65th anniversary of liberation - Auschwitz

Transcription

I SSN 1899- 4407
PEOPLE
CULTURE
OŚWIĘCIM
HISTORY
65TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE LIBERATION
OF THE AUSCHWITZ CAMP
no. 14 February 2010
Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 14, February 2010
EDITORIAL BOARD:
Oś—Oświęcim, People,
History, Culture magazine
EDITORIAL
Most of this issue of Oś is dedicated to
the commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Inside, you will find reports of the
commemorations, as well as the words
of former prisoners and politicians
that were said during the ceremony
at the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau
camp. On the last page there is a photomontage that includes portraits of
former prisoners, the most important
guests of the annual commemoration.
We are incredibly thankful to the witnesses of history from over 65 years
ago that even though it was incredibly
cold they came to the commemoration.
We thank them for the fact that as long
Editor:
Paweł Sawicki
Editorial secretary:
Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka
Editorial board:
Bartosz Bartyzel
Wiktor Boberek
Jarek Mensfelt
Olga Onyszkiewicz
Jadwiga Pinderska-Lech
Artur Szyndler
Columnist:
Mirosław Ganobis
Design and layout:
Agnieszka Matuła, Grafikon
Translations:
David R. Kennedy
Proofreading:
Beata Kłos
Cover:
Paweł Sawicki
Photographer:
Paweł Sawicki
as they have the strength, they share
their experiences with us, as well as
young people with whom they share
the truth about Auschwitz.
In addition, this edition of Oś includes
a report on the inauguration of the
Forum Pro Publico Bono “Citizens
for European Solidarity” at the International Youth Meeting Center. We
also congratulate the Center for the
Polish-German Youth Prize “Keep
Remembrance”, which is given by the
Polish-German Youth Cooperation for
the workshop project Language of the
perpetrators—language of the victims,
which has been written about in previous issues. We invite Oświęcim’s
youth to IYMC for the workshop Human rights begin with rights of children
and the young.
In this Oś you will also find an invitation to view films dealing with Jewish
topics at the Jewish Center, which are
organized together with the Jewish
Motifs Association. In addition, on the
pages of the Center for Dialogue and
Prayer we recommend an extraordinarily interesting and moving history
of a missionary Bartholomäa from
Münster, who has searched her family
in Poland for many years.
Paweł Sawicki
Editor-in-chief
os@auschwitz.org.pl
A GALLERY OF THE 20TH CENTURY
ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPHS
OF THE LIBERATION COMMEMORATIONS
PUBLISHER:
PARTNERS:
Jewish
Center
Photo: A-BSM Archive
www.auschwitz.org.pl
Auschwitz-Birkenau
State Museum
www.ajcf.pl
1966
1970
Center for Dialogue
and Prayer
Foundation
www.mdsm.pl
IN COOPERATION
WITH:
International Youth
Meeting Center
www.centrum-dialogu.oswiecim.pl
1960
1965
Kasztelania
www.kasztelania.pl
State Higher
Vocational School
in Oświęcim
Editorial address:
„Oś – Oświęcim, Ludzie,
Historia, Kultura”
Państwowe Muzeum
Auschwitz-Birkenau
ul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 20
32-603 Oświęcim
e-mail: os@auschwitz.org.pl
www.pwsz-oswiecim.pl
1963
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Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
January 27, 2010, 65 years passed since the liberation of the Nazi
OnGerman
Auschwitz Concentration and Extermination Camp.
Early in the morning, staff
members from the Auschwitz Memorial paid tribute
to the victims and the Soviet
soldiers who died fighting for
the city and the camp. They
placed candles and flowers at the Death Wall in the
courtyard of block 11 at the
Auschwitz I site, at the monument to the extermination of
the Roma in Auschwitz IIBirkenau, at the monument to
the victims of the Auschwitz
III-Monowitz camp, at the
grave in the Oświęcim cemetery that holds the remains
of Soviet soldiers who died
liberating the camp, and at the
mass grave of approximately
700 prisoners who died in
the final days of the camp.
Mass for the intention of the
victims and former prisoners was said at the Oświęcim
church of the Divine Mercy by
local deacon Krzysztof Straub.
About 300 people, including
many former prisoners, attended.
The anniversary was accompanied by a conference organized by the Polish Ministry of
National Education for ministers of education from more
than 30 countries, and by the
opening of the Russian exhibition at the Auschwitz I site
dedicated to the liberation.
The main ceremonies were
held at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau site, attended by former
prisoners, the President and
Prime Minister of Poland,
the Prime Minister of Israel,
government delegations from
more than 40 countries, the
President and members of
the European Parliament,
members of the Polish Parliament, a delegation from
the Knesset, members of the
diplomatic corps, clergy, local officials, invited guests,
and everyone desirous of
honoring the memory of the
victims of Nazi Germany.
Former Auschwitz prisoners
August Kowalczyk, who also
acted as master of ceremonies,
Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski, and Marian Turski spoke
first. “The 65th anniversary
of liberation is now more
than a mere historical reality. Faithful to memory, we
turn our hearts and minds to
those who never returned to
freedom,” said Kowalczyk.
In his speech, International
Auschwitz Council Chairman
Władysław
Bartoszewski
asked how much of the truth
about the horrible experiences
of totalitarianism we have
managed to convey to the
younger generation. “Plenty,
I believe, but not enough.
Knowledge about what is
going on never has, and still
does not automatically result
in a reaction by the world. In
the same way, a capacity for
opposing evil does not result
from knowledge about the existence of evil, but rather from
the moral condition of every
one of us. Today, each of us
has access to knowledge about
the contemporary spread of
hatred and racism, disdain
and anti-Semitism, about genocidal practices and the sentencing of innocent people to
death in different parts of the
world. The question is whether we are doing anything with
this knowledge. Can we take
the side of the victims? Or do
we rather stand on the side of
all these who knew, but did
nothing to help?” he asked.
Marian Turski said that “If
then, in those days, there had
been more empathy for the
Jews in the United States,
Great Britain, in occupied Europe, in Poland, if there had
been more empathy among
those who could decide if
they bomb the crematoria and
gas chambers, we would not
have avoided the Holocaust
but the size of the Holocaust
could have been smaller. If we
want to live in a world with
less intense hatred, we must
try to show compassion, understanding and empathy.”
After the former prisoners, it
was time for the politicians to
speak. “For me, it is a matter
of great satisfaction that we
have more then 30 ministers
of education or representatives of ministries of education
here because, even though we
hope everyone lives to be a
hundred and twenty, we must
ADDRESS BY AUGUST KOWALCZYK,
FORMER AUSCHWITZ PRISONER, CAMP NO. 6804
It was as wintry a day as today—December 4, 1940. The thermometer on
the Blockführerstube read minus 19. I
was standing right outside the main
camp gate in a group of 80 inmates
from the Tarnów prison. Rookies. A
Zugang. My fighting for Poland was
over, for the moment.
The human ant colony filling the camp
streets revealed to me a state of danger I had previously been unaware
of, which grew more clearly palpable
by the minute. A group of about 50
prisoners came running up the street
from the depths of the camp, like runners trying to warm up, in a pathetic,
ineffective attempt at the regulation
Laufschritt—the prisoners did everything on the run. They were carrying
wooden boxes on their shoulders.
What were they delivering? Sand?
Stones? Eight men to a box. They set
them down with difficulty. The wood
clunked against the snowy camp
street with a hollow sound.
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A young soldier in a field uniform
came out of the Blockführerstube
and headed for the men. If one can
say that a man is lovely, then that
young SS man was lovely. He went
up to the first box. He pointed at the
lid of the box and said “Weg!” They
followed the order and removed the
planks. Inside the box, head and feet
in opposite directions, lay the naked,
emaciated bodies of two dead prisoners. The numbers written on their
naked chests with a carpenter’s pencil were their only proof of identity.
The lovely young man leaned over
and drew a half-meter spike from the
top of his boot. He pushed it into one
of those chests—that one was dead
for sure. He pushed it into the next
heart—another one checked. They
could continue on their final journey
to the crematorium. The corpse-carrier’s kommando passed through the
gate above which, with difficulty, we
read “Arbeit macht frei.” The men car-
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ried out were free—for sure.
That criminal lie, intended as camouflage for genocide and the Holocaust, was supposed to protect its authors against the judgment of those
who managed to leave the camp in
the other direction, towards life and
freedom, to bear witness.
The 65th anniversary of liberation is
now more than a mere historical reality. Faithful to memory, we turn our
hearts and minds to those who never
returned to freedom. In this place,
today, there is no way to avoid mentioning a December night in 2009. A
profanation, a crime, dictated by the
misguided sense of “having,” has
become a new warning: 65 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, there
are no “black holes” in human history to swallow up evil forever. The
Arbeit macht frei inscription was stolen from the camp gate. In the place
where even the stones have become
relics, and the earth soaked with
blood has turned gray with the ashes
of the Holocaust.
Pain, incredulity, and rage have accompanied us over the last weeks
preceding today’s solemn 65th an-
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In a speech addressed to the
participants in the observances, Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev wrote
that “We should clearly realize
that indifference and apathy,
as well as disregard for the lessons of history, ultimately lead
to tragedy and crime, while
trust and mutual assistance
help us to withstand the most
dangerous threats.” The message was read out in his name
by Andrey Fursenko, the minister of education and science
of the Russian Federation.
At the conclusion of the first
part of the ceremonies, President Kaczyński awarded decorations to Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Director
Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński,
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Director Sara
Bloomfield, and Yad Vashem
Institute Director Avner Shalev. They were decorated for
their “eminent services in educational and museum work
commemorating the victims
of the Nazi German labor
camps, concentration camps,
and extermination centers,
and for their accomplishments in the development of
the Polish-Jewish dialogue.”
The Director of the Museum
received the Officer’s Cross of
the Order of Poland Reborn
and the foreign guests were
decorated with the Officer’s
Cross of the Order of Merit
of the Republic of Poland.
The observances concluded at
the Monument to the Victims
of the Camp, where the participants placed candles commemorating the victims of
Auschwitz while rabbis and
clergy of various Christian
delegations joined in reading
the Forty-Second Psalm.
Paweł Sawicki
Photo: A-BSM
65TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE LIBERATION
be aware that the time when
the witnesses will be gone is
not far off. What remain are
the memories that are written
down, taught, and spoken.
These memories are needed so
that everything is done that the
crimes that were committed at
Birkenau and Auschwitz, and
also in Treblinka, Chełmno
on the Ner, Majdanek, Mauthausen, and Buchenwald, will
never be repeated,” said Polish
President Lech Kaczyński.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk
stressed the need to discover
even a trace of hope in this
place so as not to go away
feeling that humanity, culture, and European civilization were complete failures.
“It is our duty to continue to
return here to give testimony
to our memory of this time of
the deepest despair and the
utmost lawlessness, to give
testimony to our emphatic
revolt against the organized
hatred that herded millions
of people into gas chambers,
against everything of which
the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp has become a symbol,” he said.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu of Israel said that
his country would never forget these events or allow them
to be forgotten. He felt that
the rebirth of anti-Semitism
was possible, and should not
be permitted. He characterized Auschwitz as the greatest tragedy in the history of
the Jews and the worst case
of genocide in the world. He
thanked the Polish government for its efforts to commemorate the tragedy. He
also mentioned that every
third person who rescued a
Jew was Polish, and that these
rescuers risked their own lives
and the lives of their families.
niversary.
The unanimous reaction of world
opinion has proved that the price of
blood and martyrdom possesses the
extraordinary power that makes it
possible, after 65 years, to transform
the gigantic Nazi lie into a relic of the
memory of nations.
Photo: A-BSM
ADDRESS BY WŁADYSŁAW BARTOSZEWSKI,
FORMER AUSCHWITZ PRISONER,
CAMP NO. 4427
have imagined that this was “only” a
criminal test, a criminal preparation
for industrial methods of genocide.
Yet this is what was to happen in the
memorable years 1942 – 1943 – 1944.
The construction of the gas chambers
and crematoria, and their efficient
functioning, were only technical
elements in this diabolical project.
In Poland, the homeland of David
Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres, but
also of Isaac Bashevis Singer, Artur
Rubinstein, and Menachem Begin,
following the decision from Berlin,
the center for the final destruction of
the hated Jews was built. The Polish
resistance—civil and military—informed and alarmed the free world:
the governments of the United Kingdom and the United States had been
precisely informed about what was
going on in Auschwitz-Birkenau
by the last quarter of 1942, thanks
to the mission of the Polish courier,
the Polish Army reserve officer Jan
Karski, and also through other channels. No state in the world, however,
reacted in a manner adequate to the
significance of the problem to the
Note from the Minister of Foreign
Affairs of the Polish Government in
Exile in London to the Governments
Photo: A-BSM
When in September 1940, as an 18year-old Pole, I went through the gate
under the words Arbeit macht frei for
the first time, and I was standing in
the roll-call place of camp Auschwitz
I, now as Schutzhäftling Number
4427—among five thousand and five
hundred other Poles—I never imagined that I would outlive Hitler and
survive the Second World War. We
never imagined that Auschwitz—as
Auschwitz-Birkenau and Monowitz—would become the place where
the plan for the biological extermination of the European Jews irrespective of their sex or age—the only one
of its kind—was put into operation.
In the first 15 months of the existence
of this horrible place, we, the Polish
inmates, were alone. The free world
was not interested in our suffering
and our death, despite tremendous
efforts by the clandestine resistance
organization in the camp to pass information to the world outside. In
late summer 1941, over 10,000 prisoners of war from the Soviet Army
were brought to Auschwitz, and it
was on them and on the ailing Polish
political prisoners that the poisonous
gas Zyklon B was tried out in September 1941. None of the inmates could
of the United Nations on December
10, 1942, urging “the necessity not
only of condemning the crimes committed by the Germans and punishing the criminals, but also of finding
means offering the hope that Germany might be effectively restrained
from continuing to apply her methods of mass extermination.” No efficient means were found, and in fact
nobody tried to look for them. And
yet, at that time, more than every
second future victim was still alive.
Actually, the only result of the Polish
initiative was the short declaration by
the twelve Allied States concerning
responsibility for the crimes against
Jews, announced simultaneously in
London, Moscow, and Washington
on 17th December 1942. In that declaration, which does not mention
Auschwitz-Birkenau by name, the
governments of ten occupied countries of Europe, together with the
governments of the United States
and the United Kingdom, warn that
they know about the horrible fate of
the Jews “in Poland, which has been
made the principal Nazi slaughterhouse,” and vow to punish those responsible for that crime.
Today, 65 years after the liberation of
the last inmates of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the last prisoners, still present
here today, have the right to believe
that their suffering and the deaths
of their friends and relations made
sense for a better future of all people
in Europe, and even in the world,
regardless of their ethnic origin and
religious denomination. We want to
believe that the memory of the fate
of the prisoners and victims of this
place, difficult to encompass with the
imagination, will oblige the coming
generations to live together in respect
for the dignity of every man, and in
active defiance of incidents of hatred
and disdain towards other people,
and especially all forms of xenophobia and anti-Semitism, even when it
is hypocritically called anti-Zionism.
We must ask ourselves and the world
how much of the truth about the horrible experiences of totalitarianism we
have managed to pass to the younger
generations. Plenty, I believe, but not
enough. Knowledge about what is
going on never has, and still does not
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automatically result in a reaction by
the world. In the same way, a capacity for opposing evil does not result
from knowledge about the existence
of evil, but rather from the moral
condition of every one of us. Today,
each of us has access to knowledge
about the contemporary spread of
hatred and racism, disdain and antiSemitism, about genocidal practices and the sentencing of innocent
people to death in different parts of
the world. The question is whether
we are doing anything with this
knowledge. Can we take the side of
the victims? Or do we rather stand
on the side of all these who knew,
but did nothing to help?
Today, Auschwitz Birkenau is visited by many people from all over
the world. They look here for history, and they also seek here the
truth about man. The truth about
themselves. Most of them are students; more than 1,300,000 people
last year. Here among us are a few
dozen people responsible for education in more than thirty countries.
The young people whose education
is in your hands need this place of
remembrance that speaks so extremely meaningfully with its authenticity. This consciousness must
be taken into consideration in developing educational policies. If we
want these young people to become
conscious citizens of our countries,
we must let them become immersed
in the significance of Auschwitz.
Standing in this place five years
ago together with Simone Weil, I
announced the establishment of
the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the
Holocaust. The center is already in
operation. The need for education
about Auschwitz and Holocaust
seems greater than ever before. Just
a few weeks ago, we witnessed an
attack on the most recognizable
sign of this camp – the Arbeit macht
frei sign. At the most basic level,
this was a criminal act, yet let us not
forget that the role of international
neo-Nazis has not been explained
yet.
This place inspires a particular responsibility: bearing witness to future generations. Its authenticity is
a treasure that must be protected
as long as possible. A year ago, we
established the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, whose objective
is to finance a long-term, coherent
plan for the conservation of buildings and objects. So far, the world’s
reactions to our appeal have been
very positive, and allow us to believe that, with our joint forces, we
shall fulfill our obligation.
Graves encourage reflection in every normal individual. But there are
no graves here. Therefore, in the
place where this incomprehensible
crime was perpetrated, reflection
must be transformed into a specific responsibility, into a lasting
memory of what happened. Much
as I did five years ago, let me finish
with words from The Book of Job,
significant for Jews and Christians
alike: “O earth, cover not thou
my blood, and let my cry have no
place.”
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Photo: A-BSM
ADDRESS BY MARIAN TURSKI,
CAMP NO. B-9408
My name is Marian Turski.
In Auschwitz I had no name. I had a
number, B-9408, tattooed on…
I was in Auschwitz almost until the
last day. On January 18, 1945, they
sent us on the march to Buchenwald.
I was in Buchenwald almost until the
last day, as well, because they ordered
another “evacuation” three days before liberation; that was my second
Death March. To Theresienstadt…
People, especially young people, ask
me: What was the worst thing in the
camp?
They expect me to answer: the hunger! Hunger really is something that
the well fed cannot comprehend. The
specter of a potato, the specter of a
spoonful of soup or a bite of bread will
always be with you.
Always!
And yet—hunger wasn’t the worst!
So perhaps it was the “living conditions”? Dreadful! A thousand or more
people in a barracks. Five or six people
jammed on the straw in a bunk. You
think: where is it better, in the bottom
bunk or the top bunk? Maybe up top,
ADDRESS BY EDWARD PACZKOWSKI,
CAMP NO. 66 485
It was summer. There was a storage
place for bread in block 25.
Shortly before evening roll call,
when the prisoners were coming back to camp, other prisoners
tossed bread through the window
and shouted, “Hundert! Hundert!.”
They missed the window once and
the bread fell to the ground.
I grabbed that loaf and ran away.
One of the prisoners came after me.
He chased me. He caught me and
wanted to lead me to an SS man. I
kissed his hands so he’d let me go,
but he didn’t. He said he was afraid
because the SS man saw him catch
me. In the end, he led me to the SS
man.
The bread was taken away from
me, and the SS man drew his pistol and ordered me to dance. He
fired between my feet. I remember—word of honor.
He shot me in the toe. I cried because it really hurt. The wound
took a month to heal. I had to go
to work on that lame leg. The Lagerkapo assigned me to sweep the
streets. He gave me a wheelbarrow and a big broom.
One day, in front of block 11, the
gate opened and an armored car
drove in. A little later, I heard
shots. I looked, and blood was
flowing. They were shooting prisoners—a terrible sight. I took the
ADDRESS SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT
OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
LECH KACZYŃSKI
Mister Prime Ministers,
Mister Presidents,
Mister President of the European
Parliament,
but above all, those ladies and gentlemen who were here in different circumstances 65 years earlier,
when on 27 January 1945 the camp
was finally liberated. This is for
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you, and your colleagues who died
then or did not live to see today,
this is a memorial day.
However, this day also has different meanings.
People did this to people—this
is a quote from the book that appeared just after the war by Zofia
Nałkowska, one of Poland’s most
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because the prisoners’ bladders can’t
hold out and they leak... Or—on the
other hand—if an SS man or kapo declares a sudden roll call, it’s hard to
climb down from the top bunk and
the kapo will batter you... And so, the
so-called “living conditions”? No!
That wasn’t the worst thing either. So
maybe the cold? That was unbearable!
Especially over the winter of 1944 to
1945. When I covertly cut an “undershirt” out of a cement sack and concealed it under my uniform, a German
supervisor noticed. “Du hast deutsches
Vermögen gestohlen”—you have stolen
German property—and he gave me a
savage beating...
But the cold—that wasn’t the worst.
Maybe the lice?.... I don’t remember
them in Auschwitz or Buchenwald
itself. But there were thousands on the
kommandos where the water and sanitary facilities had been bombed, or
during the Death Marches... The lice
actually infected me in the last days
of the March and I had typhus when
the war ended... Was there anything
worse than that?
THE HUMILIATION!
The fact that you weren’t treated like a
human being—especially if you were
a Jew, and precisely because you were
a Jew, you were treated as something
even less than an animal. You were an
insect—a louse, a chigger, a bedbug, a
cockroach that, in the normal, decent,
and accepted way of things should be
suffocated, stepped on, crushed, annihilated...
And that’s why, when people today,
and especially young people, ask
me—a man who’s lived through everything—
– WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM
YOUR EXPERIENCE?
– WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO
TELL OTHER PEOPLE ALIVE TODAY?
Among all the words and lessons I
would choose one above all:
EMPATHY!
The outstanding Polish poet Bolesław
Taborski recently wrote a brief poem
under precisely that title.
Permit me, my friends, to quote it:
COMPASSION
The most important thing is compassion
For everything on earth.
People, animals, the plants too.
The rocks, seas, and – again I say – people.
It makes life bearable.
And its absence dehumanizes.
Take the perpetrators of the Holocaust,
The devil’s servants on his earth.
They pretended to be humans,
Nay, superhumans.
They were nothing,
They knew not what compassion is.
My Dear Friends!
If the call “NEVER AGAIN AUSCHWITZ” is to be more than a mere slogan or empty phrase, we must learn
to understand other people who are
DIFFERENT FROM ME, DIFFERENT FROM US!
We must show them compassion
and understanding! We must try to
grasp and accept people different
from us, who think differently and
have different motives for action—if
we want to live in a world without
hatred!
broom and swept that human
blood into the gutter. I’m sorry, I
can’t go on.
*
I remember that. Now I remember.
The window opened, and I was
standing there and talking to him,
to my brother. My brother, they
took him to the gas chamber in
1944. 1944—yes, I remember now.
They gassed my brother. The Nazis. Dear Jesus...
My three sisters, my mama, and
my papa were deported from Tomaszów Mazowiecki to Auschwitz, to Birkenau. They were prob-
ably killed in 1944. Together with
the other Roma.
*
And when liberation came, I woke
up in the middle of the night. For
a year, I woke up in the middle
of the night. And I shouted: „No!
No! No!” In Polish and in German,
I shouted: „No! No! Don’t hit me!
Don’t hit me!” I shouted: „Nicht
schlagen! Nicht schlagen!.”
For a year, I woke up in the middle
of the night. I remember that. I remember. I woke up in the middle
of the night. And when I woke up,
I sometimes burst out crying...
As the Association of Roma in Poland informed, Edward Paczkowski could not attend the anniversary commemoration due to
health related issues. The text of his speech was, however, given to
all the guests invited to the ceremony. We wish Mr. Paczkowski a
quick return to good health.
talented writers. People [did this
to] people… but some considered
themselves super-human, while
they considered some subhuman
—as Mr. Turski had just mentioned
—in fact not human.
I know that, generally, you know
the facts, but I have to reiterate
some of them. 14 June 1940, the
first 728 prisoners were brought
here. As it happened, that very day
Nazi Germany, more specifically
their armies, took Paris. The first
prisoners were Poles and a certain
group of Polish Jews. The next
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year, when there were many more
prisoners, as Minister Bartoszewski said, several thousand prisoners of war from the Red Army
were brought here—600 of them
and 250 Poles became victims of an
experiment, about which the Minister also said a moment ago. Their
murder lasted two days. Exactly
two days.
More or less at the same time, in
another location in Poland, near
Łódź, in Chełmno on the Ner River, a different method was tried—
suffocating using exhaust fumes.
Many others also died, also because they were Poles or Russians,
Ukrainians or Byelorussians, but in
this case a death sentence was not
pronounced on the entire nation,
at least, as far as we know. It can
be said that the post-war decades
in the history of Europe suggested
that the insane ideologies had ended their history. However, as one
former prisoner of this camp said,
author of several books, Primo
Levi, if this happened, it can happen again. I repeat once again: Europe has overcome these tendencies, but has the world overcome
these tendencies? It can be said
plainly: no. This is why remembrance is needed.
It gives me great satisfaction that we
have here today over 30 ministers
of education as well as representatives of ministries of education, but
while wishing everyone 120 years
of life, we must be aware that the
time for the witnesses to history to
pass on is approaching. What is left
is memory that is written, taught,
and spoken. This memory is needed so that everything is done that
the crimes that were committed at
Birkenau, as in Auschwitz—but, of
course, not only here, also in Treblinka, Chełmno on the Ner, Majdanek, in Mauthausen, and Buchenwald—will never be repeated.
We must teach the truth—the real
truth—which may not sit well with
Photo: A-BSM
ADDRESS BY THE PRIME MINISTER
OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND
DONALD TUSK
We stand in a place where it is difficult to find the right words to
speak…
This is a place where it may only
be possible to speak with the words
used by Jan Karski, a courier of the
Polish Underground State, a man
who tried, in vain, to move the
world’s conscience by bringing it information about the extermination
of the European Jewry underway in
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the Polish lands: the Holocaust was
a time when the man made in God’s
image and after his likeness was shattered.
This is a place that entitles us to ask
painful questions: Why was the
world silent? Why did the world allow it to happen?
Why did alliances, strategies, policies
and diplomacy—the whole mechanism of the civilized world—and hu-
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Photo: A-BSM
Zyklon B turned out to be more
effective, and it was used for killing, most probably, over a million
Jews. Estimates are various—from
around 1,000,000 to 130,000,000.
But in this camp occurred the murder of 75 thousand Poles, 20 thousand Roma, whose fate was to be
similar to that of the Jewish nation,
around 14 thousand Soviet POWs,
mainly Russians, and several
thousand individuals from other
nations—the French, Belgians,
Byelorussians, and many others.
How did this arise? It arose from a
crime that was planned and carried
out by the German Third Reich.
First French and Slovak Jews were
brought here at the beginning of
1942. We know that during the first
half of 1942 the first mass murders
took place in gas chambers. At the
same time, the liquidation of the
largest ghettos in Europe began
—the Warsaw Ghetto. This was the
middle of the war, but the murders
continued.
In May of 1944 the fate of the war
was long decided, the Third Reich
defeated, but here, in this place a
new railroad siding was opened
so that people could be brought
directly to the crematoria. For me,
this moment in history is a sign of
the insanity of the perpetrator, a
criminal insanity that was based
on a sick hatred. Indeed, Jews were
murdered because they were Jews.
some of those who are powerful
and influential in the world today.
That which has happened here is
not a series of criminal acts—it is
something organized by a country,
by the German nation of the past:
the Third Reich. And it must be
remembered, that the one who is
stronger is not always the one who
is right.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
We acknowledge that this Memo-
rial Day is a day to remember the
victims of this concentration and
death camp, but it is also for all
those who were shot, hanged, and
starved—because
Commandant
Höss also used this method, and
here the most well known victim
was a Catholic priest, today a Saint,
Maximilian Kolbe—here and in all
the other concentration camps that
existed then as well as later.
Thank you very much.
mans, turn out to be indifferent to the
crime being committed here?
What can we do with this knowledge about man that Auschwitz
has given us? Will our memory be
able to hold on to every one of over
million faces that went through
this camp?
What can we say to the survivors who stand next to us today?
To those who have possessed the
most painful truth about what man
is capable of.
Or perhaps only helpless silence—
in hope that man will never again
be forced to wear a striped camp
uniform, be reduced to a number
and be cruelly tortured until his
last breath— is truthful here.
In this place I am searching for
even a trace of hope, so that I don’t
walk away from here with a sense
of the downfall of humanity and
collapse of European culture and
civilization. It is our duty to continue to return here to give testimony
to our memory of this time of the
deepest despair and the utmost
lawlessness, to give testimony to
our emphatic revolt against the
organized hatred that herded millions of people into gas chambers,
against everything of which the
Auschwitz-Birkenau
extermination camp has become a symbol.
This little Polish town, Oświęcim,
which lies at a crossroads of European railways, became the
place where a German concentration camp was established, then
transformed into an extermination camp. This place represents a
special obligation for all of us, for
Europe and the whole world, our
special obligation to remember
and to give testimony about the
Holocaust. This is all the more evident to us Poles, since every Polish
family suffered enormous losses
during the war—also in this camp.
We know the importance of preserving this place of memory intact
as a cemetery, a monument, a summons to memory and evidence of
the crime, which few want to deny.
We must stop the process of decay
of its buildings, which is happening with time. This is why we have
created the Auschwitz-Birkenau
Foundation. Its goal of saving this
place has been recognized in many
countries. I trust that more countries will join in its efforts.
The challenges are enormous. Has
it ever happened that preservation was needed on such a scale, to
save human hair, eyeglasses, dentures and even toys—as evidence
of genocide?
We want to conserve every single
object, for each one is a trace of our
brothers.
Finally, I also want to remember
the soldiers of the Red Army who
liberated the camp. For the handful of survivors on 27 January 1945,
they became a sign that their camp
ordeal was over.
Ladies and Gentlemen, as I thank
you for coming to this place, your
presence here today, let me express
the hope that the crime that took
place here will never be repeated,
that our memory of those who
were murdered here—and in the
other extermination, concentration
and labor camps and prisons of
the Second World War—will serve
man as a sufficient reminder for
the future.
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ADDRESS BY THE PRIME MINISTER
OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL,
BENJAMIN NETANJAHU
catastrophy that has touched our
people, the biggest crime perpetrated against humanity.
We meet here, Poles and Jews at
the crossroads of tragedy. Our long
common history includes great cultural triumphs and human experiences. We are currently sitting in a
warm tent and remembering those
who shivered from the cold, and if
they didn’t freeze to death they were
sent to the gas and burned. And we
also remember that one third of
the Righteous Among the Nations,
those who risked their lives, moreover, risked the lives of their own
children and families, to help others,
the Poles, we remember.
We stand here together, to remember the past. We help build the future of the rule of law, truth and
hope for all peoples and all nations,
whose representatives are here and
for all of humanity.
Photo: A-BSM
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Polish government ministers,
ministers of education, representatives of the Russian Federation and
many other countries. Education
Minister of Israel, Gideon Saar, Mr.
Deputy Minister Yaakov Litzman,
Knesset members and members of
the European Parliament, Mr. President of the European Parliament
and members of national parliaments in Europe.
Dear guests, including you sir,
former Chief Rabbi of Israel Meir
Lau and Mr. Avner Shalev of Yad
Vashem. And above all, all of you
who survived the Holocaust and
are with us here today, and who
spoke in such a moving manner
about your agony and suffering.
I would like to thank the Polish
government for this historical effort which it has taken upon itself to commemorate the greatest
Photo: A-BSM
ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION,
ANDREY FURSENKO
Dear Mr. President of the Republic
of Poland, Dear Mr. Chairman of the
Council of Ministers of the Republic
of Poland, Dear Mr. Prime Minister
of the State of Israel, Distinguished
guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the honor to be delegated
by the President of the Russian
Federation to deliver his message
to the participants in the ceremony
commemorating the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-
LEARNING TO REMEMBER
If there is one place in the world
that should arouse our consciences, that place is Auschwitz-Birkenau—the preserved space of the
former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp. Despite the passage of the years, it
speaks profoundly to each sensitive mind.
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Today, we know how fragile our
world is. Sixty-five years after the
liberation of Auschwitz, the crime
of genocide continues to be committed in various places around the
world, as if humanity had learned
nothing from the tragic lessons
of World War II. For this reason,
young people should have an op-
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Birkenau concentration camp:
“Dear friends!
The day of January 27 is annually
commemorated throughout the
world as International Holocaust
Remembrance Day. It is the day
when Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated in
1945.
Anatoly Shapiro, a major in the Soviet Army, was one of those who
opened the gates of the death camp
and devoted the rest of his life to
fighting against racism and genocide. These are his words: ‘I want
to appeal to all human beings living in this world: join your efforts,
prevent the evil that we had to
face! People, protect life on Earth!’
Generations who have not witnessed the scourge of war must be
made aware of it. It is essential for
all of us to realize the scale of the
tremendous price that mankind
paid for tolerating xenophobia and
chauvinism. It is equally important
to remember that six million people were executed because of their
ethnicity, solely because of the fact
that they were Jews.
65 years have already passed since
the vanquishing of fascism. Nevertheless, one can still hear the voices
of those who endeavor to justify
Nazi crimes, as well as to treat
the victims and perpetrators, the
liberators and the invaders, on an
equal footing. Some countries go
even further—they make heroes
out of the Nazis’ accomplices. Such
attempts to revise history are unacceptable. We must join our efforts
in the fight against them.
We should clearly realize that indifference and apathy, as well as
disregard for the lessons of history, ultimately lead to tragedy
and crime, while trust and mutual
assistance help us to withstand the
most dangerous threats.
So it happened in the life of a
woman named Miep Gies who
was helping a Jewish family in the
Netherlands to hide from the Nazis during World War II. She then
preserved Anne Frank’s diary for
the world—the diary of a young
girl that became unique evidence
of fascist atrocities.
It happened also in the life of two
prisoners of the Buchenwald concentration camp: Fedor Michaylichenko, a Russian soldier, and
Israel Lau, a Jewish boy. The
child managed to survive in this
hell only thanks to the help of a
stranger who became the dearest
person in his life at the time. When
he grew up, he became the Chief
Rabbi of Israel.
Today, the tragedy of World War II
is a painful warning. It is only we
who can secure peace and liberty
on our planet. It is we, all of us,
who are responsible for this to the
present and future generations.”
portunity within the educational
system for direct contact with this
place on which history has left its
awful mark.
The world cannot build a future without remembering the terrible past.
Knowledge about the Holocaust
and the Teaching of Memory, including the difficult and painful
memories, are therefore necessary
within the educational process not
only to remind the world about the
tragedy of the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau, but also for memory
to spur the younger generation, in
particular, to take bold responsibility for the fate of the world.
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Dmitry Medvedev
Katarzyna Hall
Minister of National Education,
Republic of Poland
Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski
Chairman, International Auschwitz Council
Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński
Director, Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum
AN ADDRESS BY THE DIRECTOR
OF THE AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU MUSEUM,
PIOTR CYWIŃSKI
Photo: A-BSM
Thank you, Mr. President for appreciating our daily labor and the burden
of responsibility given us to bear. The truth is that the understanding of the
greatest drama of the 20th century by future generations depends and will
depend on our work and our cooperation. We are aware of this, and we live
and work with it day by day.
The Memorial, as well as the form of memory itself were created by all of you
who survived the Holocaust and the hell of the concentration camps.
It is you who told us of your worst experiences and you who taught us how
to listen to that experience. You could have remained silent, but you spoke.
I am speaking to you, Dear Friends! I cannot tell you that the world has for
certain heard, understood, and grown wise. I share your fears.
Much remains to be done. Man has a long way to go. Yet one thing seems
certain to me. Regardless of everything, everything notwithstanding, the victims’ voice shall not fall silent and the earth shall not cover their cry. What
was before shall never return, but the time after the Holocaust will never
again be a time of sweet innocence.
This place, as the conscience of Europe and the World, can never again be
passed by, silenced, erased. This land bears within itself the cry of the victims. And it shall not cover it up. Of this I am sure.
Thank you for being with us. Many will say that we came here to you. But I
know well that you have come here to us, not for the first and not—I hope—
for the last time. Just as you have been here all these 65 years.
Among us there are people from so many countries, from so many international and state institutions as well as volunteer organizations. Today it
seems so easy to think that we know and understand more. The world of
today and the world to be made tomorrow depend on all of us, in a direct
way.
In the meantime, how often we ourselves are passive towards evil. Yet today
there is no war in our country. We are free. And today we need more of the
Righteous!
Photo: A-BSM
Memory is inseparably connected with this Place. And the fate of this
Place depends on us. I would like to thank the Prime Minister of the
Government of the Polish Republic for his personal involvement in creating the Perpetual Fund for preserving the authenticity of this Place.
I would like to thank Germany for promising support in the amount
of €60 million. That is half the needed sum. I believe that other states
whose governments and citizens are conscious of the fundamental import of this Place for our history and civilization will help complete the
creation of this Fund. We owe this to the Victims of Auschwitz and all
the Victims of the Shoah, but we also owe it to our children. And to our
children’s children.
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International Youth Meeting Center
EUROPEAN FORUM “PRO PUBLICO BONO”
AT THE IYMC
O
Photo: IYMC
n 27 January at the IYMC the first part of the two-day Oświęcim Academy Symposium “Human rights in a
civilization of solidarity” took place. On this symbolic day, the anniversary of the liberation of AuschwitzBirkenau, the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek, along with former prisoners of the death
camp: among them, Zofia Posmysz, August Kowalczyk, and Kazimierz Albin, inaugurated the European Forum
Pro Publico Bono “Citizen’s for European Solidarity.” The idea behind the forum is to integrate efforts to build and
strengthen the culture of human rights in Europe.
A debate on the issue of European solidarity
The European Forum “Pro
Publico Bono” is the initiative of the President of the
European Parliament, Professor Jerzy Buzek. Invited to
take part were former President of the European Parliament, because it is within the
Parliament, as an institution,
that the shape of modern Europe is debated.
The Forum harks back to
the memory of Auschwitz.
Therefore, the Academy of
Oświęcim points to human
rights as the cornerstone of
civilization, the development
of Europe based equally on
the memory of the totalitarian past and the guarantees
for the dignity and rights of
the human being. Because
of this, guests of the inaugural Forum were laureates
of the Oświęcim Human
Rights Prize, in honor of
John Paul II: Professor André
Glucksmann—French
writer and philosopher, editor Stefan Wilkanowicz from
Cracow—Vice-President of
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the International Auschwitz
Council, and Professor Jerzy
Kłoczowski—historian.
The participants of the meeting included, among others,
the Rector of the Jagiellonian
University Professor Karol
Musioł, Professor Andrzej
Zoll, Professor Grażyna
Skąpska, president of the
Pro Publico Bono Waldemar Rataj, Janina Cunnelly
of the Oświęcim Institute for
Human Rights, MEPs and
representatives of regional,
county, city, and municipal
authorities.
Before the declaration of the
Forum, Professor Jerzy Buzek
led the debate on the issues
of European solidarity with
the participation of Professor
André Glucksmann, editor
Stefan Wilkanowicz and Professor Jerzy Kłoczowski.
“When it comes to human
rights, I think about particular
people, such as Marek Edelman, Anna Politkovskaya,”
said André Glucksmann. He
also expressed his belief that
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Auschwitz as a symbol has
not ended: “At Auschwitz,
the declaration ‘never again’
has been made many times,
but of course there have been
many crimes against humanity” he added. Recalling the
situations in Cambodia,
Rwanda and Chechnya, he
argued that we still need to
fight indifference.
“A uniting Europe should be
in solidarity when thinking
about human rights” stated
the President of the EP. In
the declaration read out during the Forum, Jerzy Buzek
stated: “Today we know
that even the most legitimate
human rights can not be reduced to a single system of
legal norms and the next set
of rules governing social and
international life.” He also
expressed his faith in the
possibility of development of
European civilization based
on human rights.
Regarding the problem of
relating to the role of human
rights in Europe, Profes-
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sor Jerzy Kłoczowski noted:
“Europeans should remember about human rights and
humanitarianism, but also
about their own sins. Our
common Europe will succeed if we will have a common memory.”
In Stefan Wilkanowicz’s
opinion the Forum “Pro Publico Bono” is an iniciative that
is exceptionally important
for Europe and the world. In
his memorandum he stated:
“I am convinced that it is
necessary to transform our
civilization, especially in a
culture of peace and culture
of activity. A transformation so profound that it can
seem as if it is a utopia. But
this utopia is not a dream,
but a display of the direction
of change and this is what
is most important.” At the
conclusion of the discussion,
Wilkanowicz said: “Out of
Auschwitz-Birkenau comes
an appeal to the citizens of
Europe and the world, to all
people of good will—an ap-
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peal for solidarity of activity.
Already today let us start
looking for ways for further
development.”
The IYMC, as an institution
that for many years in practice deals with issues of human rights as part of its educational activities, declares
its cooperation in the Forum
Pro Publico Bono “Citizens
for European Solidarity.”
Prof. Jerzy Buzek’s visit to
the IYMC was the second in
recent years. On September
18 of last year along with
former EP President HansGert Pöttering, editor Marian Turski, a former inmate
of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and
Christoph Heubner—VicePresident of the International Auschwitz Committee, he
participated in a panel discussion Europe lost. Europe
Reborn, organized under the
project 1939/1989. Time of
guilt and a time of hope.
Olga Onyszkiewicz
International Youth Meeting Center
Four years after the liberation of
Auschwitz concentration camp,
whose victims we honor today,
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed. Today, we know that even the most
legitimate human rights cannot be
reduced to a single system of legal norms and the next set of rules
governing social life and international law. The civilization of human rights needs to be supported
by the culture created in respect
for human dignity, the innate
freedom and in public spaces—
national and international—with
the respect for the principle of
solidarity.
In which direction will Europe develop and what role in this strategy will human rights play? I am
referring specifically to the legacy
of Auschwitz, the remembrance
of the crimes of the Holocaust, to
the tragic experience of totalitarianisms of the twentieth century
—Nazism and Communism—and
all the crimes of genocide, which
are an open wound in Europe’s
heritage. I am convinced that any
action aimed at searching for new,
ambitious targets for the development of our community—its culture and civilization—must first
be determined in terms of European history that is symbolized
by what Auschwitz is and always
will be.
Firstly, I regard it as our commitment to solidarity with the victims
of the crimes of the Holocaust and
all the crimes of genocide committed in the history of Europe,
which have a permanent place in
our memory. Secondly, we must
do so with a sense of solidarity
with those whose memory is and
will always remain the cause of
pain, personal suffering, but also
a source of genuine anxiety about
their and their children’s future.
And thirdly, finally, we must, as
well as those who will enjoy the
benefits in future, take action
now.
My hope for the possible development of European civilization
based on human rights derive
from the fact that I am co-creator
and participant in the events of
history, which launched “Solidarity” movement in 1980, and which,
by the peaceful revolutions by the
peoples of Central and Eastern
Europe in 1989-1991, led, as a consequence, to the reunification of
Europe, setting the new horizon
of development of the European
Photo: IYMC
PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
PROFESSOR JERZY BUZEK’S
DECLARATION MADE IN OŚWIĘCIM
AT THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE LIBERATION
OF AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU
Union. Solidarity is the value that
continues through time and is still
an important milestone in our
thinking about human rights.
So given the fact that the recognition and realization of fundamental human rights are still not widespread everywhere in the modern
world, that human rights are not
only something to be declared, it
must be in their spirit and in them
that we educate, a uniting Europe should be in solidarity when
thinking about human rights, I
declare open the Forum Pro Bono
Publico “Citizens for European
Solidarity.”
To cooperate in creating the Forum I invite, firstly, all of my
predecessors from the position of
Presidents of the European Parliament. Participants of the Forum
will bring together representatives of organizations and citizen’s
groups, which are acting in different EU member states and contribute to the promotion of the culture
of solidarity.
AWARDS FOR WRITERS
WORKSHOPS AT THE IYMC
The award is given to the
most interesting PolishGerman or three-way (with
another partner from outside of Poland or Germany)
project in a given category.
In 2009, a year of many historical anniversaries, the
motto of the contest was
“Keep Remembrance.” The
winners were decided by
Polish and German historians, members of the Bundestag and Polish Sejm, representatives of the Ministry
for Youth Affairs of both
countries, members of the
Polish-German Youth Committee, and members of the
management of the PolishGerman Youth Cooperation
(PNWM).
The result of winning the
project, which was attended
by 7 German and 5 Polish
participants, were 28 literary texts written by young
people under the guidance
of the German writer Carmen Winter of Frankfurt am
Oder and the Polish poet
Ewa Lewandowska (aka
Andrzejewska) from Zielona
Góra. Teresa Miłoń-Czepiec,
an educator from the International Youth Meeting
Center in Oświęcim, provided educational support
for the project.
The awards were handed
out by the Deputy Minister of Education Krzysztof
Stanowski and, the Secretary of State in the Federal
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Ministry for Family Affairs,
Senior Citizens, Women
and Youth, Josef Hecken
during the meeting of the
Polish-German Youth Committee on January 28, 2010
in Wrocław. For this occasion the administrators of
PNWM invited a delegation
of organizers and representatives of the participants of
the workshops, who, during the gala in the “Old Exchange” in Wroclaw, presented their poems written
in Oświęcim.
We are grateful to the
PNWM for awarding us
the top honor as well as the
many years of financial support in our Polish-German
projects.
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Photo: Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka
O
ut of the 59 entries to the Polish-German Youth Award “Keep Remembrance”
contest, awarded every three years by the Polish-German Youth Cooperation
(PNWM) in the category of the extracurricular exchange, the first prize for Language of Perpetrators—Langauage of Victims has been bestowed to the International Youth
Meeting Center in Oświęcim that worked in cooperation with Artistic Model Memorial
Project from Berlin.
The international organization Polish-German Youth
Cooperation (PNWM) was
created by the Polish and
German governments in
1991 and its activities have
been financed by them ever
since. PNWM funds
meetings
between
young people from
both countries and organizes schoolings,
conferences,
and
other
educational
Polish-German Youth Award
programs. In 2009, it
“Keep Remembrance”
had a budget of over 9.2
show the constant interest
million Euros. In the middle of last year, it celebrated that young people have for
the fact that two million par- meeting their peers from the
ticipants from both coun- country on the other side of
tries took part in exchange the Oder River.
Teresa Miłoń-Czepiec
programs. These numbers
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Jewish Center
JEWISH MOTIFS AGAIN
IN OŚWIĘCIM
T
he Jewish Center and the Jewish Motifs Association extends an invitation to peruse the 2009 Retrospective. From
2 February to 23 March 2010 at the Jewish Center there will be another showing of films on Jewish topics. Below
we are publishing some of the films we propose. More information can be found on the website of the Jewish
Center: www.ajcf.pl.
• 23 February (Tuesday),
5:00 pm
And Thou Shalt Love, director
Chaim Elbaum (Israel 2008,
28’, K)
Bronze Phoenix 2009
Ohad, who is studying in the
special “Hesder” program for
orthodox soldiers, experiences
profound loneliness while he
conceals from others that he is
gay. When he calls a religious
hotline for help, he is advised
that forty days of fasting and
repentance will extinguish his
homosexual tendencies. Ohad
takes the required steps, and
after the proscribed period is
convinced that he is “cured.”
Then Ohad’s best friend Nir
returns from the army, and
Ohad finds he can no longer
evade his feelings and quesJerusalem. The East Side Story, tions about himself and his
director Mohammed Alatar relationship with God.
(Palestinian National Authorities 2008, 57’, D)
My Father’s Palestinian Slave,
The latest phase of history directors Nathanel Goldman
is the Israeli occupation. In Amirav and Uri Appenzeller
1948, the western part of the (Sweden/Israel 2007, 52’, D)
city fell under Israeli control; Bronze Phoenix 2009
in 1967, the eastern part fell My Father’s Palestinian Slave is
under Israeli occupation. a very personal and intimate
Since then, Israel has pur- documentary about the Israesued a policy of Judifying li—Palestinian conflict as it
the city, aiming to achieve lived and experienced in dai“Jewish demographic supe- ly mundane life. The young
riority.” Part of this policy is Jewish filmmaker Nathanel
to drive Palestinian Muslims has come to stay with his faand Christians out of the city, ther in Jerusalem for a year, to
denying their presence, his- study film at the Hebrew Unitory, and ties to the land. The versity. His father is an Israeli
documentary takes you on professor of Political Science
a journey exposing Israel’s and a veteran peace activist.
policy to gain supremacy and While staying at his father’s
hegemony over the city and house he meets and befriends
its inhabitants. It also touches Morad, the young illegal
on the future of the city: Je- Palestinian laborer from the
rusalem is the key to peace; West Bank who works in his
without Jerusalem, there is father’s garden. The young
no peace for anyone.
filmmaker confronts his famer cottage belonging to Irena Holland, her father’s wife.
She meets friends, who were
expelled from Poland in 1968
and who now have arrived
for holiday from Sweden,
Netherlands, and the USA.
Dłużek is a magic place for
them. In the sixties, a group of
friends bought cottages there
to spend holiday together.
They went there also in 1968,
when they were already
“not party members, unemployed.” The father of the
film director, a well-known
journalist Stanisław Brodzki,
also fell into this category.
This is a very personal film,
which tells about people, for
whom March of 68 became a
personal tragedy.
A frame from the film 03-59, directed by Guy Yoffe
5.00 pm
Radegast,
director
Borys
Lankosz (Poland 2008, 60’, D)
Silver Phoenix 2009
5:00 pm
Volunteers, director Mooly
Landesman (Israel 2008,
54’, D)
This is a story that opens in
the innocence of youth. It is
a meeting of young people
from various cultures. A
saga that continues along the
path of life of marriage and
children, while at the same
time presenting numerous
questions relating to one’s
sense of being a stranger in
a foreign land, of belonging,
of one’s identity and nationality.
In the sixties Collective Communes—the kibbutz offered
the Promised Land to the
young people of Europe—all
for a little bit of daily work.
In 1941, over twenty thousand
West European Jews arrived at
the already overcrowded ghetto in Łódź. For the first time in
modern history, two distant
communities split not only by
two centuries of civilization
but also by an emancipation
which had transformed the
life of the Western Jews faced
each other. The majority of the
Polish Jews considered assimilation an apostasy, whereas
the German Jews considered
their attachment to an orthodox mysticism and isolation
from society ignorant. They
even felt an animosity against
those coming from the East. Snapshots, directors Dov GilAnd here the two groups were Har and Uri Rozen (Israel
forced to meet.
2008, 63’, D)
In the course of the last 60
years, the Israeli collective
memory has been burned
with several never to be forgotten images. A part of Israel 60 events, filmmaker
Dov Gil-Har returns to seven
of these images, meets the
protagonists of the historical
moments, and reconstructs
the images. The earliest was
taken in 1949; the most recent
in 1997.
5:00 pm
Dłużek Stop, director Irit
Shamgar (Poland 2008, 53’,
D)
The Israeli journalist Irit
Shamgar comes to Poland in
summer of 2007 to meet the
people, who knew her father
and to see the places connected with him. She spends
summer in the Lake District,
at Dłużek Lake, in the sum-
A frame from the film Everything flows, directed by Edyta Turczanik
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A frame from the film And Thou Shalt love, directed by Chaim Elbaum
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Jewish Center
• 16 March (Tuesday),
5:00 pm
Sharon, director Dror Moreh
(Israel 2008, 90 ‘, D)
In December 2003, Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon publicly announced a plan to
pull out of Gaza. In the face
of criticism from members of
his own party, he ordered the
withdrawal of 21 thousand
Jewish settlers from that
area. Father of settlement
movement, the general responsible for the massacre in
Sabra and Shatila, he became
a statesman who devoted
himself to working for peace
in the Middle East —with full
awareness and responsibility
he destroyed his life’s work.
Who was Ariel Sharon? How
did he come to take this historic step, which led to the
eviction of settlers from Gaza
and Samaria, opening the
road to peace?
ther on the juxtaposition of
the personal and the political.
He nudges his father to help
Morad. But the political situation doesn’t permit anyone to
step out their roles as occupier
and occupied. The film deals
with the emotional and moral
core of the conflict, but holds
a very personal, intimate and
down to earth perspective.
5:00 pm
Double Life, director Paulina
Fiejdasz (Poland 2008, 30’, D)
Izaak Landesdorfer’s name
could be found on the famous
Shindler’s list. After the war he
changed it into a Polish name
in order to hide his true identity. Even though 65 years have
passed since the dissolution of
the Cracow’s ghetto, the man,
who claims he owes his life to
Oscar Shindler, still does not
want to reveal his true identity
so that nobody associates the
published memoirs with him.
By chance he meets a girl, the
director of the film, her interest in the history of the War
awakens a need in Izaak to
talk about the hidden truth.
During the documenting of
history a friendship is formed
between the old man and the
director…
Maria and Anna, director Jacek
Thanks to him we Live, director
A. Marek Drążewski (Poland
2008, 46 ‘, D)
This film presents Wilm Hosenfeld, a German officer and,
among others, the administrator of a camp for prisoners of
war in Pabianice in the first
weeks of the occupation, who
in 1944 in Warsaw saved the
life of the pianist Władysław
Szpilman. Wilm Hosenfeld,
his attitude and experience
during the German occupation of Pabianice, and postwar fate can and should be
the subject of joint reflection
by Poles and Germans. The
common history of remembrance of both countries can
Knopp (Poland 2008, 28’, K) be placed here—a real founThe story of Maria Dworzecka, dation for understanding and
who was saved from exter- reconciliation.
mination by a Polish couple,
is one of many that may be • 22 March (Monday),
perceived as metaphysical
5:00 pm
since, from the rational point Commander Edelman, director
of view, it should not have Artur Więcek “Baron” (Pohappened at all. A series land 2008, 58’, D)
of extraordinary events oc- Before the war Marek Edelcurred, intreaguing and basic man was a Jewish activist
material for the film. How- in the Bund, but in 1943 he
ever, what is particularly became one of the leaders of
interesting for the director is the Warsaw Ghetto uprising,
the post-war life of the hero- a year later he also fought in
ine, who decided to do some- the Warsaw Uprising. After
thing extraordinary and give the War, he did not leave Poa chance to a defenceless child land —he stayed as a witness
and she adopted six-year-old of the Holocaust, but also so
Ania from an orphanage. that he could fight for human
She adopted a Polish child rights. In 1980, he cofounded
from an orpahage and gave “Solidarity” and during marher the opportunity for a bet- tial law he was imprisoned. In
ter life.
the free Poland he did not stop
fighting: he fought for human
rights all over the world, tak5:00 pm
ing part in the NATO interGut Szabes Vietnam, direc- vention in Kosovo… The film
tor Ido and Yael Zand (Israel Commander Edelman is a docu2008, 52’, D)
mentary of Edelman from
A documentary clash of cul- the inside, in which, from the
tures and the joy of learning perspective of his armchair,
about the very essence of he sets the limits of decency.
serenity. A couple of young While the world around him
Jews as Chabad Lubawicz moves faster and faster…
emissaries, with a one way
ticket are sent to Vietnam to Rosenzweig—born to dance,
create a Jewish community in director Keren Hakak (Israel
the Communist country.
2008, 15’, K)
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Avigdor is a tap dancer. In
1939 his dancing saved is life.
Today, he is 88 and lives in a
retirement home. When Avigdor dances on the parquet
floor of his room, he laughs
until he’s out of breath, and
with the last ounce of his
strength he pushes his tired
feet to do a few more steps.
For Avigdor, dancing isn’t a
hobby and isn’t therapy. It’s
the way to survive.
bilateral relations between
the two nations, including:
the illegal immigration from
the shores of France to prestate Israel, the 1956 “honeymoon” phase during the
Suez Campaign, the 1967
Six-Day-War, the De Gaulle
regime, the 1982 Lebanon
War, deportation of Yasser
Arafat from Beirut, premiership of Ariel Sharon and the
2005 disengagement from
Gaza. The film was produced at a critical time for
both countries as they struggled to define and redesign
diplomatic relations amidst
the rise of fundamental Islam
in France. The film incorporates rare visual materials
and interviews with people
who both participated in
and had historical impact on
the future of Israel.
Cejwin, director Larry Frisch,
(Israel 2008, 11’, K)
Director Larry Frisch discovered 1930’s film depicting
activities he experienced as
a child at the Pioneer Jewish-Zionist summer camp
located in New Jersey, USA.
As a historic, but very personal memory, Frisch edited
the material, then wrote and
narrated this moving tribute
Block of animated films from
to long ago events.
the Division of Animation
Happy Jews, director Jonathan Academy of Art and Design
Rozenbaum (Poland 2008, 6’, Bezalel in Jerusalem (68’):
D)
The Jewish Community of Live Life, animation: JonathWarsaw Special Award 2009 an Pasternak (Israel 2007,
March of 1968 signifies a 5’:30’’).
special moment in Poland’s
post-war history. Thousands Matan, animation: Ofeer
of Polish Jews were forced to Hassan and Tomer Gilron
leave their country of birth (Israel 2007, 5’:15’’).
as a result of an anti-Semitic
campaign launched by the Supper Grupper, animation:
Communist
authorities. Jonathan Grupper, Andrey
Among them was the film di- Smirnow, Itay Cohen (Israel
rector’s father, who, for many 2007, 4’:55’’).
years, was not allowed to go
back. Rozenbaum makes use Half Baked, animation: Nadof archival materials and an Pines (Israel 2007, 1’:34’’).
tells the story of his family
in a personal as well as per- Moon Seek, animation: Dafverse and amusing way. The na Cohen and Elad Dabush
starting point is a meeting of (Israel 2007, 3’:19’’).
1968 emigrants in the Israeli
town of Ashkelon, where Gary and Mildred, animathe director played with his tion: Rivka Press (Israel 2007,
parents when he was a child 5’:34’’).
and where he had his first
encounter with... alcohol. True Love Hotel, animaThe film was made during tion: Alon Gaasz (Israel 2008,
the documentary workshops 6’:50’’).
entitled March 1968. Farewells
and Returns (www.march68. Hardcover & Paperback,
org) organized as part of the animation: Uri Alonim and
Polish Year in Israel 2008- Mosze Serwatka (Israel 2008,
2009.
3’).
Holiday of Lights, director Mihaal Danziger (Great Britain
2008, 10’, K)
A dramatic story about family affairs and values. Holiday
of Lights is the story of a young
Jewish English woman who
has grown apart from her father ever since her marriage
to a German non-Jew. It is a
story of clashes of identities
and values, as they happen
within the personal family
sphere.
5:00 pm
France-Israel, A Difficult Relationship, director Gérard
Benhamou
(France/Israel
2007, 60’, D)
This is a piercing look at
the high and low points of
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Kill the Armadillo, animation: Rotem Aharon and
Janiw Ben-Dor, (Israel 2008,
2’:13’’).
Melodica, animation: Jonathan Wasserman and Amitaj
Lew (Israel 2008, 5’:36’’).
Tess has a stain on her dress,
animation: Eran Flax (Israel
2008, 4’:02’’).
Boy, director Dmitry Geller
(Israel 2008, 16’).
Musical Chairs, directors
Jonni Aroussi and Ben Genislaw (Israel 2007, 4’).
K – Short Film
A – Animated Film
D – Documentary Film
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Center for Dialogue and Prayer Foundation
THE END OF SILENCE
T
his was the theme of this year’s annual recollections at the Center for Dialogue and Prayer. Silence is a
way of dealing with traumatic experiences of past and repressing the memories about these events. However, silence can also become a burden on future generations and can extend the length the trauma lasts.
One individual who ended the silence within her family and sought out the truth is Sister of the Heart of Jesus
and missionary Bartholomäa from Münster. For dozens of years she searched for her father.
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resulted in finally finding them. In the Baptismal
records in Jeleśnia the much
sought-after
information
about her father and family
was found. At first this was
disappointing: her father
died in 1985, however his
two sisters were still alive.
During the international
missionary congress in May
2006, Sister Bartholomäa met
the bishop of Tarnów, Wiktor Skworc, who promised
to help in making contact.
Bartholomäa wrote a letter
in which she presented her
entire history. After several
weeks there came a reply
from Faustyna, one of her
father’s sisters. Other than
several questions about Bartholomäa’s mother, the letter
included photographs of her
father. This is how she saw
him for the very first time.
As it happened, the Diocese
of Tarnów contacted Jeleśnia
in connection with the questions. Thanks to the help of
the Diocese, this led to the
first personal meeting during which Bartholomäa met
her sister Anna and brother
Tadeusz. Also, several other
things became clear. Why
couldn’t the Red Cross find
the sisters? Forced laborers
had to take German surnames, if their real names
sounded too foreign. And
this is how, for example,
Faustyna was named Maria.
Rediscovering the family
was impossible, having only
their German names, which
Bartholomäa’s mother gave
in order to find them.
All the while, Sister Bartholomäa had to fight the
opposition within her family
as well as within herself. She
was often haunted by the
thought: who is her father?
Does she have a large family, would she bother those
she sought? She thought
about various options, however she decided to continue
her search and find information about her roots and end
the long silence within her
family.
Photo: CDP
When Sister Bartholomäa
was 13 years old, she discovered that her mother’s
husband was not her father
and that her real father was
a forced laborer in Germany during the Second
World War. His post-war
fate was unknown. During her search, Sister Bartholomäa met much resistance, mainly from her
own family, who remained
completely silent about this
topic. From her uncles she
learned that in the last days
of the war a Pole raped her
mother. However, Bartholomäa didn’t believe this
story because her mother
never spoke badly of her
father and knew details of
his family. With this information Sister Bartholomäa
turned to the civil registry
offices in the area, as well as
to the Heimatsbund (Homeland Organization) in town,
where her father had been
held. But, she did not find
any assistance there and
some of the information
she sought was destroyed
in attacks during the War.
Her search stalled for some
time, but her desire to find
her father never faded.
Several years later, in the
1960s, Bartholomäa read an
article about German children of Wehrmacht soldiers
abroad. In the hope of getting an answer, she turned
to Wehrmacht headquarters
from where she was directed to the International Red
Cross search agency. However, in 2003 she once again
tried to get information and
it ended in only getting a
document from the Red
Cross stating there is a lack
of information. That year,
Bartholomäa’s mother died.
By coincidence, during a
lecture in 2004, Sister Bartholomäa got into contact
with a Polish priest, who has
helped her since that time
in her search. Together they
wrote to dioceses in the vicinity of Cracow in the hope
of finding any sign of her
father. While each diocese
sent only negative responses, these attempts seemed
hopeless. However, after
several weeks there came
another letter from the Diocese of Katowice, in which
the archivist informed of a
second, deeper search for
any sign of this family that
Sister Bartholomäa
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Today she is happy that has
found her siblings, even
though it was necessary to
have the help of translators
during the meetings. However, there exists a language
of the heart, which says
more than words. After
the visit at the Center for
Dialogue and Prayer, Sister Bartholomäa continued
her trip to her rediscovered
family in Jeleśnia.
Max Sundermann
Based on interviews by
Maria Greń and Izabela Staszczyk
with Sister Bartholomäa.
Translated (from German) by:
Bogumił Owsiany
History
KAZIMIERZ JĘDRZEJOWSKI
(1924-1944)
Born into a peasant family in
Osiek near Oświęcim on July
12, 1924, the son of Adam
and Anna, nee Wasztyl. He
was raised in very straitened
circumstances, with the tenhectare farm that his father
worked being insufficient to
support a family of ten. Kazimierz Jędrzejowski began his
education in the public school
in Osiek Górny, and completed
it in Osiek Dolny, where he
finished the seventh grade in
1939. He was a diligent pupil
who read widely and literally “inhaled” books from a
wide range of subject areas, as
a result of which he acquired
knowledge far transcending
the school curriculum. He
came into contact with the
peasant political movement in
childhood, thanks to the fact
that his father was active in the
Peasant Party (SL), serving as
chairman of the Peasant Circle
in Osiek and, at the same time,
as a member of the SL Powiat
Executive Council in Biała Krakowska. Such agrarian activists
as Wincenty Witos and Józef
Putek were frequent visitors in
the family home.
His graduation from elementary school opened the doors
to further education for Kazimierz Jędrzejowski. He enrolled in the Mechanical School
in Sułkowice, but the war broke
out on the day his first year of
schooling there was supposed
to begin, canceling any opportunity he may have had for further education.
During the occupation period, he continued to live with
his parents in Osiek and help
on the farm. He used his free
time to teach himself German,
in which he became fluent. In
March 1941, he was taken away
for conscript labor in Bavaria,
but escaped within a week and
made his way back to Osiek.
Fearing that he was under threat
of punishment, his parents sent
him to stay with relatives in
VESTIGES OF HISTORY
FROM THE COLLECTIONS OF THE AUSCHWITZ MUSEUM
A
was helping the prisoners. He
spent a good deal of time in the
immediate vicinity of the camp.
He delivered food and medicine, and conveyed messages
orally to and from the camp. He
also served as an intermediary
in the correspondence between
prisoners and their families.
On more than one occasion, he
received secret messages from
prisoners and delivered them
in person to the addresses indicated. Aside from his work in
the Auschwitz relief effort, he
took an active part in other clandestine work. He was a courier
for the District BCh Headquarters in the areas annexed to the
Reich. He was also entrusted
with the position of chairman
of the clandestine “Młody Las”
(Young Forest) youth organization in the Biała powiat, which
was a continuation of the Wici
Union of Rural Youth.
On November 12, 1943, he was
stopped at random in Malec.
The gendarmes searched him
thoroughly at their station in
Osiek, and found a piece of
paper, with the names of the
members of the “Młody Las”
organization on it, sewn into
his collar. This was damning evidence. The gendarmes
took him to the prison in
miniature set of furniture for dolls has been, and still is to this
day, a present of dreams for children. This present is more extraordinary, because it is from the time of the Second World War.
And it is made more valuable due to the fact that it was given by prisoners of Auschwitz out of gratitude for help they received.
The set of toys consists of a
table, cabinets, a bed, and
two nightstands. These were
given to Hermina Niedziela
of Brzeszcze-Budy. Risking
the lives of her whole family,
she and mother Zofia Brecher provided to prisoners
food, medication, and even
organized a place prison-
ers could eat in their home
and barn. One of Hermina’s
sons, Tadeusz, was 11 years
old when the war broke out.
He also helped his mother
get food to prisoners.
The mini furniture was most
certainly created in a camp
workshop. Made from various types of wood, that was
Bielsko, where he underwent
interrogation for two months.
Next, they transferred him
to the investigative prison in
Mysłowice, which was run
by the Katowice Gestapo. Despite being subjected to every
imaginable type of torture, he
refused to give them the information they were after. While
he was in the Mysłowice
prison, he also managed to
establish contact with the outside world, sending out secret
messages through clandestine
channels. The suggestion arose
of staging an escape for him,
but he refused the opportunity
because he feared that it could
put others at risk. On May 16,
1944, he was transferred from
Mysłowice to Auschwitz, and
imprisoned in block no. 11, the
“Death Block.” Ten days later,
the Katowice Gestapo’s summary court sentenced him to
death. On that same day, May
26, he was executed in Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
After the war, Kazimierz
Jędrzejowski was posthumously awarded the Order of
the Cross of Grunwald Third
Class and the Oświęcim Cross.
A monument to his heroic
deeds was unveiled in Malec
on Peasants’ Day in 1964.
Photo: A-BSM Collections Department
PEOPLE OF GOOD WILL
Ostrava, Moravia [now in the
Czech Republic]. He found a
job as a machinists apprentice
at a factory in Witkowice. He
had to leave Ostrava after getting into a fight with fanatical
members of the Hitlerjugend,
and returned on foot to the family farmstead. He found that
his parents had been expelled
in the meantime and were living in Grojec. When he learned
from his father about the existence of the Peasant Battalions
(BCh) and their effort to help
the prisoners in Auschiwtz,
he joined the organization. He
took his membership pledge
in the presence of the powiat
commander, Wojciech Jekiełek
(pseudonym “Żmija”) and
his father Adam (“Zawrat”),
a very committed member
of the peasant underground.
Kazimierz Jędrzejowski took
the conspiratorial pseudonym
“Maniek,” but his friends in the
movement called him “Kazik.”
At first, his main task in the
underground was distributing
the clandestine press. Soon, he
became head of communication for the BCh Biała Region.
In January 1943, he was named
commander of the BCh group
in the vicinity of the Auschwitz
camp; the group’s main task
most likely leftover from
bigger projects, stand out
for their precision and solidity. Each cupboard is finished with metal, has four
legs, while the table and bed
have been decorated with
carvings done by hand. The
attention to detail is amazing, given the fact that these
Miniature set of furniture
items were made secretly by
those who exposed themselves to further humiliation
and punishment.
There are few items dedicated to children that have been
preserved. So, the more valuable they are today. These
toys, like all other things
created with children in
mind by camp prisoners, stir
and create questions about
the limits of human cruelty
—because they concern the
most vulnerable victims of
all wars.
Agnieszka Sieradzka,
A-BSM Collections Department
FROM GANOBIS’S CABINET
W
Photo: Mirosław Ganobis
ritten in the history of Oświęcim are the activities of legionnaires, who were raised
here and led by school inspector Wacław Zajączkowski. The president of the group
was Dr. Antoni Ślosarczyk.
Fragment of a shell engraved
with an eagle
The beginning of the creation of the Gymnastic Society
Sokól dates back to 21 December 1912. Part of this society had a division that raised
young people in the so-called
“spirit of independce.” When
mobilization was announced,
the “Sokól division” decided
to send the entire team of
the Polish Legions and equip
them at their own expense.
The president of Sokól, Dr.
Ślosarczyk, took it upon himself to equip the legionnaires
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with all needed accessories,
while not sparing his own
money. The division met on
the Oświęcim main square
and held a ceremony on 24
August 1914 and the next
day, 43 young people left for
their destination. Many of
the town’s people said farewells to the sound of music,
as they made their way towards the train station. At
later dates, larger divisions
left Oświęcim and were added to the II and III Regiments
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of Polish Legions. From our
town and surrounding area,
649 soldiers fought in the
legions. 31 August 1914, the
Oświęcim County National
Committee was formed under the leadership of mayor
Roman Mayzel.
Among my memorabilia, I
have much material connected to that time period. These
are documents, identification
cards, articles, letters, and
photographs. However, one
of the most valuable to me is a
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fragment of a shell casing that
I bought at an antiques shop
in Bielsko. It is an incredible
piece of memorabilia made
by a legionnaire who is not
known by name. It is a piece
of metal cut from a shell and
engraved into the middle of
it is an emblem that has an
eagle in the middle of it—the
symbol of the Oświęcim Legionnaires. Next to that appear the words “Oświęcim
1914-1916.”
Mirosław Ganobis
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Photographer
PHOTO
REPORT
O
n January 27, 2010, sixty-five years have passed since the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi German Concentration and Death
Camp. The main commemoration took place at the former camp of
Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Taking part in the commemoration were former
Auschwitz prisoners, the President and Prime Minister of Poland, Prime
Minister of Israel, government delegations from over 40 countries, the
Chairman and members of the European Parliament, representatives of
the Polish Parliament, a delegation from the Knesset, representatives of
the diplomatic corps, religious leaders, local social and government leaders, invited guests, and all those who wished to honor the memory of the
victims of the German Nazis.
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65th anniversary of liberation - Auschwitz

Transcription

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