Oś - Monthly Magazine of State Museum

ISSN 1899-4407

PEOPLE

HISTORY

CULTURE

O ŚW I Ę C I M

SAVING AUTHENTICITY—COMMON RESPONSIBILITY

66TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ

no. 26 February 2011

EDITORIAL BOARD: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]

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A GALLERY OF THE 20TH CENTURY

EDITORIAL

The February issue of Oś is domi-nated by the events of January 27, the 66th anniversary of the lib-eration of the former Nazi German Concentration and ExterminationCamp of Auschwitz. In this issue you can read an account of the ceremony and the most important words that were uttered during the event—speeches by former prisoners as well as Presidents: of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, and the Federal Republic of Germany, Christian Wulff. We also write about the visit by the presidents to the International Youth Meeting Center.

We handed over two pages of the monthly to participants of the project en-titled Memory and Commemoration in the Era of Web 2.0. In the January seminar, organized by Maximilian Kolbe Werk, young people from several countries took part. The articles in Oś are the fi rst effects of the group’s work in the press. We would like to draw your attention to an interview with one of the participants of the project, Mustafa Yakupov from Macedonia, as well as the photo essay.In addition to that, in this volume you can also read about an exhibit of items donated by former prisoners and their

families to the Auschwitz Memorial Site. The exhibition can be viewed at the Mu-seum, and also on the website: www.auschwitz.org.pl.Presently, we also invite you for the March review of fi lms on Jewish top-ics at the Jewish Center. At the Monday screenings, as many as 14 fi lms will be shown from the International Film Festi-val Jewish Motifs. The monthly Oś is one of the media patrons of the event.

Paweł SawickiEditor-in-chief

[email protected]

Within the confi nes of the history of a given city, you can take on one of its individ-ual parts—squares, streets, and give them particular at-tention.And here, where we live, such an initiative has taken shape—the detailed descrip-tion of one of our streets: Jagiełły Street, divided into its pre-War, Wartime, and post-War history. Because this used to be “my street,” here are two small peeks into its early post-War years.In the 1950s, the villa of Kul-czycki family, neighboring the “small palace,” and the two tenement buildings next door were taken over by the most important government department of that period: the Department of Security [Urząd Bezpieczeństwa]! Among the many employ-ees, who, once the time came, left their place of work on foot—because having a private automobile was out of the question then—there were two… very pretty girls! Perhaps they were humble secretaries or typists, but maybe they were vitally im-portant assistants of their de-manding bosses. Each day, in the company of their uni-formed and civilian clothed colleagues, they walked past our tenement building. Dur-ing the years of general pov-erty and greyness, they were something interesting and attractive. They drew atten-tion to themselves with their beauty, their fi gure, and the way they dressed. One day, I noticed them from the bal-cony of our home, and I said to my father, who was stand-ing next to me: “Those girls are pretty!” And all he said was: “So, they’re even more dangerous!”

The second episode oc-curred in the vicinity of the fi rst. Back then, within the system of state radio broad-casts, there was a system of so-called cable radio: speak-ers connected by cable to a local headquarters that transmitted a single chan-nel of Polish Radio. These were commonly known as a “kołchoźnik” [a kolkhoz worker], and I am not sure if this was because of a for-eign word affi liation, or because of “the high qual-ity and professional stand-ard.” Where we lived, the

“kołchoźnik” headquarters was in the post offi ce build-ing on Jagiełły Street. For some time, the local radio system broadcast its city in-formation programs. They were prepared by a “crazed reporter”—a young man, who always wore an un-done red tie, whose image was refl ected in the window when looking from the street as he constantly rushed and ran! The effect of his “edito-rial liveliness” was a weekly program, lasting more than a dozen minutes, dedicated to life in the city, more pre-

cisely: the life and activities of respective [Communist] party cells within the city’s workplaces. But this ended quickly! The “Polish thaw” came in October of 1956, with Comrade “Wiesław” at its fore. The “crazed re-porter,” together with his program disappeared from the broadcasts, entering the… history of the city and the street! And cable radio did rather well for a good number of years!

Andrzej Winogrodzki

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Jagiełły Street. Photo courtesy of Henryk Dera

Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 26, February 2011

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WE ARE FACING THE CHALLENGE OF SAVING THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE AUSCHWITZ MEMORIAL

January 27, 2011 marks the passage of 66 years since the liberation of the German Nazi Concentration and Exter-mination Camp Auschwitz. During the anniversary observances Professor Władysław Bartoszewski, former prisoner and initiator of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, addressed a special Appeal to the entire world

for help in maintaining the authentic original remains of the former camp.

“I wish to help preserve this testimony as a living symbol of genocide and intolerance. I do so in remembrance of all the victims who died in Auschwitz-Birkenau and of those who survived this hell. I do so in view of what hap-pened, what is happening now, and what could happen again,” we read in the Pledge, which is available to be signed on a special page at the Ausch-witz Museum website.Taking part in the anni-versary of liberation were former Auschwitz prisoners, the presidents of the Repub-lic of Poland and the Fed-eral Republic of Germany, parliamentarians from the Polish Sejm and the German Bundestag, members of the diplomatic corps, clergy, re-gional and local offi cials and community leaders, invited guests, and people wishing to honor the memory of the victims of the German Nazis. In their remarks, speakers drew attention to the need to preserve the Memorial for future generations. Former

Auschwitz prisoners Eva Umlauf, August Kowalczyk, and Professor Władysław Bartoszewski were among those who addressed the gathering.“By preventing Auschwitz from decay we give a sig-nal for resistance against the Holocaust, which, accord-ing to the plans of the Nazis, should be so total that no trace of the victims would remain, not even of the ex-termination process. For this purpose we established the Foundation Auschwitz-Birk-enau, which collects money for the preservation of the former camp. We are appeal-ing to the whole world for support of this enterprise,” said Professor Bartoszewski.“Auschwitz plays an excep-tionally important role as a museum. I am pleased that we are approaching the mo-ment when we will be able to say that, in the fi nancial sense and in the organiza-tional sense, this place will be permanently secure. It will function permanently not

only as a great affront to the conscience, not only as the unhealed wound, but also as a place for thinking together about the future of the world and about the future of hu-manity,” said Polish Presi-dent Bronisław Komorowski. Germany has contributed €60 million in support of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foun-dation, and the country’s president stressed that the name “Auschwitz,” like no

other, symbolizes the crimes that the Germans committed against millions of human be-ings. “Unlike anything else, the name «Auschwitz» stands for the crimes perpetrated by Germans against millions of human beings. They fi ll us Germans with disgust and shame. They lay upon us a historical responsibility that is independent of individual guilt,” said German President Christian Wulff.

Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, sent a special letter to those in at-tendance at the ceremony. “I call on all countries to commit themselves to main-taining this special place. By supporting Auschwitz-Birk-enau fi nancially, we support the testimony of our terrible past,” he wrote. “Even in times of crisis, or perhaps es-pecially in times of crisis, we must uphold the memory of

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It happened seventy years ago, on Septembe r 21, 1940, in Warsaw. I was eighteen years old, when the Germans crammed me, together with more than one thousand fel-low sufferers, into a box car. The train departed toward the un-known. We did not know that our destination was the concentration camp of Auschwitz. But even if we had known about it, we would not have had an idea about this place. Next day none of us, lined up for roll-call, could imagine that after the fi rst phase, when mostly Polish

political prisoners were commit-ted to this camp, also prisoners of war, soldiers of the Red Army would arrive. That thereafter women would come—fi rst Polish, later also those from other nations. That the camps of Birkenau and Monowitz would be established, together with a network of smaller sub-camps, and that here the to-tal annihilation of the European Jews, among them also the victims of “Operation Reinhardt,” would begin, as well as that of the Roma-nies, which all is subsumed with the notion of “Genocide” and as such has found entry into history.

We, the survivors, have been try-ing hard during our whole life to fulfi ll our commitment to those who were mercilessly murdered at Auschwitz. We bear witness to the infernal events and we try hard to prevent even the tiniest piece of memory from falling into oblivion, the memory not only of those vic-tims whose names are known, but also of the thousands of slain children, men, and women who most probably will remain forever unknown. We have believed that Auschwitz obliges also the follow-ing generations to live together in respect for the dignity of man, as well as to actively counter all mani-festations of hate. Here, at the big-gest cemetery—without graves—of the Old Continent it can be seen clearly which are the foundations upon which we must build the Eu-ropean and the Global Community.The last among us former prison-ers are about to leave forever. One day these ceremonies will be held without the participation of former prisoners, their families, their rela-tives. Our testimonies and reports will remain. It is, however, of ut-most and invaluable importance that the place of memory itself

will be preserved in its physi-cal appearance: the “blocks,” the huts, the ramp and the ruins of gas chambers and crematoria, as well as those thousands of objects sto-len from the murdered—suitcases, shoes, spectacles, toothbrushes. They are the silent witnesses of the tragedy, heart-rendering proof of the crimes, sacred relics of the slain. By preventing Auschwitz from de-cay we give a signal for resistance against the Holocaust, which, ac-cording to the plans of the Nazis, should be so total that no trace of the victims would remain, not even of the extermination process. For this purpose we established the Foundation Auschwitz-Birkenau, which collects money for the pres-ervation of the former camp. We are appealing to the whole world for support of this enterprise.Auschwitz-Birkenau is no ordinary museum of martyrdom. It is a place of murder. A cemetery. It must re-main an eternally burning sore in the fl esh of mankind. On occasion of this ceremony I have always re-minded the audience that we must do everything within our power that the words of the Book of Job—a book held in high esteem by Jews as well as Christians—will be fulfi lled: “O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place!”

THE ADDRESS BY PROF. WŁADYSŁAW BARTOSZEWSKI

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The town.In the morning.In fact, some time earlier—dawn is ris-ing above the town, which is slowly leaving its gentle rhythm of awakening.Man is changing the feebleness of rest to a hurry, accompanied by the recur-ring sounds of everyday life, so well known that they have become near-ly imperceptible. Above this town, Oświęcim, however, a sound was born, to which the locals, in the be-ginning, could not give a name—and through this town Death was gliding in wooden clogs, holenderki, Shoes of Death.—Where have you been, at that time—and you, comrade with a number—and you, who arrived together with your granddad? And you, who knew history only from school textbooks—no, you haven’t yet been with us. Where have you all been, in the spring of 1941 at dawn?Do you know that, at that time, the town on the banks of the Soła river was almost becoming S-h-u-f-f-l-e-t-o-w-n, a place totally left to Death lurking in wooden shoes and creeping closely above the ground?Man had little chance to survive the day that was just breaking. Every step was a mine that could go off through the disgraceful action of a kapo or an SS man. Blows were coming and go-ing. Clubs and rifl e butts. But he only was stumbling.Once again and a second time, and then he didn’t lift his legs any more. Shuffl ing he went ahead, with the deadly piece of wood on his feet. And the locals could not give a name to this sound, to this scraping noise—in the beginning isolated, later collective-ly—on the fi rst day of the Kommando

Bunawerke’s march through the town of Oświęcim. But only for the fi rst time. Later on it was easier, especially when they were returning from work at Dwory.The most frequently repeated words: B-u-r-i-a-l! B-u-r-i-a-l-s!We carried those who had died from exhaustion, from work exceeding their physical strength, from a kapo’s club, or an SS man’s bullet. A scraping, a shuffl ing burial. The corpses of the fallen, lifelessly hanging down, were barefooted. Their shoes were carried separately. So Death, captured in this piece of wood, simulated a coffi n, a lit-tle casket.The clogs—the management of IG Farben Auschwitz confi rmed—are limiting the worker’s performance. One began to change them into vari-ous shoes from Army surplus. Shoes from dead people were taken, shoes from the so-called “Canada.”So it was done ... !From the ceiling of the basement, wa-ter drops were running down, along the wall of Block 4. Joining they created tiny rivulets, which were fl owing the faster, the more they were approach-ing the fl oor. Block #4 was the fi rst of the newly built “residential blocks” and opened in December. In the base-ment there was one of the rooms. My room. The new paper pallets, fi lled with fresh straw and spread out along the wall, got soaked with water.Müller and I had our two meters of concrete fl oor under the window in the basement. There we laid down our common pallet. We dragged it like a sack of potatoes. It was heavy and wet. Our wooden clogs, holenderki, wrapped into our trousers, served as pillows. We had one blanket for the

two of us. Sitting halfway upright and leaning against the wall, we spent this memorable evening in silence. We were afraid of the words that desper-ately were pushing toward our lips. It was Christmas Eve 1941.The room, covered with pallets, was fi lled with the longing, with the des-peration of those who remembered previous Christmas Eves in liberty. At a certain moment, I noticed a prisoner with a green triangle. He went past us until the end of the room, returned, and stopped before our pallet.—What’s your name? — he asked me in German.—August.—Do you like potato fritters?My eyes surely expressed astonish-ment. Müller even burst out laughing.—Yes, I do—I said resolutely, though with an undertone of suspiciousness.The German reached under his coat and drew a mess tin from under his arm.—That’s for you and your comrade. Merry Christmas!—I don’t see your shoes—he suddenly said in a casual tone.—My clogs are under my head.—I’ll be back in a few minutes for the mess tin. Enjoy your meal!Müller and I “broke” the last potato fritter like a wafer. He was thinking of this family at Radom, and I of mine at Mielec and Dębica. Our benefactor re-turned. He took the mess tin and laid a pair of leather jackboots upon my blanket.—May they serve you, August, and bring you home safe and sound.—And he disappeared!Müller gazed in disbelief after him.—An angel with a green triangle—he whispered.That was the one and only time I met him. I never saw him before, and I have never seen him later. The angel was a German, a common criminal (green triangle), who appeared on Christmas Eve 1941, fed us with potato fritters, gave me a pair of leather boots and disappeared, for sure, to his “heaven,” which he probably had within himself. His wish, “May these boots bring you home safe and sound,” however, was only partially fulfi lled.They brought me half a year later to the Königsgraben drainage ditch, from where I escaped in a mass breakout during the uprising of the penal com-pany. The “Christmas boots,” howev-er, remained in the brushwood at the banks of the Vistula. I swam through

the river barefoot. Here the dogs lost my traces. It is impossible today to elude the really magic meaning of shoes in the life of a work slave of the Third Reich and IG Farben Auschwitz. With certainty one cannot foresee the role objects are playing in our lives, and I even dare say, nor what their lives mean in our life.Thirty years had passed, when the “Christmas boots” reappeared. In the 1970s an East German company from Babelsberg was shooting scenes of the fi lm Die Bilder des Zeugen Schatt-mann (The pictures of witness Schatt-mann) on the premises of the Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was about the history of a Jewish couple in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The offer to play a prisoner, after having played SS men in fi lms and in televi-sion for many years, was tempting. An important role played the fact that I had my head shaven—at that time, I was playing the Mephisto in Goethe’s Faust on stage. I went to a casting ses-sion. It was the time of the transition from winter to spring. Rests of snow were lying between the blocks. The fi lm team had occupied Block 8. Once upon a time my block. My former room was serving as the costume de-pository. I did not have a problem with choosing the striped prisoner’s dress. I protested, however, when I was asked to choose clogs, holenderki, from a huge pile.—Only leather boots!The costume designer looked suspi-ciously at me, like at that kind of an actor, who does not yet know what he will play, but already has his own ideas how to do it.—Excuse me, Sir, I prepared myself very carefully for this fi lm, I studied the documents, and I am insisting on clogs.I reached for my wallet, in which I had my “Auschwitz trinity”: in profi le, en face, and with the prisoner number. Historic photographs. I stuck them up at the frame of the looking glass.—These are my documents.It struck like a bombshell. From that moment I spent many extra hours with the German team, telling my sto-ry, my memories. I concluded my tale with the “Christmas boots.” This was the real end of the Shoes of Death, the wooden clogs, which had almost bur-ied Oświęcim under their shuffl e—the town on the banks of the Soła river, the town that bears a s-t-i-g-m-a in the his-tory of mankind.

THE SPEECH OF AUGUST KOWALCZYK

what people are capable of doing. We cannot erase this from our memory.” During the ceremony there was also talk of the need to prevent similar things from happening today and in the future. “We must do eve-rything within our power to prevent a repetition of this tragic event. We must combat all manifestations of racism, antisemitism, xeno-phobia, and hate that could lead to a new genocide. We believe that commemorating the victims of the Holocaust will be a successful lesson to

this purpose,” stressed Zvi Rav-Ner, the Ambassador of Israel. Representing the Roma com-munity, Romani Rose said that human rights and the rights of minorities are insep-arable. “For centuries, Sinti and Romanies have been residents of the countries of Europe. They are an integral part of European history and culture. Discrimination, rabble-rousing motivated by racism, and violence against Sinti and Romanies must be ostracized as rigorously as the various manifestations of

antisemitism by those who are politically responsible and by the European institu-tions. This is the lesson to be learnt from Auschwitz,” he said. The ceremonies concluded at the Monument to the Vic-tims of the Camp, where those in attendance placed candles commemorating the victims of Auschwitz while rabbis and clergy of the vari-ous Christian faiths joined together in reading the 42nd Psalm

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Your Excellencies,Dear Mr. Director,Ladies and Gentlemen,You discovered me as one of the youngest individuals who were tat-tooed with their prisoner number at Auschwitz, and you asked me to deliver a speech here. I will do this, though I’ll do it with a lot of mixed feelings—you certainly will un-derstand. Well, I accepted the chal-lenge, and I am now asking you to follow my brief personal refl ections with an open heart and a willing-ness toward understanding.When I was a child, I believed ... , yes, I even was nearly certain ... to be “a miracle,” although I did not know what this meant in reality. When my mother, my sister, and I, after our return from Auschwitz were walking through the streets of our town, more often than not we were welcomed with disbelief: “What a miracle—you’re still alive!”These encounters belong to my fi rst memories. They made a fi rm impres-sion on me, because I often racked my brains trying to fi nd out what the adults would say with this.—On the one hand, it went without saying for me that I was I, that is to say, a miracle—anyway, I could not

imagine something other than me being who I was.—On the other hand, I felt with sen-sibility that a miracle must be some-thing very extraordinary, because I felt, in my soul, pride and happiness to be one.Of course I realized the politically explosive nature of these exclama-tions only much later. With the benefi t of hindsight I can now say that surviving those times, and later leading a seemingly normal life, re-ally has been a miracle.I do not have conscious memories of my fi rst years of life, which I spent in the Novaky work camp, where I was born in December 1942, and in the Auschwitz concentration camp. But I have deep unconscious body-and-soul memories of them.—My infantile body embodied, in-corporated into itself, neglect, hun-ger, serious diseases and threats of annihilation, infl icted on it.—Human depreciation, mortal ago-ny, and horror, forced upon my soul, were unconsciously stored. Any time they can be “recalled.”For a child, its mother is the center of the world, outside or within a camp. Under this aspect my “child’s world behind the electrifi ed wire”

was seemingly in order, since I had my mother. But I did not have a mother free from worries:—her own mortal agony in the camps,—the burden weighing heavily upon her during the transports,—her worrying about me and, later on, also about my sister, who today is present here, too,—her mourning for my father, her husband, murdered during the death march, and—the permanent, everyday threats in the camp, which she confronted with cleverness.All this did not remain hidden from me, who deeply felt for her. It be-came my “legacy of feelings,” a lega-cy with which I am preoccupied still today, and by which also my chil-dren, who long since have grown up, are transgenerationally affected.My mother, full of energy and never losing heart, was the guarantor for our survival.—In the camps of Sered, Novaky, and Auschwitz, she remained im-perturbable, fi rm as a rock.—In the camp hospital, she even survived a serious jaundice, though being pregnant.—Although she herself was sick, she took care that I, who was seri-ously ill at Auschwitz at the same time, would recover.—She took a boy of about four years, who had been lost under cha-otic circumstances, into our family. With great diffi culty she eventually found his relatives.It is written in the Old Testament: “He who saves a single human soul, saves the whole world.” Though my mother herself was cruelly mal-treated, she acted according to this maxim, which sometimes appears nearly unreal to me, but she, indeed, grew up to a symbol of tremendous human greatness. Two days before we, on November 2, 1944, arrived at Auschwitz, an order had been given that as of then the newly arrived should only be tattooed with camp numbers, but no more gassed, since there was no more suffi cient time

for gassing. It was a deciding coin-cidence for our survival.When I imagine that many thousand Slovak men and women were de-ported to Auschwitz and that only a few hundred returned, I understand the neighbors well, when they said that it was “a miracle” to see us alive in the street.We who returned, survived at the ex-pense of being the living milestones of a never ending way of suffering.Maybe for that reason I use to react with strong emotions, when I am be-ing addressed as “former prisoner.” Maybe these words are functionally correct in the context of the organi-zation of a concentration camp—I was imprisoned, for sure. I fi nd it, however, horrible that by this us-age of speech, human suffering and inhumanity again are denied, surely unconsciously and even by well-meaning people.I would wish for myself that that which once happened will be un-derstood and mentally processed to prevent further—personal suffering,—breakdowns of civilization in soci-ety,—inhumane systems of violence, and—transfer of the legacies of feelings to the next generations and to soci-ety as a whole.For me personally it is very impor-tant to make crystal clear that, in the wake of the Nazi period,—those who were threatened be-hind the electrifi ed wire with vio-lence and death, are carrying with them the bitter legacies of feelings from the experience of violence,but that also—those who seemingly were liv-ing in peace before the electrifi ed wire, with diffi culty are carrying the legacy of feelings inherited from the burden of the misdeeds. Both sides, the perpetrators as well as the victims, will pass these lega-cies of feelings to their respective offspring, until these legacies of feelings have been courageously and consciously worked through.

THE SPEECH BY EVA UMLAUF

Here in Auschwitz-Birkenau, as perhaps nowhere else, we are pain-fully confronted with the night-mare of war and with the memory of the nightmare of war—the war that cost the lives of many millions of people. Yet here in Auschwitz the knowledge and memory of all the horrifi c crimes are focused as if by a lens. This place is one of the symbols of the tragedy that the world lived through, that Europe lived through, and that the nations that had to grapple with the great challenge of the wave of hatred, the wave of Nazism, lived through. Auschwitz is one of the most pain-ful symbols of the Holocaust, of the extermination of the Jews, of the extermination of the Roma and Sinti, only because they were Jews, Roma, and Sinti. In the memory of

Poles, Auschwitz is not only a place where Jews who were citizens of Poland died because they were Jews, but also a place where eve-ryone died, where all of those died who had the courage to stand up to the legal system created during the war under an occupying state. Tens of thousands of Poles died here, and Russians died as prison-ers of war.Thus Auschwitz, Auschwitz-Birk-enau, is a symbol of horrifi c crimes. In such a place all of us would sure-ly prefer to remain silent and pre-fer to pray quietly in our own way, to refl ect in silence on everything that is important not only to un-derstanding the crime, to its evalu-ation, but equally to refl ection on where the origins of such horrible deeds may lie. Yet remaining silent

here is impossible, which is why I wish in a special way to thank those eyewitnesses, the people who survived, who endured the condi-tions of such terrible crimes, such terrible danger, for the fact that they have had the fortitude for dec-ades on end to speak, to tell their story, to bear witness to the truth, although that memory is surely the most painful thing to them. I there-fore wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to all who are witnesses of those awful times, and who have chosen to be here today together with us, together with the Presi-dent of Germany, together with the President of Poland.I also wish to thank the young peo-ple from Israel, from Germany, from Poland, and from many other countries who choose to meet here

in Auschwitz. They want to learn about those horrible times, but they also want to seek a path to a better, wiser, and more beautiful world. It is imperative to speak here so that we can remember and know, but above all it is imperative to speak here in order to spur deep refl ec-tion within ourselves about wheth-er these same frightful mechanisms of crime are pulsing today with some sort of life concealed within our contemporary world.This is why Auschwitz plays an exceptionally important role as a museum. I am pleased that we are approaching the moment when we will be able to say that, in the fi nan-cial sense and in the organizational sense, this place will be permanent-ly secure. It will function perma-nently not only as a great affront to

THE ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND BRONISŁAW KOMOROWSKI

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the conscience, not only as the unhealed wound that Władysław Bartoszewski spoke about, but also as a place for thinking togeth-

er about the future of the world and about the future of humanity. My wish for young people is that they never face the questions

that that generation, and also the generation born imme-diately af-ter the war or shortly a f t e r w a r d faced. Presi-dent Wulff and I both belong to p r e c i s e l y that gen-eration that grew up in the shad-ow of the war, in the shadow of

crime, in the shadow of that terrible hatred. It is my wish that you never mull over the dilemma that was the lot of my generation

as we worked through the reading list at school, as we talked things over in our family homes, of whether the world can still be a good world, or whether there can still be a place for poetry, for music, or a place for creating philosophy after such a horrible crime. To-day we know that the an-swer is yes, that the world is making progress despite that terrible experience. Yet there must be a place, and it is here in Auschwitz, where remembering is a constant imperative, in order to con-struct a future world built on the truth, terribly pain-ful though it may be, that is essential to knowledge of the world and of ourselves. I would also like to stress that I am here today with the President of Germany.

This is perhaps the fi rst event of its kind when the presidents of Poland and Germany can be together in such an extraordinary place. I would like to say that this is also a signal of the fact that the world is moving in the right direc-tion, that despite that terri-ble experience, after many many years, and after many many years of work, we are closer to the point where we can eliminate from contem-porary society, from con-temporary states, and from the contemporary world all those horrible things that weighed us down, that poisoned at least several generations in our part of Europe with the venom of hatred and with terrible pain. Thank you.

President Komorowski,Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,

On this very day, sixty-six years ago, the suffering of the survivors of Auschwitz fi nally came to an end. The liberators had arrived.The suffering of the victims of Auschwitz in the preceding years is inconceivable, inexpressible, in-describable. Nevertheless it must be understood, told and described over and over again. After a cyni-cal selection process, hundreds of thousands of human beings were sent directly from the “ramp” to the gas chambers to die a terrible death. Children were separated from their parents, families were torn apart. Prisoners, irrespective of their ori-gins, who were not murdered on the spot had to do forced labor under horrible conditions. They suffered from hunger and were exposed to the elements without any protec-tion. They were subjected to inhu-mane punishments, harassment and pseudomedical experiments, which in fact were nothing but cruel tor-tures. They were completely at their perpetrators’ mercy.Auschwitz and other camps were the scenes of the maltreatment and murder of Jews, Sinti and Roma, prisoners of war, resistance fi ghters, homosexuals, disabled and other in-dividuals.Even before they arrived at Ausch-witz, the Jews of Germany—and later those from German occupied countries—had increasingly been deprived of their rights, had been humiliated and degraded. This process culminated in the systemat-ic persecution of the Jews of Europe, aiming at their destruction.Auschwitz is situated on Polish soil. A large number of its victims were Polish nationals. Poland and her citi-zens suffered immeasurably under German occupation and National Socialist racial fanaticism.

Unlike anything else, the name “Auschwitz” stands for the crimes perpetrated by Germans against millions of human beings. They fi ll us Germans with disgust and shame. They lay upon us a histori-cal responsibility that is independ-ent of individual guilt: never again we must allow such crimes to occur. And we must keep alive the memo-ries. Knowing about the horrors that occurred and about things people were capable of doing to others, are reminding and obliging us, as well as future generations, to preserve the dignity of man under all cir-cumstances and never again to per-secute, degrade or kill other human beings just because they adhere to a different faith or are of other ethnic origin, political conviction or sexual orientation.We Germans have been lucky in-sofar as the victims and their de-scendants have expressed their will to reconciliation. We know that this was not easy for them. Therefore we appreciate very much that Jewish life once again is fl ourishing in Ger-many, that we have a unique rela-tionship with Israel, and that we are linked in deep friendship with our Polish and other neighbours. This has been an immense gift for us.It is impossible to imagine the hor-rors in their entirety. Not before those who suffered are given a name, a face, a home, can we try to understand their fate and really feel what they went through. That is the reason why it is so important that the survivors, in spite of their old age, tell students about their lives, that they tell them what it meant “to stand at the ramp at the age of sev-enteen.”I am profoundly grateful to see sur-vivors among us here today, some of whom even accompanied me from Germany. As long as you sur-vivors are bearing witness, there can be no forgetting, and if we will pre-serve and pass on your testimony,

there will be no forgetting either. Everybody who is listening to your stories will be touched for ever. You are both the victims of terror and the bridge toward a better future. For me as the President of the Federal Republic of Germany it is very im-portant to be together with you here in Auschwitz.The more the number of those who still can testify personally is decreasing, the more the written, photographic and fi lmed evidence is receiving importance, the more the preservation of the places of memory, especially of Auschwitz, becomes important. Let all of us do everything within our power to con-tribute to this aim.Helpful are also memory plaques on houses, reminding of their former occupants, who were deprived of their rights, expelled, and mur-dered. Or those small brass memory plaques, “stumbling blocks,” set in the pavement before the houses the victims had been living in before ex-pulsion.Today’s young people must know the truth about the National Social-ist terror regime. Then they will raise their voices and resolutely contradict those who are denying or falsifying the facts. They will step

up against those who do not want to understand, who are disparaging the dead and mocking the survivors.For this reason I invited young peo-ple to accompany me to Israel and Yad Vashem last November. For that reason President Komorowski and I went together to the Interna-tional Youth Meeting Center today to discuss with young people about courage to stand up for one’s beliefs, about a civilization in which one doesn’t look away, in which one in-tervenes whenever necessary.We must not forget that, back then, there were people from all nations and from all strata of society who did not look away, but who helped as much as they could, often risk-ing their own lives. Many of those “Righteous among the Nations” are commemorated in Yad Vashem.Remembrance, commemoration and mourning should not paralyse life, should not bar the way to the future; on the contrary, they should make it possible. Together we bear responsibility to ensure that such a break in civilization never will hap-pen again—not in Europe, neither anywhere on the Globe. For this reason, for the victims’ and for our future’s sake, we must keep the memories alive.

THE ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY CHRISTIAN WULFFFo

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We are meeting for the sixty-sixth time in winter.That is more often than the majority of those present celebrated their birthday anniversaries.

I was born thirty yearsafter the gas chambers of the Holocaust were put into operation.It is diffi cult for me to imaginethe second,the third ...the fi fth ...anniversary.How different the atmosphere must have been at that time!When the reverberations of Death could still be felt,when they were loud and omnipresent at this place.At a time when pain slowly began to change into memory.

Now we are here and look at Auschwitzfrom the perspective of the twenty-fi rst century.At the core of Europe’s worst experience.At a point of no return, after which nothing was as it has been.At the apogee. At the bottom. At today’s most important point of reference.At our European conscience.

There are survivors among us, those who lived through this hell.From there they brought with them, in their luggage,fear from the perpetrator,frequently also from the fellow prisoner,maybe also anxiety about themselves.Today their words and testimonies belong to the great voice of history.

There are men and women among us who were born just after the war,frequently with an inquiring look,in the fi eld of tension between angst and disbelieving.Nowhere else than here, at this place,we feel a panic desire to fl ee from verbalization.From naming. And so also from understanding.

There are men and women among us who bear a special responsibility:Politicians, leaders, decision makers.Their word puts things in order.They have, however, also the power to destroy this order.Nowhere else than here, at this place, they clearly seethe immense and rarely bearable degree of responsibility that rests on their shoulders.Here great ideas do not matter, neither nailing one’s colors to the mast, nor power, nor honor.Here real human beings do matter. Men and women. Everybody.

There are young people among us.It will take many years until their word will infl uence the reality of our world.Today, however, we can ask ourselves:Are we giving them a chance to understand?Among all these words, big ones and small ones, ceremonious and everyday words, strange and understandable words,

I would like to remind us of wordsthat were never said on the occasion of our anniversaries.

Did our ears hear the voices of those who are not among us,who never have been among us?The voices of those who could not experience a single anniversary of the liberation.The voices of those whose steps at Auschwitz were their last steps.

Let us especially rememberthat the voices of the majority of the victims of Auschwitz died with their last cry,before any liberation whatsoever.

They are the strongest commitment for our memory.We look for their voices in the echoes of our epilogues.In the language of our memory.In our conscience.

I am thanking the survivors who are present. Once again.I am thanking the Presidents.I am thanking everybody who came here.

I do not do this in my own name alone.Though I do not have the least rightto thank in the name of somebody else.Especially in the name of someone who has been silent for more than sixty-six years.

As usually, I am thanking, and I am asking.

We are meeting exactly on this day and this very place ...This Day of Liberation has become a Day of Remembrance for mankind,and this place—as pars pro toto—has become a symbol known worldwide.That means a great commitment for all of us.

Exactly here, at this very place,let me exclaim:We need help with the preservation of the authenticity of Auschwitz!We need help more than ever before.

There are no more remains of Treblinka, Kulmhof,Sobibór, and Bełżec.Let us not allow that the biggest of these death campsand the only one that is still recognizablewill fall into decay due to the ravages of the timeand our indifference.

Let us today side with the remembrance.With the conscience.So that future generations, those of our children and their children,can come and stand here and—may the Almighty grant it—understand things better.

THE ADDRESS BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MUSEUMDR. PIOTR M.A. CYWIŃSKI

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During the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the International Youth Meeting Center played host to the Presidents of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, and of Germany, Christian Wulff. The two men par-ticipated in a debate with former inmates of Auschwitz as well as Polish and German youth, entitled What

remains in the memory... The history of Europe, the hope of Europe.

WHAT REMAINS IN MEMORY

The discussion, which was moderated by the President of the Board of the Founda-tion for the IYMC, Dr. Alicja Bartuś, and Christoph Heubner, the Vice-President of the International Ausch-witz Committee and one of the co-creators of the Cent-er, was the fi rst point in the commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi German Concentration and Extermi-nation Camp. Before the de-bate, the two Presidents met with Polish and German former Auschwitz prisoners in the IYMC library.“Thank you that you have extended your hand in our direction. We would also like to thank you for your bearing witness, because

of this we will remember throughout the next cen-tury what had happened in Auschwitz,” said the presi-dent of Germany, Christian Wulff to the audience of Polish and German former prisoners. Among them were: Kazimierz Albin, Wil-helm Brasse, Hermann Höl-lenreiner, August Kowalczyk, Oljean Ingster, David Lewin, Józef Paczyński, Zo-fi a Posmysz-Piasecka, Ka-zimierz Smoleń, Tadeusz Smreczyński, Justin Sonder, and Tadeusz Sobolewicz.“For me, this day is special because I have the opportu-nity to meet people who feel compelled to tell the future generations about this,” stressed the German Presi-dent.“I belong to the Polish generation that lived and matured in the shadow of the War as well as in the shadow of their own fami-lies’ experiences. In fact, my entire childhood in our fam-ily home consisted of recol-lections about the War—in equal measure the memo-ries of the struggle: the partisan actions, the under-ground, the Warsaw Upris-ing, as well as recollections of the terrible crimes that, of course, affected Polish families to an extraordinar-ily high degree. This sense of pain lasted for genera-tions—I think that in my family’s case for three gen-erations,” recalled President Bronisław Komorowski. “I remember once walking with my father, holding his hand and I was looking at him as if he were a picture, since I was absolutely cer-tain that he was the bravest soldier that had avenged the

death of his brother several times. And I asked the ques-tion, which was typical of my generation, with a deep conviction already knowing what the answer would be. I asked: ‘Dad, and how many Germans did you kill?’ I expected that this would be some great number, be-cause he had been both in the Polish underground and partisan groups of the Vilnius region in a fi ght that had its end on front line near Dresden. I remember the feeling when my father stood up. Holding me by my hand, he looked at me and said, ‘You know, I hope none.’ This was the moment when I had to reevaluate my attitude toward the War and all that war has brought to my generation.” Taking part in the discus-sion were students from schools in Oświęcim, Bieruń, and Bielsko-Biała, as well as German high school students from Kassel and Giessen, and students from the Volkswagen School in Wolfsburg.Addressing them, President Komorowski stated: “That is why I am glad that the International Youth Meet-ing Center exists here, in Oświęcim. I am also of the post-War generation, just as President Wulff, but you are even more post-war and you do not even carry such memories, like mine, some inherited from parents, but this does not exempt you from the duty to possess this knowledge. A knowl-edge that of course can easily be combined with a quite optimistic vision of the world—where these ter-rible experiences are simul-taneously a commitment to a better and more enjoyable life. Sometime after the War, my generation was asked: If after the experiences of the Second World War, after the experience of genocide, af-ter the experience of Ausch-witz, was it even possible to create philosophy, write poetry, or to paint cheer-ful images? I think that we also asked ourselves this question. I hope that my children’s generation will not have such dilemmas. They know that the world is sometimes malicious and cruel, but you need to build a world that is beautiful, in-telligent, and good.”

Words, important for the IYMC, were uttered by Zofi a Posmysz, writer, au-thor of, among others, The Passenger. “What does this Center mean to me? This is a place where—as nowhere else—I do not feel that my life is empty, that I have nothing to say, that I have nothing to do. Here, I am convinced that I have some-thing else to do, something useful. I am among the peo-ple who are sensitive, close, and sincere. My personal meetings with the youth offer me hope. Hope that these young people who have come here voluntarily, after coming into contact with the reality ... this crea-tion, which was Auschwitz, will be immune to the vari-ous murderous ideologies, which created this kind of monster,” she said.

Speaking about the Center was also August Kowalczyk, who said, “I live along with this town of Oświęcim and I am linked to this soil and to these stones. ‘Im Lager Auschwitz war ich zwar.’ I come here after 66 years, as I did previously after 65, 64, 63 ... to meet ... myself, and that—number 6804. I have started to like it. I like it not because, after all, this is my Auschwitz, but here in this city on the Soła River is a Center, my Center and for those like me—the International Youth Meet-ing Center. For me—my house, painted with com-passion. A magical place which changes our desires in a friendly din that was once hostile; now young people speaking German come here. They listen to us and feel that it is important for us, very important. And then it turns out that for them, it is equally impor-tant. They want to under-

stand, by getting to know us. The IYMC is not only a Polish-German place, it is a world of young people speaking many languages, and most importantly, those who are hosted here need us, and we need them. And this is why, being 90 years old, I get into a train from Warsaw to Oświęcim and I come to the IYMC, my House that was painted with compassion.”An important element of the debates were the refl ec-tions put forward by young people. “I think that having grown up in the shadow of Auschwitz, some part of it lives within me and is with me everywhere, wherever I go. Every time I hear some stupid antisemitic remark, a red light goes on in my mind and I cannot get over it. Of course, I am well aware of

what came out of such re-marks,” said 19-year-old Iga Bunalska, a participant in many educational projects organized by the IYMC.

“Here, I am performing my alternative to military serv-ice and would like to stress how important this work is for me. These meetings are of enormous importance to me, in no other place in the world would it be pos-sible to experience what I experience here,” said an IYMC volunteer, Fredi Hahn, from Austria. “After meeting a large number of visitors who come here I noticed, nevertheless, most had come from Germany even though more than 60 years have passed, there is still great interest and what happened, should never be forgotten. I have had many amazing experiences here.”

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Tearful eyes and a standing ovation—this is how Zofi a Posmysz was honored by the Oświęcim audience that completely fi lled the Szymański Hall at the IYMC. The meeting with the writer and former prisoner of Auschwitz, entitled the Return of The Passenger, was held on the 23rd of January. Its organizers were the

Judaica Foundation—Center for Jewish Culture in Cracow.

RETURN OF THE PASSENGER

DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE MEMORY AND HERITAGE OF AUSCHWITZ

The meeting took the form of conversation, in which Leszek Szuster as well as wonderful (as usual) Zo-fi a Posmysz did not only return to memories of the writer, but also shed light on the creation of the radio drama, novel, and fi lm The Passenger as well as the op-era by Mieczysław Wein-berg that bears the same title. The conversation was accompanied by a pres-entation of excerpts of the

works. The premiere of The Pas-senger—the opera with the libretto by Alexander Medvedev based on the novel by Zofi a Posmysz during the opera festival in Bregenz, and then a presen-tation at the Grand Theatre-National Opera in Warsaw, which with certainty was one of the major musical events of 2010. More than half a century after the dra-ma by Zofi a Posmysz was

broadcast by Polish Radio and later the fi lm by An-drzej Munk won acclaim at Cannes, it can be said that The Passenger has truly re-turned. The meeting with the author was an attempt to take a fresh look at this work within a different his-torical reality.

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A MEETING WITH ZOFIA POSMYSZ

She is a novelist and screenwriter. In 1942, she was imprisoned in the Ger-man Concentration Camp Auschwitz and later sent to Ravensbrück. In 1945, she made her literary debut with her memoirs, Znam katów z Belsen [I Know the Executioners from Belsen]. Among others, she worked at writing for Głos Ludu [Voice of the People] and at Polish Radio. The pub-licity resulted in a radio play entitled, The Passenger from Cabin Number 45 that formed the basis for An-

drzej Munk’s fi lm The Pas-senger, and later, the book bearing the same title that was published in 1962. The fi lm’s director was killed in 1961 before the com-pletion of the fi lm, so the movie had to be fi nished by his colleagues and was released two years later.Zofi a Posmysz is the au-thor of several novels, in-cluding Wakacje nad Adri-atykiem [Holidays on the Adriatic], short stories, and fi lm scripts. For many years now she has been closely associ-

ated with the IYMC—it is here that several times a year she meets with groups of young people. In 2008, she was a guest at a meet-ing in the series European Conversations at the IYMC. The talk during the evening, entitled Litera-ture and Memory revolved around the story of Christ in Auschwitz, whose publica-tion in Polish and German is planned by the IYMC this year in the guise of Tadeusz Palone-Lisowski, the main character of the work.

ZOFIA POSMYSZ

On January 28, at the International Youth Meeting Center a symposium was held, entitled The Culture of Remembrance—the Heritage of Auschwitz, which was prepared in cooperation with the Institute of Civil Society Pro Publico Bono. It was attended by representatives of the Oświęcim institutions involved in his-

torical education: the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer, Jewish Center, International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, the State Higher Vocational School, the Association of Roma in Poland, and the IYMC.The goal of the meeting was to agree on the princi-ples of cooperation within the program The Culture of Remembrance—The Identity of Małopolska, which was initiated by the governor of Małopolska, Stanisław Kracik. As the governor stressed, the special impor-tance of this project is to present the plans by Nazi Germany to exterminate the Jewish people, as well as the mass murder of the Polish state’s leadership class; this also includes the presentation of knowledge about the centuries of co-existence between Jews and Poles, together with the

promotion of human rights in the contemporary world. The training of teachers, projects for students of Małopolska and opportuni-ties to try to change the cur-riculum in middle and high schools were also the topics discussed. All the partici-pants agreed on the need for a collaborative effort. In April, as part of the WKOP-WiM Cracow Symposium, entitled Teaching history at the historical sites, there will be a presentation about the work of Oświęcim based educational institutions.The guests of honor of the symposium were Fr. Car-dinal Franciszek Macharski

as well as former prison-ers of Auschwitz, who met the same day at a solemn breakfast at IYMC. During this meeting, they proposed their support for the 25th anniversary celebration of the founding of the IYMC that will take place in 2011. For this purpose, an Honor-ary Committee was created that includes: Zofi a Pos-mysz, August Kowalczyk, Wilhelm Brasse, Kazimierz Smoleń, Józef Paczyński, Tadeusz Smreczyński, Ta-deusz Sobolewicz, as well as Kazimierz Albin.

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On the site of the former Nazi German Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz, work continues on the restoration of two former prisoner blocks, numbered 2 and 3. All of these activities have one goal,

guided by the principle of minimum intervention, to remove harmful microbes as well as to strengthen the structure of the building, which ultimately will restore the original appearance of the authentic building.

TO SAVE FROM DESTRUCTION

LET US BUILD MEMORY. AN EXHIBIT OF DONATIONS GIVEN TO THE AUSCHWITZ MEMORIAL SITE

Currently, almost all the work is completed in remov-ing the wooden fl oors and parts of the wooden ceiling. Also dismantled were the plaster coated soffi t boards, nailed to the underside of the beams. Preliminary con-servation work, which in-volved repairing cracks and fractures, took place on the dismantled fl oorboards as

well as the disinfection and preservation of the walls and cleaning of the ceramic elements.After the initial securing of the door woodwork, it was transported to the conser-vation workshop where further preservation work was carried out. Work also continues on excavating the fi lled in basements in the two blocks, which is being done together with the shor-ing up of the foundations. In Block 2, this work was completed from the ground fl oor of the stairwell to the basement level. The base-ment’s ceiling beams and joists have been reinforced.Work related to the conser-vation of metal elements such as staircase railings, components of the water

system, and items made of mineral mortars (such as, sewer pipes) are still ongo-ing. An important compo-nent of the conservation work that is being carried out is the continuing photo-graphic and graphic docu-mentation of the buildings’ conservation status.The project’s implementa-tion is possible through EU co-fi nancing from the European Regional Devel-opment Fund under the Operational Program Infra-structure and Environment for the years 2007- 2013.

Monika Bernacka

Conservation work also continues on wooden bar-racks on the site of the former Auschwitz II-Birk-

enau Concentration and Ex-termination Camp.The work on barracks B-166 foundation has come to a fi nish, as have the efforts of protecting fragments of the concrete fl oor against the winter on the interior of the building. However, in the conservation workshop the process of cleaning ele-ments of the walls, roof, as well as the structural ele-ments continues, and this includes the replacement of missing and damaged sec-tions of the original carpen-try work.In the last quarter of 2010, barracks B-210 has had its lightning protection, sky-lights, and metal roofi ng elements as well as tarpaper removed. The entire struc-ture of the barracks was

dismantled and transported to the workshop, where it is being put through the appropriate conservation work. Also carried out was archaeological research that included the analysis of the ground and its condi-tion near the building. The non-original cement was dismantled and work on the removal of the replaced foundation started.The maintenance project of the fi ve wooden barracks at the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp is co-fi nanced by the European Union through the European Regional De-velopment Fund under the Operational Program Infra-structure and Environment 2007-2013.

Iga Bunalska

In block 12 of Auschwitz I, the Let Us Build Memory exhibit has been organized to show the personal me-mentos, documents, and art work related to the history of Auschwitz, the Nazi German Concentration and Extermination Camp, that have been donated to the Museum by former prisoners and their families. All of

these donated items have been handed over to the Museum in the last three years.

Among the items presented are the striped uniforms worn by the prisoners, patches bearing their camp numbers, signet rings creat-ed in the camp, camp letters, a sign from a train in which the Jews were deported from Westerbork Concen-tration Camp in Nazi-oc-cupied Holland, and even rubber toys that were cut out of rubber, made by an unknown prisoner for the

son of prisoner Genowefa Marczewska.According to the Director of the Museum, Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński, this exhibit is very emotional, because many of the donated items are personal mementoes, that families have cherished for decades. In his opinion, it is extremely important that what has been found can be preserved at the Me-morial. “This way, the items are then placed in their proper context, they work together with other objects, and above all let us dis-cover and get to know fur-ther details, the elements of this tragic story. Secondly, the keepsakes are very safe here, placed under proper care, conservation, and looked after by the special-ists in the collections depart-ment. They will be kept here for generations,” said Direc-tor Cywiński.

“Each of these authentic artifacts associated with Auschwitz is another story that constitutes testimony of those tragic times. We are grateful for the support we have received so far and we urge you to submit such items to our institu-tion. They serve in spread-ing knowledge about the history of Auschwitz and commemorate those people whose fate met with one of the most tragic places in his-tory,” the preface to the ex-hibition says.

In one of the exhibit-cases you can see handmade cards given to the Museum by Helena Datoń-Szpak. Pris-oners made these greeting cards as a token of gratitude for her assistance. “During the war, while working as a young girl in the SS canteen she assisted prisoners by smuggling—this included illegal correspondence to the prisoners families. For her, they prepared hand-written and painted greet-ing cards to celebrate name days, birthdays, or holidays.

One of the histories asso-ciated with these cards is very touching, because it is evidence of the feelings that were shared by Helena and one of the prisoners. On one of the cards is, in fact, a per-sonal poem written to Mrs. Datoń-Szpak,” said Elżbieta Brzózka, Head of the Collec-tions Department.The exhibition Let Us Build Memory will be open until February 24. Most artifacts can also be seen in a special online exhibition on the Mu-seum website. ps

Memory is not something that is acquired once and remains forever. The moment that the last eyewitnesses and survivors pass away, we have to work together to cultivate what re-mains: the testimonies of those former prisoners and the authentic artifacts connected with the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Each item has its own enormous meaning and should fi nd its place in the collection of the Memorial Site. Here, it will be preserved, studied, and displayed. Their place is here.

DONATE THE DOCUMENTS OR OTHER HISTORICAL ITEMS IN YOUR POSSESSION TO THE AUSCHWITZ MEMORIAL SITE

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Jewish Center

March 7, 5:00 pm

Divorce Jewish Style, directed by John Edg-inton (Great Britain 2009, 48 minutes).Under Jewish Law, it is the husband who has the right to decide whether he will grant his wife a divorce (the “Get”). If he refuses to do this, the wife could be condemned to years of living within a dead mar-riage. She cannot remarry and any child she bears from a new relationship is considered illegitimate. In this controversial doc-umentary, the “chained wives” from the Ortho-dox Jewish community in Israel and the UK discuss their plight—this includes a woman who has been re-fused a “Get” by her hus-band for 47 years.

The Peretzniks, di-rected by Sławomir Grünberg (Poland/USA 2009, 93 minutes). The fi lm presents the story about the students of I. L. Peretz Jewish School, which existed in Łódź un-til 1969. After its closing, the majority of its gradu-ates were forced to leave Poland as a result of the antisemitic campaign of March 1968. The fi lm tells the story of the unique relationship between Peretzniks, which they cultivated in the post-War Łódź, and the fact that it became even stronger due to the fact that history tried to destroy it. The fi lm is based on the brainchild of Gołda Tencer.

Dana, directed by Amir Fishman (Is-rael 2009, 15 minutes). This fi lm represents the turning point in the rela-tionship between a single young mother and her adolescent daughter when a big secret is discovered. Worried and afraid her daughter is repeating her own mistakes, the mother does not want to fail as a parent, while her daugh-ter wants to prove that she is independent.

Miracle Lady, directed by Moran Somer and Michal Abulafi a (Is-rael 2009, 10 minutes).Winner of the Warsaw Bronze Phoenix Award 2010

Fortuna, a 75-year-old woman, sits, wearing her wedding gown and waits for her late husband to return back home. Mean-while, her next-door neighbor’s elderly serv-ant—Marcela-Merkada—wishes for her miserable life to end. Their two sto-ries intersect and change each of these women’s fates.

March 14, 5:00 pm

Leaving the Fold, directed by Eric R. Scott (Canada 2008, 52 minutes). Win-ner of the Warsaw Bronze Phoenix Award 2010 Leaving the Fold is a fi lm about young individuals who were born and raised within the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world, who no longer wish to remain locked inside this realm. The stories of confl ict, co-ercion, and struggle come from the Hasidic enclaves of Montreal, Brooklyn, and Jerusalem.

Gefi lte Fish, directed by Shelly Kling (Is-rael 2008, 10 minutes). Gali’s family has a long-stanging tradition where every woman who is en-gaged to be married must prepare Gefi lte Fish for the wedding party, as a guar-antee of the marriage’s success. Gali’s mother and grandmother have given her a live carp that has to be cooked. She is torn be-tween the compassion she feels toward the fi sh and the need to abide to her family’s tradition.

Einsatzgruppen: the death brigades, part 2, di-rected by Michaël Prazan (France 2009, 90 minutes).Winner of the Warsaw Sil-ver Phoenix Award 2010In June 1941, the German army invades the Soviet Union. Behind it are the Einsatzgruppen, in other words: death brigades, who have been sent to ful-fi ll the duty of exterminat-ing Jews and the enemies of the Reich. Within a few months, the genocide work is accomplished. In De-cember of 1941, the Baltic countries are declared “Ju-denfrei”—free of Jews… Who were the individuals

who organized and per-petrated the mass murder of the Jews, Gypsies, and Soviet prisoners? Where did they come from? What motivated them to do this?

March 21, 5:00 pm

Einsatzgruppen—the death brigades, part 2, di-rected by Michaël Prazan (France 2009, 90 minutes).Winner of the Warsaw Silver Phoenix Award 2010

Deadly Honour, di-rected by Lipika Pel-ham (Israel/Great Bri-tian 2009, 58 minutes).Deadly Honour docu-ments multiple murders of young women in the Israeli city of Ramla. The narrator is a 15-year-old girl, Salma, who tell the story—based on true events—of a girl who is a survivor of an honor kill-ing. The fi lm presents the fear and trauma of those who survived. Also, the fi lm looks into the social fabric of the mixed Jewish-Arab city, where women have better integrated into mainstream Israeli society than men.

I Seek You at Dawn, di-rected by Eliav Berman (Israel 2008, 15 minutes).Thirty-eight-year-old Eliav Berman studied and re-ceived a master’s degree in Clinical Rehabilitation Psychology at Bar Ilan University. After working for a few years in the fi eld of rehabilitation research, he began to take interest in photography and fi lm. He is now fi nishing his mas-ter’s degree in fi lm at the Tel Aviv University.

March 28, 5:00 pm

8 Stories that didn’t Change the World, di-rected by Ivo Krankowski (Poland 2010, 35 minutes).Viewer’s Choice Award 2010 and the Warsaw Phoenix 2010—Spe-cial Prize of the Jewish Community in WarsawThe fi lm highlights eight individuals—Polish Jews born between 1914 and 1933. It brings us into the realm of their youth, child-hood dreams, and adven-

tures. The story is based around their earliest mem-ories and those events.

Outcasts. Jewish Parti-sans of Belarus, directed by Alexander Stupnikov (Belarus 2009, 53 minutes).Warsaw Phoenix—The Special Beit Award 2010Outcasts is the fi rst fi lm about Jewish partisan units in Belarus. Just in the Minsk area, there were seven Jewish fi ghting units. The fi lm shows the conditions in which the Jewish partisan organiza-tions formed as well as their relationship with Be-larusians.

Guided Tour, directed by Benjamin Freidenberg (Israel 2009, 25 minutes).Winner of the Warsaw Sil-ver Phoenix Award 2010Thirty-one-year-old Eitan lives alone in Jerusalem and works at nights painting lines on the city’s streets. The down-to-earth and mo-notonic work is interwoven with reminiscences from the protagonist’s everyday life.

Polski Hotel, director Kama Veymont (Po-land 2009, 49 minutes).This fi lm uncovers the

background of the mys-terious and virtually un-known story from the time of the Holocaust that took place in Warsaw dur-ing the summer of 1943, and which—because of its moral ambiguity—was called “the Polski Hotel scandal.”

The monthly magazine Oś is a media sponsor of this event.

The Oświęcim Jewish Center in association with the Jewish Motifs Association invite you to a viewing of fi lms on the subject of Jewish themes. Every Monday, from March 7 to 28, the Center will be screening fi lms, organized thanks to the generosity of the International Film Festival Jewish Motifs conducted by the Jewish Motifs Association. The

movies have subtitles in English and Polish. We cordially invite everyone.

JEWISH MOTIFS—2010 RETROSPECTIVE

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NOTHING CAN BE A SUBSTITUTE FOR A REAL MEETING

“I am very concerned with the matter in which we will remember the Holocaust in 10, 20, or 30 years,” said Tal Goshen, a guide at the House of the Ghetto Heroes, a Holocaust museum in Israel, who took part in the international meeting, entitled Memory and Commemoration in the Era of Web 2.0. “The chal-

lenge of our generation is shaping the memory of the Holocaust. Soon there will be no one who will be able to tell us what had happened at that time,” she added.

This project was coordinat-ed by the German organi-zation Maximilian Kolbe Werk in Oświęcim and lasted from January 23 to 27. This meeting was attended by 25 young participants, aged from 18 to 28, from eight different countries, as well as 10 Holocaust survi-vors. The program included a visit to the Auschwitz Memorial Site, a meeting with survivors, and visiting the exhibition by Marian

Kołodziej in Harmęże. Eve-ryone also took part in the commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.“It is most important for us that there are meetings between young people and survivors, who are after all, witnesses of that history,” said Wolfgang Gerstner, director of the Maximilian Kolbe Werk. “We organized a similar seminar a year ago and all the participants

were very impressed. So this year a second edition of the project is taking place, but this time it is longer. The fi rst part takes place in Oświęcim, and in March the participants will go to Buch-enwald,” he added. While talking about what caused his organization to under-take such a task, I noticed his eyes gleaming: “We have two challenges. First, we must use this moment, while the witnesses are still with us. A person meeting a person gives you more than watching a fi lm or reading a book. Secondly, we want to bring young people closer to this very important sub-ject. That is why we have chosen this and not some other motto,” he said.Isaiah Urken learned about the seminar from a friend belonging to the Jewish Community in Vilnius, who insisted on taking part in the event. “ It is very interesting and somewhat connected with my national identity,” she said. “Previously I did not think that Germany was interested in the Holocaust and that they are only do-ing so much for the sake of remembrance. A discussion

on this topic is a bit strange with someone who is not Jewish, despite the fact that the Holocaust meant suf-fering for all.” Isabel Rue-genberg from Germany’s Frankfurt learned about the project from her uncle. Isaiah was the fi rst person that she met, and who eats kosher food. “Meetings with different cultures are something very interesting.

However, a visit to Ausch-witz is something more than a shock and sadness,” she said.According to one of the or-ganizers of the project, Julia Maria Koszewska, meeting people from different cul-tures can also bring about some diffi culties: “The sem-inar is conducted in four languages: Polish, German, Russian, and English. The

Yes, I am Polish. But today I feel more like a world citizen brought up within the Slavic culture. My fam-ily history is also not very complicated: one set of grandparents were deported from Belarus to Lower Silesia—hence my upbringing, which I would refer to as “eastern.” What do I do? I graduated, two degrees, and currently I travel and get to know new people - different nationalities, religions, places of birth, and residence. My interests are centered around the wider view of the East as well as Jewish culture—for these two reasons I came to Oświęcim for a seminar on Memory and Commemoration in the Era of Web 2.0.

For me, Oświęcim is a town in Małopolska, 60 km away from Cracow, that has 40 thousand inhabitants. It might seem that there is nothing special about it, but I decided to take fi ve days off and come to visit it. I came to meet with youth from different countries and to talk to them about history. The most important thing for me was to learn experience from their fi rst visit to Poland, to Oświęcim, and the Auschwitz Me-morial Site.

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Jakob Weber: Macedonia is located quite far from Oświęcim. What was your trip like? Mustafa Yakupov: The problem of traveling from Macedonia lies in the fact that there are not any good airline connections. Our capital, Skopje, has no connections with major European cities; therefore, it was quite a journey for me. From my home in Kratovo, in the northeast of the country, I went by taxi to the airport in Skopje. I fl ew to Zagreb, then to Munich, and Cracow. Whole affair took about 10 hours.

Tell us something about Macedonia. I think few people, including me, know very much about your country. Macedonia is a small country in the south-east Balkans. It is a part of the former Yu-goslavia, which gained independence in 1991. About 2 million people live there. It is a multicultural country because very dif-ferent groups live next door to one anoth-er: Macedonians, Albanians, Roma, Serbs, Turks, Bosnians, and people from Romania as well as Hungary. There are many minor-ities for such as a small country.

The trip to Oświęcim had to be very impor-tant to you if you decided on such a long and stressful journey. It was indeed very important. I am here for personal reasons. My grandfather told me stories about how the German Nazis oc-cupied our city. He remembered that as a child he had to stand against a wall with other Roma, whom the Germans wanted to shoot. At almost the last second a doc-tor saved him, a German woman who had a Macedonian husband. Germany claimed that the Roma were fi ghting the Germans, that they were active partisans. The doc-tor said that these were not partisans, but very poor people. My grandfather had to leave Kratovo and live high in the moun-tains. Anyway, my great-grandfather was arrested and detained in a slave labor camp in Bulgaria. Fortunately, he managed to es-cape later.

What images did you associate with Ausch-witz before coming here? The main associations were connected with death and fi re. Much violence. This was a very violent image with scenes of death, fi re... Like in Hell.

Now, after having visited the camp, has anything changed? It was indeed a place full of violence, but I was surprised to what level the process of killing was mechanized killing, that mur-

der was everyday work, it was all so sys-tematic: gas chambers, crematoria, burning bodies, as well as shootings at the Wall of Death. Previously, I thought people had been killed in Auschwitz “normally,” but a system was created here for infl icting suffering. I also remember a quote from the exhibition at the Museum. Hitler said that the conscience is a Jewish invention. Thus, these people had no conscience. These words made me wonder about what it means to be human today. We are all hu-man beings, even those who kill. But this raises the question of what it means to be human. I am here and I am a Macedonian, but I am also a Gypsy, a citizen of my coun-try. I have the same rights as others. Many people do not understand this. They say, “You’re a Gypsy.” My answer is, “What is the difference between me, as a Gypsy, and you, as a Macedonian?” We have the same passport. There is no difference.

I know that you are involved in working with young people. What will you tell them after you return home?First, I will pass on to them the stories of the witnesses whom I met, but then I’ll try to teach them to pass on positive Roma val-ues to society, to stop discrimination. We must make people aware that Roma are not some sort of “hoodlums,” that we are the same as other people. Such is the task of the Regional Association of Roma Youth Edu-cation. We want young people to actively participate, using creative methods, and promote their values in society, we want to mobilize them and give them energy.

Are you afraid that what happened in Auschwitz could happen again? Are Roma in Macedonia being discriminated against? I am here both because of the Roma’s his-tory, and also because of the fact that dis-crimination against Roma did not end after the Second World War. After the War, Bul-garia introduced a law against using the Roma language, Slovakia sterilized Roma-ni women, in Hungary many Roma were killed and their houses were burned. Roma children had to go to special schools where they could not properly get educated. The discrimination continues. Luckily, today there are a number of activists who are fi ghting to improve the life of the Roma, they are fi ghting for their inclusion in so-ciety, and fi ghting for their full citizenship.

And how does the situation look in Mac-edonia? Do you have to fi ght for these things all the time? Macedonia is very interesting, as the Roma

generally do not suffer because of this. The main problems are health care and the lack of housing. In education, the Roma are do-ing very well—they are attending universi-ties, cultivating themselves. We even have a special ministry, so that at the political level, our voice is also heard. However, this is not enough to solve all the problems connected to the Roma’s health or employ-ment. Education is not the only solution. Everything comes full circle: the Roma are poor. Why are they poor? Because they have no education! Why are they unem-ployed? Because they are uneducated. And because of the fact that they have no educa-tion, they cannot fi nd a good job, and they live in poverty. In Macedonia, and several other countries a special program is tak-ing place—the Roma Decade, from 2005 to 2015. However, I do not know what will happen after 2015. I am curious about the results because we have many problems that remain unsolved.

Do you see any difference between my and your visit to this place? You come from the world, which suffered because of Nazi Germany. I am from Germany, a country that bears responsibility for all these awful things. I think that there is no difference. No need to blame yourself and you should not blame others. Even today there are people who kill others. We must be aware of that and contemplate the question of why peo-ple are, in any way, able to do something like this to others.

Interview by: Jakob Weber

AN INTERVIEW WITH MUSTAFA YAKUPOV, A PROJECT PARTICIPANT FROM MACEDONIA.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN?

simplest solution would be to use English, but be-cause we want to convey the message of reconcilia-tion, we decided to empha-size the linguistic diversity. Our main goal is to use a meeting with the past for the present and future. We want to create a communi-

cative memory—a memory that comes out of a meet-ing with others and from the place where it occurred. This is why we have chosen Auschwitz-Birkenau. For most of the young partici-pants it was the fi rst visit to the Memorial Site.”In today’s world, memory

seems to be shorter and more ephemeral. The world is changing at a dizzying pace and what happened two years ago is often today only the distant past. You could say that within the family, memory is passed on by the generation of our grandparents. That, which

happened in the past is usu-ally blurred in our memory. Will we be able to save the memory of the Holocaust, when there will no longer be grandparents who had seen the Holocaust with their own eyes? “The key here is the meeting,” said Tal. “We have to constantly

meet and talk. Today, we can be helped by technol-ogy, because memory can also be safeguarded in the virtual world. However, nothing can be a substitute for real meetings,” she adds after a moment.

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Apolonia Bukietyńska (Pomietlarz) was born in Oświęcim and went to school here. She graduated from the Stanisław Kon-arski High School. As an outstanding singer, she was a prima donna at the Sile-sian Opera in Bytom. Often she performed concerts in philharmonic halls and on Polish Radio. She performed

in many countries around the world. It is certainly one of the most famous people from the Oświęcim area. I know that while traveling the world, she proudly highlighted where she came from. The parasol, which I have in my collection, is a wonderful memento of this wonderful woman.

Mirosław Ganobis

The rosary made of bread is an expression of faith by people who were locked behind the barbed wire of the camp. The very mate-rial that it was made of is evidence of its value for the prisoners.

Dr. Aleksander Giermański recalled: “I remember the items made out of bread (rosaries, crosses), which were left behind by the prisoners who were locked in the bunkers.” Kneaded balls of bread were strung onto a thread and in the last hours of their life, prisoners prayed using them.

Born into a large, poor peas-ant family in Wisła Malinka, Cieszyn Silesia, on June 18, 1906, she lost her father when she was six. Her mother remar-ried. Her stepfather was killed in the First World War in 1914, and her mother died after-wards. Anna’s grandparents in Nydek, Zaolzie, raised her, and she attended the village school there. Her grandparents died soon afterwards, and she moved to Wisła as a manual laborer on a large farm. She dreamed of a profession where she could help others, so she attended and graduated from nursing school at the Lutheran charity home in Dzięgielów, Cieszyn Silesia, and joined a Lutheran women’s congrega-tion, becoming a deaconess. She worked for a time at the Country Hospital in Cieszyn, and then, until 1938, at the Mother and Child Station in Golasowice. Until the outbreak of the war, she worked as a vis-iting nurse in her hometown of Wisła. She was also active in volunteer circles. She had fi rst come into contact with the scout movement while living with her grandparents in Zaolzie, and she became a

selfl ess supporter and faithful promoter of the movement. She was also a member of the Circle of Polish Women, and sympathized with the peasant movement.In 1941, the family of Paweł Bobek, a well known peas-ant activist in Cieszyn Silesia, put her in touch with Wo-jciech Jekiełek of Osiek, near Oświęcim. Jekiełek was one of the underground leaders in the Land of Oświęcim and the commander of the Peasant Battalions (BCh) in the Biała Region. Anna Szalbót took her vows and became a member of the BCh in June 1941, under the pseudonym “Rachela.” She joined the relief effort being carried out in the vicinity of Auschwitz by Jekiełek’s group, and became one of the main-stays of the campaign. Enjoy-ing great trust among Lutheran circles in Cieszyn Silesia, she organized drives there to col-lect food, medicine, and cloth-ing for the prisoners. She also encouraged the womenfolk to knit socks, gloves, and other items to help keep the prison-ers warm. She personally went around collecting for donations used to buy clothing and medi-cine. She used her old contacts in the health service to obtain medicine and surgical instru-ments for the prisoners from local hospitals and pharmacies. When an epidemic of scabies was raging in Auschwitz dur-ing the summer of 1941, she used all means possible to ob-tain effective remedies in the form of Mitigal cream and the

preparation known as “Peruvi-an balsam.” On more than one occasion, she would sneak up to the camp and dropped off food and medicine for the pris-oners. A uniqueand character-istic way in which she helped was administering injections to prisoners laboring outside the camp. Her activity could hard-ly fail to attract the attentions of the Gestapo. In danger of being arrested, “Rachel” went into hiding out in Sosnowiec, and later in Oświęcim and Osiek, from where she was fi -nally sent to Warsaw. There, as “Helena Wodecka,” she served as a courier for the Peasant Bat-talions national headquarters.At the end of 1942, she arrived in the area near the camp with a large quantity of medicine she had obtained for the pris-oners in Warsaw and smug-gled across the border from the General Government. She sat up with Wojciech Jekiełek on the night of December 29/30, preparing food parcels for the camp. Several hours later, at dawn, a German gendarmerie patrol caught them by surprise. When the Germans ordered them to halt, “Rachela” tried to run away, and one of the gen-darmes shot her dead (Jekiełek was captured, but managed to escape). The Germans took Anna Szalbót’s remains in-side the Auschwitz camp and burned them in the cremato-rium. After the war, she was posthumously awarded the Cross of Grunwald Third Class and the Oświęcim Cross.

Mirosław Obstarczyk

PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL

VESTIGES OF HISTORYFROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE AUSCHWITZ MUSEUM

The rosary shown on the photograph was made in Auschwitz by prisoner Franciszka Studzińska, who managed to carry it out of the camp and preserve it. In 1997, it made its way into the Museum’s collection. Other items were also made out of bread. A former Auschwitz prisoner writes: “I do not remember the name of that prisoner, who created the chess pieces that were at least 10 centimeters tall. He also made a fi gure of Tade-usz Kościuszko on a horse. These were very attractive

fi gures and they were made of bread. It is a shame that they have not survived to this day.”At other concentration camps, prisons, and ghettos, we can also fi nd items made out of bread. Tadeusz Rad-wan, who spent almost two years in the Tarnów prison, through enormous sacrifi ces of bread made the various fi gures, portraits, and even scenes from the prison. He worked with his fi ngers, also using needles and a knife made out of a spoon. In a few of the fi gures there were hid-

den compartments, in which secret messages could be passed from cell to cell.The rosary made of bread from Auschwitz is full of symbolism and meaning, which is diffi cult to discuss in this place. Perhaps, it will make us refl ect: “…never-theless, they worked on one thread, making a necklace, or a rosary. Beads—each one distinct—but similar to each other.” (Jarosław Iwaszkie-wicz).

Agnieszka SieradzkaCollections Department, A-BSM

ANNA SZALBÓT (1906-1942)

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FROM GANOBIS’S CABINET

Such a parasol was desired by every ele-gant lady of years gone by. Buying one was no easy matter. Today, it is simply

impossible, because the parasol has become a historical artifact.

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PHOTO JOURNAL

Project organized by German Maxi-milian Kolbe Werk had title: Mem-ory and Commemoration in the Era of Web 2.0. From 23 to 27 January, young people from eight countries, in the company of Holocaust survi-vors, were learning journalism, rec-ognizing in the same time the his-tory of Auschwitz. The second part of the project will be held in Marchin Weimar and Buchenwald. Details can be found at Maxi-m i l i a n - K o l b e - w e r k . b l o g s p o t .com.

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Oś - Monthly Magazine of State Museum

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Transcript of Oś - Monthly Magazine of State Museum