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iSSn 1899-4407

no. 22 october 2010

iSSn 1899-4407

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EDITORIALBOARD:oś—oświęcim, People, history, culture magazine

editor:Paweł Sawickieditorial secretary:Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawickaeditorial board:Bartosz Bartyzel Wiktor BoberekJarek MensfeltOlga OnyszkiewiczJadwiga Pinderska-LechArtur Szyndlercolumnist:Mirosław Ganobisdesign and layout:Agnieszka Matuła, Grafi kontranslations: David R. KennedyProofreading:Beata Kłoscover:Paweł SawickiPhotographer: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: [email protected]

Vocational School

www.pwsz-oswiecim.pl

A gAllerY of tHe 20tH CenturY

editoriAl“Confrontation and Refl ection” is the title of the winning poster in the Third Biennial of Socio-Political Poster in Oświęcim, which adorns the cover. Its author Bangqian Zheng is from China. The 74 best posters of the contest can be viewed at the International Youth Meeting Center until the end of the year. In this month’s Oś you will fi nd a review of the exhibit and a report about the awards ceremony. This is not the only cultural element in the October issue. On the cultural side, you can read the review of the opera The Passenger by Mieczysław Weinberg that premiered on October 8 at the Grand Theatre -National Opera.

It is accompanied by a brief conversa-tion with Zofi a Posmysz, whose novel was the inspiration for the composer.In this month’s issue you will fi nd two interviews. For four years Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński has led the work of the Auschwitz Memorial Site. He talks about, among other things, why he agreed to accept a job offer at that point and if he regrets that decision, the most important challenges currently facing the Museum, as well as the contemporary European meaning of the history of the camp. Our second interviewee was Tomasz Kuncewicz, director of the Jewish Center in Oświęcim. The reason for the

meeting was the tenth anniversary of this institution. The last page includes a series of photos from the anniversary celebrations.We also invite you to read the text of an extraordinary collection of decorat-ed greeting cards made by Auschwitz prisoners. Helena Datoń-Szpak has made a precious donation to the Mu-seum. During the war, while working as a young girl in the canteen she as-sisted prisoners—this included the smuggling of illegal correspondence.

Paweł SawickiEditor-in-chief

[email protected]

Everyone—perhaps almost everyone—has his own his-tory, historic, commemora-tive... cabinet! And if it is not a cabinet, then it is a dresser, bookcase, desk, or a bed, a trunk or suitcase!

I have a suitcase from the 1880s in which I store pho-tos from those years, but let’s not get into this now, maybe some other time... Mirosław Ganobis has Hab-erfeld’s priceless wardrobe, full of history and memo-ries. I had—but no longer do—the wardrobe of the Ślosarczyk family: Dr. An-toni Ślosarczyk, renown Oświęcim doctor, social worker and independence activist from the days of

Galicia and later, and his wife Maria, from their villa on Jagiełły Street that is still warmly and affectionately called the small palace!

And how did we acquire it? When we made our way here—it was indeed a long, cumbersome and winding, but also at times an exciting journey—from beyond the Bug River, the so-called Kre-sy [Borderlands], though not the most remote, because it was from around Lvov that we were repatriated by train to Oświęcim. Our personal and household property was modest and poor, well actu-ally, there wasn’t any! It con-sisted of a few trunks and crates, bundles, as well as a

few pieces of unimportant furniture. To decorate the home and live more com-fortably and “humanly,” we needed to have everything: cabinets, chairs, beds, tables, etc. The large and beautiful wardrobe with delicately carved Art Nouveau orna-ments, perhaps made in Vi-enna, inlaid in some places, with a drawer handle styl-ized like a twisted branch, was given to us by the own-er of the building where we lived as well as the adjacent villa, Maria Ślosarczyk, who I will soon write about soon, in a… literary context! The wardrobe was a sizeable, once fi lled with clothes of the Ślosarczyk family: coats, winter jackets, furs, and the

doctor’s wife’s ballroom dresses—that gave every-thing a scent of lavender and withered fl owers from a nearby garden.

This piece of furniture served us, as valuable and useful gift for over fi ve decades. We parted with it out of ne-cessity, because of its excess size when moving to a hous-ing block; upon leaving the apartment and townhouse, its ownership passed to the city. We put the wardrobe in good hands, to someone outside of Oświęcim. What do these “hands” have done with it and whether it still exists—I do not know!

Andrzej Winogrodzki

Dr. Antoni Ślosarczyk prewar villa, now Civil Registry Offi ce

oś—oświęcim, People, history, culture magazine, no. 22, october 2010

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Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

MEMORY RESTORED

Almost 60 years ago, in October and November 1941, and in February 1942 Soviet prisoners of war were deported to Auschwitz in transports from the POW camps in Lamsdorf (Łambinowice), Neuhammer (Świętoszów), and Jarosław. As part of the preserved records of prisoners that are stored in the Ausch-

witz-Birkenau State Museum archives, we can learn basic personal information of most of these individuals.

While thanks to research conducted by Borys Shmy-rov, a Russian historian liv-ing in Uzbekistan, we learn more information about their family life and the course of their military serv-ice. Some of this research was already reported on in Oś (Number 6, 2008 and Number 17, 2009); as well as, in his articles that were printed in the bulletin Pro Memoria (Number 28, 2008 and Number 29, 2009).Last year, Borys Shmyrov published a book Stran-itsy istorii, in which one of the chapters deals with the fate of Soviet prison-

ers of war in Auschwitz. Nonetheless, earlier this year, a completed version of the chapter was printed regularly in the journal Zolotaya Dolina, published in Zarafshan. A series of articles was entitled Miesto gibyeli Konclagier Auschwitz (Extermination Center, the Auschwitz Concentration Camp); more informa-tion about the prisoners brought to Auschwitz in those transports, including their photographs, are pub-lished in this way. They are very valuable, because the Archive of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

did not have photos of the prisoners of war, from their period of service in the Red Army (with the exception

of one, also provided by B. Shmyrov). Detailed bio-graphical information and photographs come from

families with whom the Russian historian corre-sponded.

Edit. JL

Naskida Kyerashvili Davidovich was born on June 5,1920 in the village of Tiba in the Signagski district of Geor-gia. Naskida and his brother Josif’s parents were David Josifovich and Nina Nadaryevna, née Gvyedashvili. The young man had a good ear and played the accordion and mandolin. In addition to music, he had a passion for draw-ing. After graduation he started to work for a company [?]. In 1939 Naskida Davidovich was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army. His civil status before the appointment—“bachelor.” The last letter that N. Kyerashvili’s parents received was in 1941 from Lvov, Ukraine [sic! – JL]. At the beginning of combat activities, Sergeant Naskida Ky-erashvili was captured. Finding himself in Stalag No. 327 [Jarosław], where he received the number 14568, Naskida refused a proposal by the enemy to join the specially creat-ed Georgian SS Legion. Naskida Davidovich was shipped to Auschwitz in the transport of Soviet prisoners of war on February 8, 1942. During the registration, he was given camp number R-9916, which previously had belonged to another prisoner, Piotr Makarovich Somov. In “The Death Book,” whose records end on February 28, 1942, there is no record of Naskida Kyerashvili’s death. This allows us to come to the conclusion that, together with other prison-ers, he was transferred to Birkenau in mid-March. There, unfortunately, all traces of him disappear.

Feodosiy Grigoryevich Dzurinskiy was born on Novem-ber 20, 1920 in the village Obzyloye, in the area of Odessa, Ukraine. Feodosiy’s father was Grigory Yemyelianovich Dzurinskiy. The boy was the second child in the family and was named in honor of his mother, Feodosiya Hari-tonovna. After graduation he worked in a kolkhoz (farm); he was interested in horses and was assigned to care for them in the kolkhoz. In 1939, the young man was called into the ranks of the Red Army. In the section of the ques-tionnaire about “civil status,” he indicated that he was a “bachelor.” In the course of the fighting on the Soviet-German front, Feodosiy Grigoryevich was captured. It is known that in the last place of imprisonment before Auschwitz, he was given the number 2525. In captivity the young man turned down the offer to collaborate with the enemy; he did not hide his beliefs and faith in the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Along with the other Soviet prisoners who shared the same beliefs, November 15, 1941, he was shipped to Auschwitz, where, during registration, he was given the number R-9965, and on his registration card [a record of prisoners] there is a symbol, “59.” The Red Army soldier Feodosiy Grigoryevich died in Auschwitz before February 8, 1942. On the same day, a transport of Soviet POWs from Stalag No. 327 [Jarosław] was transported to Auschwitz. Camp number R-9965, previously given to the Red Army soldier Feodosiy Dzurinskiy is given to Hasan Mamyed.

Vano/Ivan Yasonow-ich Gongadze was born March 13, 1917 in the village of Kortaniety, in the Borzomski region of Georgia. Vano’s parents were Yason Dimitryevich Gongadze and Marta Gongadze, nee Koba-hidze. The family of Ya-son Gongadze had five sons, Nikolai, Partyena, Vano, Dimitri, Grigory. When he finished school, he worked as a metal worker. He failed to start a family and he remained a bachelor. In 1939, Ivan Yasonovich was drafted into the Red Army. The last letter Vano sent his parents was from Sev-astopol in July 1941. It was only in 1942 that the Yason Gongadze family received a notice that in-

formed them that Private Ivan Gongadze disappeared without a trace on July 16, 1941. It is possible that on this day while manning a machine gun in the 15th mo-tor regiment, the enemy in the Bila Tserkva area of the Ukraine surrounded Ivan Gongadze, with a group of his compatriots. On July 22, a week after being surrounded, he was taken prisoner. Later in life, Ivan’s path led him into western Poland [within its current borders – JL], to a POW camp, Stalag No. 318 [Lamsdorf]. There he re-ceived the number 10379, and remained until his thir-tieth birthday in October. Then, in the transport of the Soviet POWs, Vano was sent to Auschwitz. Arriving at the camp, October 25, 1941, Ivan Yasonovich passed reg-istration. He was assigned the camp number R-8098. On November 7, because of the inhuman treatment by the guards and supervisors, meager food rations, and the unsanitary living conditions, 140 Soviet POWs lost their lives. Among those who died, was also the Red Army Soldier Ivan Yasonovich Gongadze.

Vano/IVan YasonoVIch GonGadze

FeodosIY GrIGorYeVIch dzurInskIY

naskIda kYerashVIlI daVIdoVIch


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Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

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A Sign of grAtitude

SavE fROM DESTRucTiOn

A highly interesting collection of decorated greeting cards made by Auschwitz prison-ers has been added to the Museum collections. Helena Datoń-Szpak, who worked in the SS canteen as a young girl during the war, donated the priceless items to the

Museum. Datoń-Szpak aided prisoners in various ways and acted as an intermediary in their illegal correspondence. The prisoners gave her the handwritten, hand-painted cards to mark holidays and name days.

The collection consists of a total of eleven decorated cards. Datoń-Szpak gave two of them to the Museum in 1990, and has now donat-ed the remaining nine. Each of them is painstakingly made, dated, and features color decorations. The cards are signed by prisoners who were in contact with Datoń-Szpak. Most of them were employed in the camp can-teen in block 25, which now houses the Collections De-partment: Wincenty Gawli-czek, Jan Cyprych, Roman Nawrot, Michał Majewski,

Roman Jaszczyński, and oth-ers who lived and worked in the block. The name-day cards feature bouquets of wildflowers or rose branches. There are pussy willows and chicks on the Easter cards, and a Christmas card de-picts a rubicund St. Nicholas with a sack full of sausage. The Auschwitz Memorial holds a large collection of greeting cards made in se-cret by prisoners for their friends in the camp or for people from the Oświęcim area who helped the prison-ers. The inmates used hard-to-get materials from the SS offices and camp storehous-es, as well as reused wrap-ping paper, and worked in an atmosphere of continual endangerment. The cards are proof that, despite the injustice surrounding them, the imprisoned people were aware of the needs of oth-ers and appreciated the great sacrifices made by those in the outside world.

Along with the cards, the Museum obtained two oc-cupation-era identity cards and a secret message smug-gled to Helena Datoń-Szpak by prisoner Wilhelm Gawli-czek. The Museum obtained these valuable gifts thanks to Józef Jaskółka, a relative of Datoń-Szpak, and Dr. Adam Cyra of the Museum Re-search Department. .

Agnieszka SieradzkaCollections Department

Memory is not something that is acquired once and stays on forever. The moment that the last eyewitnesses and survivors pass away, we have to work together to build on that which remains: the testimonies of those former prisoners and the authentic artifacts con-nected with Auschwitz. Each item can have its own enormous meaning and should find its place in the collection of the Auschwitz Memorial. Here, it will be preserved, studied, and displayed. Its place is here.

Contact: Elżbieta BrzózkaCollections Department (+48) 33 844 8017

In August, conservators have completed work on a wooden barrack, inventory number B-171, at the Ausch-witz II-Birkenau Camp. The barrack served as the washrooms and latrines in the BIIa sector. Its preservation was possible thanks to the project of restoration co-financed by the European Union that also includes five

other wooden historical buildings.

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Recent work carried out in-cluded, among others, the partial leveling of the con-crete floor as well as restor-ing it to the condition it was in during the operation of the camp; and the creation of a drainage system for

securing the foundation, as well as the replacement of damaged structural ele-ments. The historical la-trines were cleansed, and the whole was protected from adverse weather con-ditions. The area around

the barracks was cleaned and restored to its original state. At the former Ausch-witz II-Birkenau site, work on three other barracks continues. In barrack B-210, the only surviving building within sector BIIb, the pri-mary task is to protect the unique original paintings found on the chimney.Further conservation work was, however, hampered by the rainfall that caused flooding in the barrack and delayed the start of the con-servation works to the floor. In July, in the hospital bar-rack, B-80, in sector BIa that housed the women’s infir-mary admissions office, the foundation was restored and the building’s elements were placed in a fumigation compartment. Nonetheless,

in August, all elements of the building were re-assem-bled. The roof covering and lightning protection system are yet to be finished on this barrack. Restoration work on barrack B-166, in section BIIb, have just begun. In July, the entire structure was dismantled, and archaeological work was carried out within the barrack. The dismantled

parts of the barrack have already been transported to the Conservation Depart-ment. The project to restore five wooden barracks of the former Auschwitz II-Birk-enau camp is co-financed by the European Union through the European Re-gional Development Fund under the Operational Pro-gramme Infrastructure and Environment 2007-2013.

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let us BuIld MeMorY! donate anY docuMents and other hIstorIcal IteMs In Your PossessIon

to the auschwItz MeMorIal


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Irena Sendler was born in 1910 and died in 2008 at the age of 98, in a modest room in a Catholic home in Warsaw. During her life-time, few people remem-bered about Irena Sendler because like most members of the Polish underground and the resistance that had an anti-German and anti-Soviet stance, she was per-secuted under the watch-ful eye of the Soviet Union that dictated the actions of the Polish state in the post-War period. Commemo-rating people like her, was made a taboo by the Polish state. Only in 1965, Irena Sendler was honored by the Yad Vashem as Right-eous Among the Nations. In 2003, she received Po-land’s highest honor, the White Eagle medal for courage and bravery. Since 2007, Irena Sendler was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Shortly before her death, the Polish journalist Anna Miesz-kowska together with Irena Sendler wrote down her biography, which is the basis for the workshop. Irena Sendler saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto. Only in occupied Poland, saving a Jewish

person was punishable by death. Irena Sendler repre-sents the fate of individu-als in subordination to the crude German politics in occupied Poland and she is

a unique example of civil courage and independent action.In eight small groups, workshop participants will develop the most im-

portant stages in the life of Irena Sendler, which reflect both important historical events (the Warsaw Ghet-to, and the Uprising there in 1943, and the Warsaw Uprising in 1944), which in turn will be presented be-fore the entire group. Ad-dressing the biography of Irena Sendler, the partici-pants will independently acquire knowledge about the Polish Underground State, of Irena Sendler in the underground, as well as consider the topic of courage together. Poland had the largest resist-ance movement in occu-pied Europe, which was commanded, just like the Polish Home Army was, by the Government in Ex-ile based in London, which was responsible for organ-izing the courts, „flying” clandestine schools and universities, underground press, publications, and preparing an armed upris-

ing in Warsaw. Irena Send-ler was a member of one of the underground organi-zations Żegota (Council for Aid to Jews), that in the period from 1942 to 1945 saved 75,000 Polish Jews. Irena Sendler was, at that time, the organizer of the section for children. Af-ter presentations during a summarizing discussion, participants reflect on what had enabled and motivat-ed Irena Sendler to act and how this example leads us to think about everyday situations in our world, in which human rights are violated and how we, to-day, can demonstrate civil courage.

Anna Meier

age of participants: Young individuals from 16 years and uptime: 2-3 hoursled by: Anna Meier

an EXaMPLE Of cOuRagE: iREna SEnDLER—Saving JEWiSH cHiLDREn fROM THE WaRSaW gHETTO

Irena Sendler described as Korczak walked with the children from his orphanage to their death: ... And what about the world? Powerful Empires? The world was silent! And silence is sometimes ac-quiescence to what is happening.

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a workshoP For YounG IndIVIduals on studY VIsIts to the IYMc


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cREaTivELY, fOR HuMan RigHTS

Honorary guests at the ceremony were longtime friends who have supported the activities of the IYMC and former prisoners of Auschwitz-Birkenau: Zofia Posmysz, Zofia Łyś, August Kowalczyk, Wilhelm Brasse, Tadeusz Sobolewicz, Józef Paczyński, and Tadeusz Smreczyński. “Thank you, dear friends, that you are

with us here today. Your presence at today’s opening ceremony is not only the en-noblement of our work: it is above all a confirmation of the importance of human rights. Your biographies, your witness—individuals

who have personally expe-rienced the unprecedented violation of fundamental human rights, is a symbol of steadfastness, dignity in in-humane conditions. It is the voice of respect for the rights of every human to be able to live in dignity,” said Leszek Szuster, the director of the IYMC, in his greeting.During the ceremony,

awards and prizes were pre-sented, awarded by an inter-national jury chaired by Prof. Michał Kliś of the Katowice Academy of Fine Arts. The laureate of the first prize, Bangqian Zheng of China, was absent during the open-

ing of the exhibition, but wrote in a letter to partici-pants of the ceremony:“This prize is an honor for me. I want to share it with my children, because it was their birth that made me think about history. I contemplate what the past means for new generations. What will they think of history? Will they discover the real history? ... I truly regret that I am not here today. ... The Interna-tional Biennial of Socio-Po-litical Poster in Oświęcim is not only a platform for designers who are able to show their ideas, but also an opportunity to spread de-mocracy and initiate artistic friendships with those from around the world.”“The power of pictures and the symbolism contained in the image, have not for the first nor the last time shaken the world and transformed human thinking,” said the President of the Board of the Foundation for International Youth Meeting Center, Dr. Alicja Bartuś, evoking the fa-mous photograph from 1972 by Nick Ut showing a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl fleeing from her native village be-fore a raid. “In the poster art, especially political posters, the symbolism of the image is of paramount importance. We can see this HERE and NOW. But this is not the only symbolism which we have to deal with today. It is impossible not to mention the symbolism of this place,” she added, noting that to-day we are often told that to speak about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, we do not need to come to Oświęcim.But Oświęcim remains not only the best place to learn about the tragic past and for-mulate a warning for the fu-ture, but also the place from which the voice in defense of

human rights is most clearly heard. This was clearly un-derlined by the President of the Foundation Civic Space Pro Publico Bono, a repre-sentative of the Oświęcim Academy, Waldemar Rataj,

who recalled the words of the Chairman of the Euro-pean Parliament, Prof. Jerzy Buzek, said during a sympo-sium of the Academy at the IYMC in January this year, the words also quoted in the

October 1, 2010, the official ceremony was held for the opening of the Third International Biennial of Socio-Political Poster in Oświęcim under the motto Creatively, for human rights.

thIrd InternatIonal BIennIal oF socIo-PolItIcal Poster In ośwIęcIM

The jury, which met on June 14: the chairman, Prof. Michał Kliś, Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, Poland; Milan Mazur, Považská Galéria Umienia in Žilina, Slovakia; Eric Mayen, University of Bonn, Germany; Krzysztof Dydo, Dydo Poster Gallery Krakow, Poland; Paweł Warchoł, graphic artist, Oświęcim, Poland; the director of the IYMC, Leszek Szuster, and Joanna Klęczar, awarded the following prizes:

First prize BANGQIAN ZHENG (China) for the poster “Confrontation & Reflection”Second prize WŁADYSŁAW PLUTA (Poland) for the poster of “Coexistence”Third prize DMITRY ZAKHAROV (Russia) for the poster “No Title”

Honors received: ERIN WRIGHT (USA) for the poster “Where is my Voice?”, SEBAS-TIAN KUBICA (Poland) for the poster “Elaphe longissima”, YAN-TING CHEN (Tai-wan) for the series “Letter-cutting”, and DALIDA KARIC-HADZIAHMETOVIC (Bos-nia and Herzegovina) for the poster “Terrorism”.


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introduction to the catalog of the Biennial: “Civilization needs the support of human rights in a culture created in respect for human dignity, its inherent freedoms, in the public space—civil and in-ternational—with the princi-ple of solidarity.”Among the guests that vis-ited the Center that day, were, among others: the Governor of Małopolska, Stanisław Kracik; German Consul General in Krakow, Dr. Heinz Peters; U.S. Con-sul for Press and Culture in Krakow, Benjamin Ousley Naseman; Representative of the Ombudsman for Hu-man Rights, Dr. Aleksandra Wentkowska; Director Kry-styna Oleksy, representing the Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp Victims Me-morial Foundation. Also present were representa-tives of the project partners: the International Auschwitz Committee, Helmut Morlok; Oświęcim Academy, Walde-mar Rataj; Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Susanne Kram-er Drużycka and Krzysztof Kwater; sponsors and artists whose works were present-ed in the exhibition, among them the winner of second prize, Prof. Władysław Pluta of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow.“The Ombudsman for Civil Rights, Prof. Irena Lipowicz, for years has been support-

ing the idea of the Interna-tional Youth Meeting Center as a special place for discus-sions on human rights,” said Dr. Aleksandra Wentkows-ka, a representative of the Ombudsman. She also re-called the words of Prof. Aharon Barak, former Presi-dent of the Supreme Court of Israel: “The rights enu-merated in the Declaration of Human Rights and other United Nations Conventions have been incorporated into the constitution and legal norms in many countries. The Polish Constitution also reflects their influence. A cry arose from Auschwitz. Reg-ulations regarding human rights, the Universal Decla-ration as their core, are the answer to that cry.”“We should commemorate the countless tragedies in or-der to continue the dialogue between people and create a standard which is recog-nized as a canon of widely respected human rights.This dialogue is the common good of people of different nationalities, religions, and beliefs,” Dr. Wentkowska stressed.Important words were ut-tered by the Małopolska Governor, Stanisław Kracik, who declared his commit-ment in helping consolidate the IYMC as a center for hu-man rights education, espe-cially for the young people of Małopolska. Plans for study visits by secondary school students are being prepared by the Meeting Center and the Oświęcim Academy, so that they can be carried out the next year, forming an important part of cultural re-membrance.Awards and prizes present-ed by the international jury were given by the chairman, Prof. Michał Kliś, together with the curator and origi-nator of the Biennial, Paweł Warchoł, as well as by the director of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holo-caust, Krystyna Oleksy. At the end of the evening guests listened to a concert of jazz standards, a cappella and guitar, performed by Maria and Piotr Kudełka.The Third International Bien-nial of Socio-Political Poster exhibition can be viewed at the IYMC until the end of the

year. This is the third edition of the event, organized by the Foundation for International Youth Meeting Center in co-operation with the Interna-tional Auschwitz Committee and the Oświęcim Academy. The originator and spiritus movens of the whole project is Paweł Warchoł, Oświęcim resident, graphic artist, illus-trator, graduate of the Acad-emy of Fine Arts in Krakow, winner of many national and international awards. Paweł Warchoł also serves as cura-tor of the Biennial.This year the competition included 101 artists from 17 countries (Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, the Czech Republic, Esto-nia, Germany, Great Brit-ain, Iran, Lithuania, Mexico, South Korea, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Taiwan, Ukraine, and

the U.S.A.). Of the 226 post-ers submitted for participa-tion in the exhibition, sev-enty-four qualified.Held since 2006 the com-petition is one of the most important and prestigious

projects of the IYMC. Since its first edition, it has proven to be very popular among the participating artists and audience. As in previous editions, the exhibition is ac-companied by a catalog in Polish-German-English, fea-turing all the current posters on display.

The organization of the Third Biennale was made possi-ble thanks to the support of: Rosa Luxemburg Founda-tion in Poland; Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp Vic-tims Memorial Foundation;

the U.S. Consulate General in Krakow; Consulate Gen-eral of Germany in Krakow, as well as companies such as: ENION SA; HP Poland, Würth Ltd.; EnCo Engi-neering, Plant Engineering and Equipment Company OMAG; Kęty SA; Plantpol Zaborze; Mini-Max; Pierrot;

Florists Bronisław Ligęza, Marbet, Ptyś Confectioner-ies, Vitamina, Bożena and Janusz Rogalscy.

Joanna Klęczar

For the third time at the International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim, the Third Biennial of Socio-Political Poster was held. This is an extraordinary analysis and summary

of the most pressing problems facing the world today.

Each edition of the event has aroused great interest among artists, the media, and the public. It was no different this time. The works exhibited at the IYMC showed a broader concern for human rights, ethical, as well as socio-political issues. Artists, through their posters, asked us questions about the condition of modern human beings and the so-ciety in which they operate. An entire spectrum of issues was touched upon: slavery, intolerance and discrimination on various grounds, the social, political corruption, the problem of inadequate humanitarian assistance, armed conflicts and aggression.The authors also focus our attention on the ecology, inadequate use of natural resources and pollution, and not forgetting the difficult issues, such as pedophilia, sexual and domestic violence, gender equality, objectification of women, alcoholism, illiteracy, eu-thanasia, the expansion of religion, and economic migration. Reflected in the posters were also very timely topics such as the Smolensk plane crash, terrorism, censorship of information in China, and the problem of pedophilia in the Catholic Church.All the works present a high artistic level. Among the works you can see posters that are “strong,” vividly illustrating the problem, in which the artist asks the recipient directly, without unnecessary metaphors; as well as completely abstract, not directly relating to issues, where the invocation of the current or historical phenomenon is subtly outlined and requires intellectual engagement of each viewer.Biennial once again gives us the possibility of seeing phenomena, previously known to us, from a different perspective—through the eyes of artists who are often from a differ-ent culture. This is a fantastic opportunity to compare your own views with the visual commentary of the artist. The strength of the message on the posters and their universal significance can be seen for yourself by simply visiting the exhibition.

Ilona Stanek

the world on Posters

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Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, a historian born in 1972, has been director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum since September 1, 2006. Below, we publish an interview with him. The majority of the subjects we touch on are based on questions posted on the official Auschwitz Memorial Facebook page by people from all over the world.

You need to fit tHiS PlACe into Your identitY

You have been in charge of the work of the auschwitz-Birkenau state Museum for four years. Members of the staff at the Memorial are often asked: “how can you work here at all?” someone might ask you how you can run such a specific place.

It’s a very strange expe-rience, because in a cer-tain sense I’m a manager who’s responsible for a space that cannot be fully comprehended. After all, you’d assume that in general someone who’s given responsibility for a certain place should first of all be able to un-derstand it and immerse himself in it, analyze it fully, in order to do his job. With Auschwitz, this is impossible.

In that case, what does responsibility for this place involve?

Above all, it’s a matter of listening to various voic-es and sensitivities from all over the world. I’m responsible for Ausch-witz but I cannot say that I am only implementing my own program, that

the decisions belong to me. Even if the Museum is subordinated formally to the Polish ministry of culture and the Polish government, in its very essence this space be-longs to the whole world. Every decision must be explained and defended, including, and at times above all, in moral terms. This is, of course, a dif-ficult place in terms of work. No one can pre-dict which day will be the hardest. I feel that the people who come to work here either get out after a couple of months or stay practically for their whole lives. It’s no accident that I am the fourth director named here since the end of World War II.

and the second who was not a former prisoner.

It’s also a unique place that’s hard to run to the degree that there are absolutely no points of reference in normal life. This cannot be compared to any other museum, cultural institution, or educational space, and it’s even hard to com-pare it to any other site of a former camp. It is

so big, such a symbol, and so sensitive that it’s hard to find any com-parison. This is why you keep coming up against the necessity of thinking through certain things from zero. You can’t find ready answers in other places or experiences.

what motivated you to say yes to the offer of taking up this position?

At first, I did everything to say no, because it real-ly intimidated me. Previ-ously, I was secretary to the International Ausch-witz Council for six years, so I knew the subject well. All the more so I found a multitude of reasons to reject the proposal. The harder I tried to convince myself to say no, the more I saw that I wasn’t con-vinced. The offer came from both former direc-tor Jerzy Wróblewski and the chairman of the IAC, Professor Władysław Bartoszewski, who en-trusted me with a place that was everything to him, and to which he had dedicated decades of his life. Among the former prisoners, he was one of the most committed to the place itself, and above all to the remembrance of it. At a certain moment you can’t keep saying no if you expect to sleep at night. Little by little I came to understand what it means to carry that weight, in the positive meaning of the word. It is a great obligation, a trust, accompanied by the chance to do something truly good.

Many important things have surely happened over these four years, in both professional and personal terms. are there any events that remain particularly fixed in your memory?

I spent my first few months observing, learn-ing, and listening both to the place and the people who have worked here far longer than me. I be-gan bouncing my vision off them. Two priorities

seemed most important to me: preserving the Memorial and making it more comprehensible—in other words, educa-tion. The turning point in terms of the former issue was explaining to the whole world, to vari-ous decision-makers, the necessity of changing the mechanism for un-derwriting conservation work. That was in 2009, an exceptionally difficult year. In terms of educa-tion, I think above all of starting work on the new main exhibition, which is the basic educational tool because the largest numbers of people pass through it. In this place, however, you discover something new every day: people come here, you talk to them, and they can add a lot. Of course, there are meetings with former prisoners, which unfortunately are increas-ingly a rarity these days. There are the anniversa-ries of events, and discus-sions that immediately move from banal logisti-cal problems to very pro-found issues for which there is often no solution. In the course of these four years, the Museum has also gone through certain administrative changes that might seem trivial but that, among other things, have permitted us to communicate far bet-ter with the entire world. As I see it, in a place that is so hard to talk about, communication is fun-damental. This has been a very important expe-rience for me because quite different opinions, perspectives, and world-views about the essence of Auschwitz come into contact and have an im-pact on each other at the Memorial.

through your job, you frequently meet many people from around the world and give lectures. In a certain sense you are the “physical emana-tion” of the Memorial. what’s your sense of the approach to the history of auschwitz around the

world, of the way people react and refer to this place?

Only now is the impor-tance of this place being discovered and felt. Even a few years ago, you could often hear voices saying: “We don’t talk about Auschwitz and the Holocaust any more, that’s over, we’re in the twenty-first century and Europe’s united.” I have the impression that these voices have fallen almost entirely silent and that we are on the threshold of a profound understand-ing that Auschwitz is fundamental to our new postwar Europe, and that the efforts of Monnet, Adenauer, Schumann, de Gasperi, and others were rooted precisely in that experience of World War II. The idea was to create a new, different Europe. It seems to me in this sense that our world today, es-pecially in Europe, cannot be understood without understanding the trag-edy of Auschwitz. I have the impression that fewer and fewer people are questioning the essence of Auschwitz. Of course, many things remain to be said and explained. It’s not as if the passing of the former prisoners closes these subjects. The writings of Primo Levi, Imre Kertész, Shlomo Venezia, Zofia Posmysz, Władysław Bartoszewski or any other prisoner are a basis for understand-ing the fundamental role of Auschwitz, but we are only at the threshold of this process. When I trav-el around, I am struck by a certain dawning of this comprehension. Ausch-witz is becoming a sym-bol, pars pro toto, of the entire history of the Hol-ocaust, Nazism, World War II, the concentration camps, and that whole maniacal attempt at an-nihilating humanity. To-day, we can talk about the subject of Auschwitz on very different levels. A few years ago, that could lead to controver-sies about what was less

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important and what was more important.

why is this becoming significant today, 65 years after liberation, and why wasn’t it spoken about ten or thirty years after the war?

It was essential to go through certain stages. After the war, everyone was immensely trau-matized. In a traumatic situation there is a moment when people are stunned. They do not react, try not to say anything, and re-ject certain realities. That’s what the first twenty years after the war looked like, when the sub-ject of the Jewish Holocaust was completely sidelined. Only the Eichmann trial and Claude Lanz-mann’s film Shoah restored a cer-tain stage of memory. Then the communist system collapsed here and these various faces of memo-ry collided powerfully right here in this Memorial. After all, no one was embroiled in similar contro-versies about what happened in Dachau, Mauthausen, or Gross-Rosen. The conflicts centered on this main symbol, Auschwitz. They were very difficult and painful, but that’s probably what it’s like when you’re recovering from a trauma. The whole value system is reshuffled and a new order and rationalization of what happened emerges. Those were the troubling years of the 1990s when there was a collision of different perspectives—nation-alistic, cultural, religious, and political. They had to learn about each other. Today, we are in a completely different situation be-cause we have all learned to pay attention to each other, to under-stand our views, to talk about this subject and acknowledge the val-ues attributed to various words. Several processes could not be accelerated, because that would have been artificial and ineffec-tive. That was such a trauma for civilization and the world that it had to take time. Additionally, the bipolar decades in Europe, with the freezing of real relations between many societies, further intensified that stage with its lack of common debate.

there’s a lot of talk today about the economic crisis, budg-et cuts, and financial difficulties in places including cultural in-stitutions. how is the Museum getting by at this awkward mo-ment?

Funding is one of the main brakes on our development. It’s a very difficult situation. The Museum receives continual appropria-tions almost exclusively from the Polish government, and the level of appropriations is insufficient—not only for us. However, there’s one thing we can’t put off, and that’s the preservation and pro-tection of authenticity. This led to the idea of an emergency fund that works for the preservation of this place. At various times we might have fewer educational

events or stretch the timetable for certain invest-ments, but there’s no way we can put off conservation, because if we lose the authenticity of the place, we will never be able to get it back in better times. That’s why we’re appealing to so many countries around the world. Two-thirds of the needed total has been pledged in a year and a half. It’s a very posi-tive development to see countries going through cri-ses of their own, or governments grappling with the structure of their own budg-ets, which never-theless make the decision to help with this fund. It demonstrates the importance of this work and is evidence of great collective re-sponsibility.

can you imagine at all a situa-tion in which this place would be left to itself to deteriorate, and then be replaced after some time by, for instance, a replica?

Preservation is like medicine. The patient dies in the end, but the role of the physician is to pro-long life and maintain the vital functions. It’s similar with a con-servationist, although of course there is a greater distance because we are talking about material ob-jects. Nevertheless, nothing is eternal. Our role is to prolong their life to the maximum degree possible, while minimizing the process of the destruction of the authentic substance. Today, this is taking on new meaning. The descriptions left behind by survi-vors provoke and arouse our im-agining of those dramatic events, but the authentic place roots them in a very real world. That is why these two mutually comple-mentary elements are essential to locate memory not only in the sphere of imagination, but also in the tangible world. After all, we can walk down these roads. Eve-ry generation can be won over, which is why we work so hard at preserving the Memorial.

another challenge facing the Memorial is the new main exhi-bition.

The exhibition is a part of a cer-tain ritual of passing through this place, since it elucidates and ex-plains it. Over a million people a year see the exhibition. Some things are more comprehensible thanks to the exhibition. The cur-rent exhibition is very old, but it still serves its purpose. People who have seen those suitcases,

shoes, or hair can understand and remember more. However, it’s plain that the point comes where change is necessary. We can’t tell the story of the war today the way it was told to people who remem-bered the war. I count on finish-ing the work on the scenario for the new exhibition this year—it’s in the final stages now. It’s very hard working on the new exhibi-tion, because we must be careful not to lose any of the present clar-ity of the Memorial. That is why a large group of people, including specialists from many countries, is working on this and debating about it. We must be mindful that the exhibition will have an impact on the Auschwitz narra-tive around the world, which is why we have already put almost three years into the work on the scenario. The subsequent stages will depend on financing, which is why it’s hard to speak of a firm schedule at this point. One thing is certain—it will be an exhibi-tion that’s profoundly different from present-day museum prac-tice around the world. It will be far more ascetic and there will be far fewer visually attractive interactive elements because the central element is the authentic-ity of the Memorial, and not the kinds of special effects that are essential in places that try to re-produce something that’s not there. Things are different here. I think that a somewhat differ-ent kind of narration will make it possible to achieve an exhibition that will not leave anything out of the general history, but that will make people aware in a bet-ter way of the significance of this place, and that this will lead to a greater feeling of the responsibil-ity we bear for the world today.

what then is the sense of visit-ing the Memorial, from a strictly educational point of view?

I am convinced that there are three stages to education at the Memorial. The first level is pure facts and historical knowledge—the level of memory. Things are getting better in Europe at this level. A lot has changed in re-cent years. Holocaust denial is becoming a rarity and general historical knowledge has entered the schools and schoolbooks. The second level, which should grow out of the first, is consciousness. Here, things are a little worse. We still have trouble with under-standing the significance of the killing of millions of Jews and the death of millions of other civil-ians during World War II. And that is only the start of the jour-ney, because we should aspire to the third level, which is our responsibility today. If we have learned the facts and understood their significance, something in us should be changed. We have a lot of trouble with this around the world. If we come out of a visit to the Memorial with guns blaz-ing and denounce the society of the 1940s for having done too lit-tle—those who functioned under German occupation, the moral authorities of the time, the Allied armies, the partisans, and in gen-eral all the neighbors who did too little to defend their neighbors—if we are astounded that there were so few Righteous among the Nations in those years, then we should ask ourselves why we do absolutely nothing when in-nocent people, whole families, are murdered somewhere in Af-rica. We calmly watch it live on television without reacting at all, and yet we live in times when no one threatens us. We feel ex-empt from the responsibility to be Righteous among the Nations today. This is disturbing, because it’s easy for us to pass judgment on those bygone times, easy for us to pass judgment on people’s

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behavior, but as long as we do this in total isola-tion from passing judg-ment on ourselves, then we’re not only deluding ourselves, but also au-thorizing and rational-izing an attitude of pas-sivity. This is a norm that might well be criticized by future generations visiting museums of genocide in Darfur and Rwanda. They will ask: “What were the Euro-peans doing while they watched all this on tel-evision?” Today, where are the people like Irena Sendler, Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg, or Henryk Sławik? Are we really supposed to leave it all up to international political pressure or the UN peacekeepers? This has never been enough. Specific individual peo-ple must help other spe-cific individuals. This is the level of responsibility we should aspire to, and this is what we’re having trouble with around the world.

this doesn’t sound very optimistic…

Of course it is hard to speculate, but it is possi-ble that, if the memorial sites had not existed, and if that space for educa-tion and remembrance had not arisen over the course of sixty years, things might be even worse. Perhaps genocide wouldn’t even be men-tioned on television and in the newspaper head-lines. Perhaps the world’s

reactions—so often too soft, off-target, or belat-ed—result from the fact that this reference point already exists. However, after Auschwitz and the Shoah, we will never have that original inno-cence, because we cannot say that we didn’t know, that we didn’t realize, that we weren’t aware. Today we know, after all, that there are social mechanisms that lead to such acts. At the begin-ning we have frustration, in general, which popu-lists take advantage of. They point out the com-mon enemy and stir up the hatred. This is what leads to killing. We find this chain of events in all conflicts of this type. The problem is to react early, the problem is making people aware that they shouldn’t react to popu-list slogans, or that they have an allergic reaction.

as you mentioned, there are over a million visi-tors to the Memorial per year. this is an enor-mous number. the at-tendance level itself is surely a challenge to the Museum, and has a bear-ing on conservation and the exhibition. It strikes some people as strange that there’s a bookstore in the Gate of death, or that there are places to eat here.

The boundary between life and killing will al-ways be a shocking boundary regardless of where it is demarcated,

because it is always a co-existence of two mutually exclusive spaces in terms of reactions and impres-sions. The question is, how to deal with it? The Memorial is obviously a cemetery of the victims, but it is a place strongly oriented towards the new generations that come here, with the whole sphere of life connected with this. Of course the bookstores will not sell all books, and there won’t be any typical “souve-nirs” here, because that’s not the idea. The idea is some help for the visitors so that they can acquire more information than during their visit. We can’t make things harder for them. After all, you can’t touch on all the im-portant themes in a four-hour visit. The literature, which people are look-ing for after all, helps. A certain compromise, in this case, is the design for a new visitor service center near Auschwitz I and a new parking lot in Brzezinka, in order to separate, in a certain sense, the burdensome aspects of tourism—the parking lots, buses, and services—from the Me-morial. Let me stress again that regardless of where that boundary lies it will seem strange, it will be something that feels out of place. When people come out of Birk-enau after being on the ramp and next to the gas chambers, they see that, on the other side, life goes on, and they will always feel the dissonance. In this case it doesn’t mat-ter how far away from the Gate of Death life is going on. The moment of returning from the tragic history of death to everyday life will always involve discomfort.

You spend part of each week in oświęcim, traveling here from war-saw where you leave your wife and three chil-dren behind. this surely makes the job difficult from a private point of view as well, although at least it spares your fam-ily the contact with this history.

When I asked my pred-ecessor how often he had to be in Warsaw, he said it was a minimum of three, and sometimes five times a month. That was when I realized that there was no sense in moving,

because I’d be making the same trip in the oppo-site direction. The subject of Auschwitz also has a high profile for various government institutions, foreign delegations, and the media, and all of this is more accessible in War-saw than in Oświęcim. That’s why it’s necessary to be in many places. I try to respond to this need and to be here as well as in Jerusalem, Paris, or New York. Auschwitz is a global experience be-cause there are people everywhere for whom it’s a point of reference. Without a thorough un-derstanding of this state of affairs it would be hard to run this place the right way. Anyway, I have always loved traveling, and covering 600 km a week both ways is no big problem. It’s also work-ing time, and that means quiet work, because I can catch up on reading reports or writing letters on the train. In any case, this job is too much for one person, which makes it important to have a team—the deputy direc-tor and the Museum staff. In family terms, how-ever, I will definitely face some serious questions at some point. My chil-dren are still small, but they’ll start asking ques-tions soon. Fortunately, a child’s imagination does not, at first, regis-ter such dramatic events the same way an adult’s does. However, this is a question that every par-ent or guide at the Me-morial must ask at some point—how to tell your child about where you work.

and how do you like oświęcim as a city?

In a certain sense, liter-ally and figuratively, it’s your second home. World War II left a pow-erful scar on this city. The building of both the camp and the industrial plants left their mark, and these stigmata are always present. I know that this makes things hard for the inhabitants, because it’s practically impossible to build anything free of these stigmata. They’re really everywhere. Be-fore the war, Oświęcim was a small city, and then whole new districts, industrial plants, and the whole railroad infra-structure were added. The war also changed the

local community. A great many residents moved here after the war. This is a city that has two his-tories—before and after. That causes real prob-lems in the life of the city. On the other hand, there are many people living here for whom the former camp holds an important place in their identity, whether those are people who moved to Oświęcim during the war, frequently after having been expelled at gunpoint from their old homes by the Germans, or people who were ac-tive in helping the prison-ers, or people who went to work at the Museum after the war, or guides. The whole area is very closely connected with the Memorial at present, and we must bear this in mind. Often, these are not just random people. They are very committed to supporting the Memo-rial and other institutions that are active around here. The character of this city is determined by these two levels in the community—on the one hand working for remem-brance, and on the other the expected problems with the impact of history on life. I think that many things are becoming more normal. For instance, the tensions surrounding the Museum are no longer as crucial to the local po-litical discourse as they were ten years ago. When someone tries to gener-ate tension around the Memorial this day, they quickly lose credibility in local public opinion.

do you regret the de-cision you made four years ago?

You can’t work in a place like this and regret that decision. I couldn’t do it. To work here, you need to have the subject of Auschwitz straight in your own mind and you have to fit it into your identity. Otherwise, it would be impossible. In turn, once everything fits in, it’s very hard to imag-ine yourself outside this world, because it usually proves impossible to get away from it.

Interview: Paweł Sawicki Translation: William Brand


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EXHibiT abOuT inDiviDuaLS OPPOSED TO MiLiTaRY SERvicE anD DESERTERS Of THE gERMan WEHRMacHT DuRing THE SEcOnD WORLD WaR

In September, the exhibition Deserters in the German Wehrmacht was held at the Center for Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim, dedicated to deserters and the people who were opposed to military service in the Third Reich. The ex-hibition is the result of long-term search by Jochen Schmidt, an employee of “Libraries for Peace” at the Anti-War

Museum of Berlin-Brandenburg.

During World War II the German justice sys-tem gave 30,000 verdicts against deserters, while 20,000 sentences were car-ried out. However, very little archival material has survived. Jochen Schmidt could only use 40 docu-ments. “This subject is heavily suppressed, so it is quickly forgotten,” Schmidt told a German newspaper. The fact that until 2002 the National Socialist justice system’s judgments were upheld, people who were convicted during the war were regarded as guilty, shows how delicate is the problem we face.The main part of the exhibi-tion consists of the desert-ers’ testimonies. The exhibit is divided into three parts. The first, titled The Next War, deals with the period between 1939-41. With the help of photos, clippings from newspapers, letters, and the testimonies from the invasion of Poland and France, the author ad-dressed the suffering of the occupied nations. A quote from Heinrich Mann completes the picture and shows how cruel the Na-zis’ march through Europe was: “When the rulers deal with it as the victor with a defenseless country, then it is easy for unofficial ob-servers to say, what this is about…”Already at this point in the war, mostly Christian

clergy refused to wear Nazi uniforms in the Wehr-macht, justifying this in various ways. “You must not go to war, at least to this, because it is not a defensive war…” they ar-gued. However, there were also other motives, “be-cause National Socialism is set against Christianity, you must refuse to serve as a soldier in the Nazi state.” Regardless of the soldiers’ motivation that refused military service, one aspect concerned them all: “for our views we must suffer.” Deserters agreed that it was better to remain faithful to their spirit and humanity, than to become part of the crime and move their be-liefs aside.The second part of the exhi-bition The German Victory, shows the years 1942-43. Soldiers tell of the cruel experiences of war and the motives that inclined them to desert. “People who have no face ... . Gradually, I am beginning to understand the German victory,” is how a German soldier de-scribed the war and related atrocities in 1941. Testimo-nies about deserting as well as excerpts from diaries accompany Camus’ quote: “The rebellion is to refuse to be treated as an object and to show him only on the background history. In his revolt, an individual puts certain limits on his-tory.”

For the Führer and Fatherland is the title of the third part of the exhibition, which deals with the last period of the war. In this part, much emphasis is placed on tes-timonies dealing with the sentences passed against deserters, but also some quotes from the newspa-pers: “Every second I get the immensity of suffer-

ing because of my unified entity,” noted well-known writer Heinrich Böll.Among those refusing to do military service were not only Catholics and Evan-gelical clergy. Even ordi-nary people acted against the system, and refrained from wearing the German Wehrmacht uniform.The subject of the exhibi-tion is not only the war-time period. According to Jochen Schmidt it also has a warning for the future: “The violence, which took place then, can always hap-pen again... but always in the proportions possible during a given era. Mo-rality no longer has much strength; the authorities must also become so much less human, less if a man is still man... In this reality... a Christian should practice peace.”Why is this exhibition at the Center for Dialogue and Prayer? The Center wants to honor the victims and shape a world of mutual respect, reconciliation, and peace. To do so it must also deal with such delicate sub-

jects. This exhibition raises an interesting and extensive range of subjects. The issue of deserters and those who refused military service has for years been marginal-ized. For a long time, the deserters were not consid-ered to be victims of the war. In the eyes of public opinion, they were referred to as “freeloaders.”The exhibition aims to com-memorate victims of Nazi justice and attempts to show this issue to the wider public in order to draw attention to the subject. The exhibit’s author has achieved this goal thanks to the selection of photographic materials as well as appropriately se-lected texts.On May 17, 2002, the Ger-man Bundestag abolished the sentences handed out by the Nazi justice system. For most of the victims, the exoneration that simultane-ously restored their honor was too late. However, this is a big step toward realiz-ing the true nature of Nazi justice and its history.

Sebastian Schlegel

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a STEP fORWaRD

In Oświęcim on September 5 and 12, we had the opportunity to par-ticipate in another important cultural event, carried out within the framework of the European Day of Jewish Culture 2010 and this year’s

Oświęcim Days Festival. The event that I refer to, is a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Jewish Center—an educational institution teach-ing history, humility, and above all respect and tolerance towards others.

The city of Oświęcim, and in a particular way Fr. Jan Skarbek Square, is a place where for years fates of two communities intertwined—the Polish and Jewish. Because of its history, the consequences of the events that took place here, it is inscribed in the annals of our history in various col-ors. But in all these shades, we can find positive colors such as the color of warm yellow sun, shining on the streets of Oświęcim, where the quiet life of Poles and Jews took place. There are also the gray, dark, almost black moments which most we would throw out of our memory.Father Jan Skarbek, a man with a “crystal clear per-sonality” also constitutes a kind of common denomi-nator for these two nations. Today this place once again unites us, this time in com-mon celebration. Let us not let anything stand in the way of this common step forward.The Jewish Center in Oświęcim, a non-govern-mental cultural institution, has been in existence since 2000, and operate: the Jew-ish Museum, Synagogue

Chevra Lomdei Mishnay-ot, and Education Center. The main objective of this institution is to cultivate and teach local Jewish his-tory. And what is the role of this place in the minds of the inhabitants of the city of Oświęcim? Does it matter that before the war a Jewish community inhab-ited a large part of the city? “I can only assume and hope that a large part of the population start to iden-tify with this place. Some people simply see the need and wisdom of this place. People are pleased and proud that such a place ex-ists. In fact, for the past 10 years, the Jewish Center in Oświęcim has been well hosted. When saying ‘Jew-ish,’ I mean the history of a Jewish Oświęcim, that existed before the war as an example of a city of two cultures, a place of coexis-tence of Poles and Jews,” said Dr. Artur Szyndler of the Jewish Center.The Center, in its work, places a great emphasis on using various forms of ed-ucational programs. Preju-dice, intolerance, stereo-types, and generalization—“fighting” these illnesses

infecting today’s world is the base of the work the staff, interns, apprentices and volunteers do.“ Lack of knowledge and lack of contact with ‘others’ un-doubtedly give rise to prej-udice. A new program run by the Center, Why do we need tolerance?, for which anti-discrimination work-shops have been organized for teachers from Śląsk and Małopolska, is worth men-tioning here. This program has enjoyed great success, we hope that the effects will also be measurable,” added Artur Szyndler.The program for the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Jewish Center was in-teresting. It is worth noting that the organizers were mindful of each age group, and most importantly, pro-vided workshops and gave the opportunity to actively participate in them. It was here, at Fr. Jan Skarbek Square 5, where the build-ing of the Center is located that we had the opportuni-ty to participate in most of the scheduled events.The celebration was divid-ed into two parts. The proj-ects presented on Septem-ber 5—the performances

by young artists from Israel and Poland were carried out in the framework of the European Day of Jewish Culture 2010. This kind of art is certainly still some-thing new, but acknowl-edged most positively. Performance art is consid-ered to be alive, however not long lasting. This kind of creativity should be un-derstood in two ways. On the one hand, as something personal—personal dem-onstration by the artist in front of the audience who has a direct contact with it, on the other hand, it is a protest against what’s con-ventional. September 12, the Center’s staff, together with invited guests, gave participants the opportunity to enrich not only the soul but also the mind with: workshops for children, teaching sen-sitivity, openness and cre-ativity, as well as lectures, increasing the knowledge of Jewish culture, an Israeli dance workshop, the possi-bility of visiting the Muse-um and the Synagogue. All this is to build a bridge of understanding and agree-ment. For the most de-manding part of the public, namely young people, DJ Jungle Feelings was invit-ed. Personally, I have the impression that this young artist changed the point of view of Polish youth on some elements of Jew-ish culture, such as music.

“Our goal was to break out of the context that makes our place seem very ste-reotypical,” Szyndler said. “This also applies to Jewish music, usually associated with only the traditional klezmer music.” During his performance you could hear the traditional Jew-ish and Israeli rhythms (but not only) in modern dance arrangements, which young people dance to in clubs around the world. This type of ethnic musi-cal “mix” is very popular nowadays. DJ Jungle Feel-ings was a good starting point to engage in dialogue and show that the Center has something to offer the younger generation that does not necessarily have an interest in Jewish cul-ture and history.The special guest of the event was a band from Krakow, which performs in almost all countries in the world. Magiczne Trio [Magical Trio] has been playing together for 15 years already and can clearly satisfy every con-noisseur of good music. The band Kroke combines several types of music. It definitely includes ele-ments of klezmer, as well as shades of other cultures. This event ended the cel-ebration of the 10th anni-versary of the Oświęcim Jewish Center.

Monika Bernacka

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PROcESS Of cOnnEcTing THE ciTY anD THE MEMORY iS STiLL gOing On

An interview with the director of the Jewish Center in Oświęcim, To-masz Kuncewicz

what were the begin-nings of the Jewish center in oświęcim? we know that in 1997 the synagogue was handed over to the Jewish community in Bielsko-Biała...

The Center was opened September 12, 2000 after a complete renovation of the Synagogue and partial renovation of the building next door. At the time there was the exhibition, and to a large extent the opening related mainly to the Synagogue, and that was very solemn: with the participation of Polish authorities, guests from Israel, the United States embassy, there was also Fr. Bp. Rakoczy, and the Prince of Jordan. There was a ceremonial placing of the mezuzah as well as a prayer that was held in the Synagogue. On the second day of the ceremony, at the Presidential Palace, President Aleksander Kwaśniewski awarded Fred Schwarz the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Polish Republic for his efforts in improving Polish-Jewish dialogue and for his work in this fi eld in Poland. The goal for the Center, which we set immediately, was education. Already in the autumn of 2000, school groups from Oświęcim and the surrounding area came to us with requests for educational sessions, and so did groups of visitors coming to the Auschwitz Museum. We were surprised that interest was so high from the outset.

how would you de-scribe the interest to-day? You said that at the beginning groups coming to the Jewish center consisted of young people.

Older individuals, residents of Oświęcim, came when the cultural program stared. Our fi rst event had its opening after a few months of our operation—it was a meeting with the

author Miriam Akavia, an Israeli writer. At the time, many came to see the newly opened place. At the outset, we created a list of people interested in our work, which was constantly growing: the participants of classes and meetings could write themselves in on it and thus be informed about our future events. Initially, we worked through traditional mail; e-mails were not so commonly used. This is how we created a database of people interested in our events.

was there, or is there, any distinction between “us” and “them”?

For us, there was never such a division. The Center is in the city and it is for its residents. Our initiatives and openness to the city created a situation that more and more people identify with the Center, and see it as a place that is worth showing your friends who come to Oświęcim. September 12, during the evening concert, many of its participants

visited the Center until late into the evening; it resembled a “museum night,” but happened spontaneously.

the center has pro-grams focused on his-tory, but there are also activities, that through the use of history, are focused to have an impact today; for ex-ample, such a series of classes on anti-dis-crimination...

Indeed these are two branches of our educa-tional activities which are closely linked with

history. People who take part in the anti-discrimination sessions should visit Auschwitz. This should be motiva-tion to build anti-dis-crimination today. It is crucial to present the history of the Holo-caust in school as a set of mechanisms that oc-curred in the context of discrimination against certain groups, because I believe that there is no consciousness without a merger of history with the present. A common mistake is to disregard the situation of those facing discrimination, and we should remem-ber how ignoring this could end. Education is a bit detached from reality. Today we have the European Union, we have peace and it seems to us that it is im-possible to repeat such a disaster. But let’s not forget that for people back then it also seemed impossible, but it hap-pened. In the past, we had an anti-discrimina-tion workshop, under the program My old neighbor. Currently, we have a separate pro-

gram for anti-discrimi-nation, entitled Why do we need tolerance?

are the participants mainly Poles?

Half are Poles and among them are p r e d o m i n a t e l y students. In addition to cultural events, involving mainly the older individuals, adults. The other half are individuals from abroad—Germans and Jews from the United States and Israel. As for the Germans, they are both adults and students, and the

guests from Israel are mainly youth.

do you have any sig-nals, or examples, that show the knowledge gained at the center or workshops direct-ly contribute to the growth of tolerance? For example, do partici-pants come up with in-dependent initiatives?

Often, the participants of our workshops contribute to the work of the Center as volunteers. These are people who are writing papers on the topic or are planning to study the topic at an institution of higher learning. There have been no independent initiatives as of yet, but I think this is a broader issue of low civic participation in our country.

the placement of the center in town is im-portant because of its closeness to the city and its inhabitants.

From the very beginning, our idea was that this place was to be friendly for people

from out of town as well as for its residents. To be a place that connects residents with people who are visiting Oświęcim, helping to modify any prejudice. A place that presents the Jewish history of Oświęcim and also shows its ordinariness is important for education about Auschwitz.

You could say that you are making up for the 60 years of the forgotten Jewish inhabitants...

Not only do we. This is happening all over

Poland, but we’re in a exceptional place—a place that evokes strong emotions through its tragic history. This small town has to cope with the unique stigma. It takes time, but the process of connecting the city and the memory is still ongoing.

during that time, were there some key mo-ments for the existence of the center?

The opening itself was very important to us. At the church next to the Center, Bishop Rakoczy led a Holy Mass for the success of the Center project. It was a beautiful gesture. Of course, the partnership with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York in 2006 was important. I think it is a very fruitful cooperation, since they also focus on Jewish heritage and history. There are plans there for an exhibition about the Jewish community of Oświęcim. There was also an exhibition devoted to John Paul II and his relationship with the Jews. This shows that we operate in two directions: we help to open Oświęcim to its own history, and through the Museum in New York we open the world to Oświęcim.

what plans are there for the center for the com-ing years?

We are currently working on the project Oszpicin. This will be a website and guide. The website—a virtual tour around Oświęcim: a multimedia and interactive site. To supplement this, a guide about the history of Oświęcim will be released. In the near future, these two projects will be completed. In the meantime we are working on a new exhibition, which is adapted to today’s standards of showing artifacts, representing history—we would like to complete these plans in the next few years.

Interview:Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka

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History

VeStigeS of HiStorYfROM THE cOLLEcTiOnS Of THE auScHWiTZ MuSEuM

The head of the cigarette holder is a carved portrait of Bielecki, which confirms the number engraved on pipe’s striped stem, 243. This is the number that marked 19-year-old Jerzy, who was still a high school student, brought from Tarnów on June 14, 1940 in the first transport to Auschwitz.Four years later, in July 1944, he escaped from the camp with a female Jewish pris-oner, Cyla Cybulska (alias in the camp Stawicka). They escaped in a similar way like Mala and Edek, the so-called Romeo and Juliet from Auschwitz. He dressed as an

SS man, and acted as if he was escorting her to an inter-rogation. However, this time the escape was successful. After the war, Cyla went into hiding with a Polish family in the area near Racławice, while he joined the AK (Polish Home Army). After the war he was awarded the Righteous Among the Na-tions. In 1961, Jerzy Bielecki donated the cigarette holder to the Museum.The symbol of the striped uniform that was used here, often appears in art after the War as a symbol of the con-centration camp prisoner. This symbol—like the camp

numbers, prisoner triangles, or elements of barbed wire, left by prisoners on rings, spoons, walls, or decorated cigarette holder—shows the overwhelming desire to leave a trace behind, with a great awareness of the symbolism of these motifs, already in the middle of the tragedy taking place. After the war, these symbols became one of the most recognizable symbols of suffering, humiliation, and dehumanization—the indi-vidual’s fate in the world of the concentration camps.

Agnieszka SieradzkaCollections Department, A-BSM

Born in Babice near Oświęcim on August 6, 1904, she was the daughter of Franciszek and Paulina, née Riecher. Her father ran a restaurant, and served as wójt (elected mayor) of Babice for a time. After attending the four-class country school in her home-town, she continued her schooling at the gimnazjum in Chrzanów, before enroll-ing in the Słowacki Teach-ers’ College for Women in Mysłowice. She graduated in 1924, obtaining her matura and teacher’s certificate. She took her first job the follow-ing year, and worked un-interrupted as a teacher in Silesia until the beginning of the Second World War. Ob-

taining a fulltime position at the elementary school in Bieruń Nowy in 1931 was a key moment in her career. Aside from teaching, she de-voted herself to extracurricu-lar and voluntary cultural and educational work there. She encouraged patriotism and a sense of national iden-tity among the residents of Bieruń, and especially the young people. She prepared programs of words and music for public holidays, including the annual procession in local costume to the monument to the fallen Silesian insur-rectionists on November 11, Polish Independence Day. She founded the Association of Young Polish Women, which offered cultural-educa-tional programs and practical courses in domestic economy and vocational skills to young women. She worked in the resist-ance movement during the occupation period. A mem-ber of the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ) and later the Home Army (AK), she used the pseudonym “Skała.” She also took part in clandestine teaching, and played a spe-cial role in delivering aid to

the prisoners of Auschwitz Concentration Camp as one of the founders and leaders of the relief effort. As early as the summer of 1940, she was making contact with prison-ers who labored outside the camp. Mostly, she helped them by giving them food. In the second half of the year, she became a member of the clandestine Committee to Aid the Political Prisoners of the Auschwitz Camp. This committee functioned under the aegis of the Oświęcim District ZWZ (afterwards, AK). In 1941, she recruited a number of residents of the Land of Oświęcim for a group of “people of good will” (sometimes referred to as “Janina Lacheta’s Group”), for the Auschwitz relief ef-fort. She became the leader of this group. Within the framework of the ZWZ/AK and the “people of good will,” she conducted a large-scale action to feed the pris-oners who labored outside the camp. Additionally, she supplied medicine, including valuable anti-typhus drugs, to the camp through secret channels. She collected warm clothing for the prisoners, es-

pecially during the fall-win-ter period. Aside from mate-rial aid, she also acted as an intermediary in correspond-ence between prisoners and their families, and sometimes even arranged secret meet-ings in places close to where the prisoners labored. She helped escapees from the camp. She even helped or-ganize escapes: on December 29, 1942, four prisoners-–Jan Komski (registered in Ausch-witz under the false name Baraś), Bolesław Kuczbara, Mieczysław Januszewski, and the German Otto Kü-sel—escaped with her help. She was active for the sake of the prisoners until the end of 1942. Under threat of arrest by the Gestapo, she fled to the General Government on New Year’s Eve 1942/1943. The Archives of the Ausch-witz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim contain numer-ous secret messages in which prisoners thank her for her help and request further aid in the form of food, medicine, and so on. She described her actions on behalf of the pris-oners in a postwar memoir ti-tled “I Knew People of Good Will,” published in Polish in

1962.After the war, she went back to teaching at the school in Bieruń Nowy. She retired in 1959, but continued teach-ing on a part-time basis for a further nine years. Active in cultural and community activities, she organized a children’s song-and-dance troupe at the elementary school in Bieruń, and cho-reographed and made folk costumes for a stage produc-tion under the title “Pszc-zyna Wedding.” The chil-dren’s troupe was successful throughout the local area, and the songs for “Pszczyna Wedding” were recorded by Polish radio and bought by UNESCO. She died in Oświęcim on July 28, 1986, and is buried in the parish cemetery there. She received many decorations for her ac-tivities, including the Com-mander’s Cross of the Order of Poland Reborn, the Of-ficer’s Cross of the Order of Poland Reborn, the Victory and Freedom Medal, and the Gold Cross for Services to the Development of the wojew-ództwo of Katowice.

Ingrid Biolik

JanIna kaJtoch(1904-1986)

PEOPLE Of gOOD WiLL

A cigarette holder, in the shape of a pipe with carved head of a man in a typical striped prisoner’s cap and with horizontal stripes on the pipe’s stem, was a gift given to

Auschwitz prisoner Jerzy Bielecki by a fellow camp prisoner on the occasion of his 22nd birthday.

I realized that on the inter-net you can find many fake items, but I took a chance. When I asked the seller about the origin of the item, they replied: “Unfortunately I do not know exactly when this was found, but it was about 10-15 years ago. It was nailed to a piece of wood, and the person from whom I bought it, ripped it off and sold me the plate.” The item was in very good condition. The piece of metal bears three workers and below them is a symbol of the swas-tika as well as an inscription in German: “Respect work and respect the worker.” Just below this are also the words “Adolf Hitler.” I was very much interested in the fate of the piece of metal and I tried to establish something more, but as it happens, the lack of time and the influx of new items sometimes prevent the completion of a complete investigation. Knowing my own character, I am convinced that some time I will find a moment to try to establish something more about it. Sometimes it happens that we have some-

thing and we do not attach much importance to it, but I think it is my duty to dis-cover all the facts relating to the items in my collection, so that I can authenticate their origin.

Mirosław Ganobis

Metal plate froM auschwitz

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A few years ago while searching the in-ternet looking for items related to my interests, I came across an auction for

a small lead or aluminum plate, that was 17x25cm in size. Its description read: “Brought from AUSCHWITZ, an old and original item. Recommended.”

fROM ganObiS’S cabinET


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Photographer

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PHoto YournAlOn September 5 and 12 in Oświęcim, on the European Day of Jewish Culture 2010, celebrations were held in commemoration of the 10th an-niversary of the Jewish Center. The event included, among others: work-shops for children, lectures and lessons in Israeli dance, as well as a con-cert—a performance by young artists from Israel and Poland. Dominik Smolarek’s photos are shown here. More about the celebrations can be found on pages 12-13.

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