec-tion there are several exam-ples of these types of inscrip-tions. Quotes from speeches by German offi cials were hand-written or printed, using a lithographic technique by prisoners on the specifi c order of SS men. One former pris-oner, Alojzy Gołka, testifi ed after the war, “I created vari-ous inscriptions in the Gothic

style—Himmler’s quotes for Fritzsch, and later for Höss.” In addition to the handwritten copies and prints, the collec-tion also contains a well-pre-served lithographic stone with the text of T. Eicke, from which additional copies were made.In addition to these inscrip-tions, on the walls of the SS of-fi ces there were photos of Ad-olf Hitler as well as signs with mottos, such as Recht—Unre-cht—Mein Vaterland. Within the Museum’s collections there are preserved examples

of offi cial as well as desirable art within the Third Reich. Paintings and sculptures of this type were not placed in offi ces, but rather in canteens, meeting rooms, and in the SS men’s private homes. All of these objects, nevertheless, show how far Nazi ideology encroached into all spheres of people’s lives, through the use of various means and forms of expression.

Agnieszka SieradzkaCollections Department

A-BSM

ZOFIA GAWRON (born 1926; married name: Prejzner)

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FROM GANOBIS’S CABINET

Carriage sign

The framed SS oath of faith

Photographer

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Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 28, April 2011

PHOTO JOURNAL

Photographs of Buchenwald Memorial Site taken during the project Memory and Remembrance in the Era of Web 2.0. Photographer: Paweł Sawicki.