SPORT AND ATHLETES IN KL AUSCHWITZ TEMPORARY EXHIBITION AT THE AUSCHWITZ MEMORIAL - Auschwitz-Birkenau
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46 (07/2021)
EMORIA
MEMORY • HISTORY • EDUCATION
SPORT AND ATHLETES IN KL AUSCHWITZ
TEMPORARY EXHIBITION AT THE AUSCHWITZ MEMORIAL
“THERE ARE THE SCHWARZ “AUSCHWITZ. ROMANIA’S RARE
ALWAYS FAMILY CHEST MONOGRAPH OF THE SHOAH TRIBUTE FOR
EXCLUSIONS ON HUMAN” BY PIOTR
THE ROAD TO CITY OF IAȘI
AUSCHWITZ” CYWIŃSKI
DELVES DEEPLY INTO
HUMAN EMOTIONS
INSIDE THE CAMP
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
“THERE ARE ALWAYS EXCLUSIONS ON THE ROAD TO
AUSCHWITZ”. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
EXCLUSIONS IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
THE SCHWARZ FAMILY CHEST
“AUSCHWITZ. MONOGRAPH OF THE HUMAN”
BY PIOTR CYWIŃSKI
DELVES DEEPLY INTO HUMAN EMOTIONS INSIDE THE CAMP
WITH MAREK ZAJĄC ABOUT THE BOOK
“AUSCHWITZ. MONOGRAPH OF THE HUMAN”
INTERVIEWED BY PAWEŁ SAWICKI
CLAIMS CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM
IN HOLOCAUST STUDIES
SPORT AND SPORTSPEOPLE IN KL AUSCHWITZ.
NEW TEMPORARY EXHIBIT AT THE AUSCHWITZ MEMORIAL.
DRAFT GUIDELINES FOR MONITORING ACCESS TO
HOLOCAUST COLLECTIONS PROJECT PRESENTED
ROMANIA’S RARE SHOAH TRIBUTE FOR CITY OF IAȘI
YAD VASHEM MARKS THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE
OLYMPICS WITH TWO ONLINE EXHIBITIONS
COMMEMORATING JEWISH AND NON-JEWISH ATHLETES
We invite all of you to work closely with us. We would be grateful to receive information about events, projects, publications, exhibitions, conferences or research that we should share with our readers. We also accept proposals for articles. Paweł Sawicki, Editor-in-Chief Our e-mail: memoria@auschwitz.org Please do share information about this magazine with others, particularly via social media. All editions: memoria.auschwitz.org
Paweł Sawicki
“THERE ARE ALWAYS EXCLUSIONS ON
THE ROAD TO AUSCHWITZ”.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
EXCLUSIONS IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD
Exclusions were the topic of an international educational conference organised by the International
Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the Auschwitz Museum entitled "'If This
Is a Man?' Exclusions in the Modern World".
'The experience of Auschwitz and the Shoah had exclusions and why we doubt that the person
a profound effect on those who survived. At the next to us is equal to us in rights and duties,'
end of the war, many survivors appealed for their stressed Andrzej Kacorzyk
experiences to become a warning to future
generations. Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi titled The Museum's director, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński
one of his books on the Holocaust "If This Is a said the work of an institution of memory is
Man?". His words are extremely topical in today's difficult because our civilisation is drifting in
world, which is why they were included in the somewhat troubling directions: 'If our work is to
conference title,' said ICEAH Director Andrzej make people aware and mobilise them to care
Kacorzyk. about the future, then we must all be concerned
about the rise of antisemitism and racism, the
Opening the conference at one of the historic growth of extremist ideologies of hatred in
brick prisoner barracks, Andrzej Kacorzyk said: various parts of the world. Our inability to
'This building bears the marks of the struggle for respond to the most severe genocidal crises must
survival, for life, for memory. The barrack is a also be troubling. They don't trigger a response -
silent witness to the camp's history: the as seen, for example, in the Rohingya or Uighur
demolition of the houses of the Polish residents tragedies, in our lack of empathy for the refugees.
of the village of Brzezinka, the use of building '
material for the hasty erection of the Birkenau
camp with labour from the prisoners' frail bodies. 'It is hard not to feel that the pandemic has
Pioneering conservation work was carried out deepened our emotional separatism. We observe
here several years ago. Thorough historical the development of the language of emotion,
reconnaissance of the site was significant. During populism and demagogy, which is considerably
the conservation work, numerous personal trivialising public debate in all parts of our world.
objects belonging to the victims were discovered. It is compounded by the influence of social
Each object tells the story of the prisoners' daily networks, which encapsulate the discussion in a
struggle for life.' very small, self-select group,' he added.
'It was a different world, but it was created in our 'The work of Memorials must take this evolution
world. Auschwitz and the Holocaust do not fall into account; hence we are reflecting on the very
from the sky; they are both born and originate early stages of genocide this year. The
from somewhere. On the road to Auschwitz, on dehumanisation of the enemy generally precedes
the path to crime, there are always exclusions. the physical elimination of people. This is
Two years ago, we asked ourselves at an possible through exclusion. Exclusions that create
education conference: "Auschwitz - never again! a language of division using the apparatus of
Really?" This year, in a way, we suggest propaganda and verbal aggression can be seen in
developing this theme and asking about all the major tragedies of this world. The
propaganda and verbal aggression can be seen by us. We often place too much importance on
in all the major tragedies of this world. The this abstraction and use it against others.
exceptional effectiveness of propaganda Excluding people from specific categories may
everywhere is puzzling. That is what we want lead to them being seen as strangers or
to reflect on. Exclusions affect various enemies,' he said.
minorities - including minority identities. If
someone's right to identity is denied, the 'Genocide, unfortunately, is not an exception
person feels it with all their being. The reasons but a rule in human history. If we are to combat
may vary, but an attack on identity is, in fact, an genocide, then we must consider how we can
attack on a human being,' Piotr Cywiński influence human nature. There is only one race,
pointed out. the human race,' Prof. Stanton emphasised.
The conference opened with a lecture by Prof. The first panel devoted to exclusion on account
Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch. of religious belief brought together activists
He spoke about the universal characteristics of who deal with issues of Islamophobia,
human nature that may lead to exclusion and antisemitism and anti-Christianity on a daily
ultimately even genocide and the next steps in basis and who reflected on the reason for such
the process leading to genocide. violent radicalisation and brutal persecution
affecting representatives of the world's largest
'Man is an animal that uses symbols and religions. They included Logan Carmichael,
classifications. We employ classification when Director of Advocacy, China Aid; Dr Farid Hafez,
we try to describe a phenomenon. It is an Senior Research Fellow at the University of
innate feature of our mind; however, we forget Salzburg; and Dr Leon Saltiel of the World
it is not an objective description of our Jewish Congress, UN and UNESCO
surrounding reality but an abstraction created Representative and Coordinator for Countering
The second panel aimed to present the true exclusion, who tried to point out the
meaning of the exclusions affecting women commonalities and differences in their
and children during armed conflicts and discuss experiences and what impact the experience of
their consequences for excluded people. The exclusion had on their lives. Participants in the
panellists included Brita Fernandez Schmidt, discussion included Almasa Salihović, Survivor
former Managing Director Women for Women of the conflict in Bosnia; Maung Zarni, activist
International; Léa-Rose Stoian, Deputy Director, counteracting the persecution of the Rohingya
We are NOT Weapons of War; and Marek in Myanmar; Linda Greta Zsiga, Roma activist
Krupinski, Director General of UNICEF Poland. encountering exclusion in Romania; and Dr Lutz
van Dijk, historian and writer, representative of
On the second day of the conference Tuisina the LGBT+ community.
Ymania Brown, Co-Secretary General, ILGA
World; Jovan Ulićević, Board Member, During the conference and open-call session,
Transgender Europe; and Vyacheslav Melnyk, representatives of local organisations talked
Executive Director of the Campaign against about their projects, which promote exclusion
Homophobia, spoke about exclusions on the awareness in the modern world and provide
grounds of sexual orientation and gender genuine help and support to those who have
identity. The guests discussed why LGBT+ fallen victim to it. The winners of the
people arouse so much intolerance, where the international competition "My memory, my
consent to violence derives from, and why responsibility. In my place", organised by the
there are cases of law enforcement agencies Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the
remaining passive in the face of persecution. Auschwitz-Birkenau Institute, also delivered
their presentations.
The conference ended with an emotional
meeting with victims and witnesses ofAndrzej Grzegorczyk, Muzeum Tradycji Niepodległościowych,
oddział Stacja Radegast
THE SCHWARZ FAMILY CHEST
Personal objects salvaged from the Holocaust have a remarkable effect on recipients. They serve as
"memory depositories", directing attention to the fate of their owners. Many of these valuable
objects are still being discovered and donated to museum collections. These include memorabilia
related to the prisoners of the Łódź Ghetto, such as a travel chest belonging to the Schwarz family
from Vienna. The unique artefact was restored this year with financial support from the Jewish
Historical Institute in Poland and the Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź.
The suitcase was found by accident in 2004 through the Emigration Department of the
during the renovation of a tenement house at Religious Community in Vienna (Israelitische
10 Wolność i Niezawisłość Street in Łódź. It is a Kulturgemeinde, IKG). In August 1938, the
large object with dimensions 90 x 54 x 34 cm. It coordination of the entire process was assumed
was made of wood and reinforced at the edges by the Central Office for Jewish Emigration
with leather-like material and metal fitting. Its (Zentrallstelle für jüdische Auswanderung),
surfaces were covered with painted canvas. The which was established exclusively for this
chest was found to contain objects made in the purpose. The thousands of emigration
ghetto: three hangers and a pair of leather declarations also include those completed by
laced shoes with wooden soles. However, the the Schwarz and Lercher families, illustrating
inscription on the suitcase's cover, written in the fate of hundred with similar stories. Annie's
black paint on a white background, draws father, Ernest and her younger sister Gertrude
attention: E. & A. SCHWARZ. WIEN and on the managed to leave Austria. They travelled to
underside: Erich & Anii Schwarz Wien. 9 Genoa, from where they made their way to New
Porzellang. 8. York. The opposite was the case for Marie,
Anni's mother, who remained in Vienna. On 26
The suitcase owners were Anni (born 17 January 1942, she and Victor Lercher (her
January 1910) and Erich (born 25 December husband's brother?, born 23 January 1880)
1894) Schwarz from Vienna. On 17 June 1939, were deported in transport no. 15 to Riga,
the couple got married at the registry office in where they were murdered.
the Leopoldstadt district (district no. 2). It was
probably at this time that they moved into a We do not know the reasons why Anni and Erich
shared apartment in the Alsergrund district (theremained in their home town. Likely, financial
number 9 in the address refers to the numerical (emigration was an expensive undertaking) or
record of the district) at Porzellangasse 8. formal issues got in the way. It would explain
Before her marriage, Anni (née Lercher) lived why Ernst Lechrer had to travel first, and later
with her parents Marie and Ernst, and sister on, attempt to bring the rest of the family
Gertrude at Praterstraße 35/22 in Leopoldstadt. members. During this time, the Schwarz family
This part of the town was called Mazzesinsel or also lost their flat. It was the aftermath of the
"Matzoh Island" by the locals due to the large ordinance of 10 May 1939 regulating the
Jewish population. During this period, Erich renting of flats and which permitted the
Schwarz lived at Kasernengasse 25/36 in the immediate termination of agreements with
Mariahilf district (district no. 6). Jews. The municipal authorities used this
opportunity to congregate Jews in houses
The couple's story was intertwined with the designed exclusively for them. The married
fate of thousands of Viennese Jews. In March couple had to move into one of the so-called
1938, after Austria was incorporated into the collective flats at Kohlmessergasse 6. The
Third Reich, repressions began that led to the house was their last address in Vienna,
rapid emigration of Jews. As of May 1938, those following which, in the autumn of 1941, they
wishing to leave the country could do so began deporting Viennese Jews from theAspangbahnhof station to ghettos set up in Schwarz family took advantage of this
eastern Europe, including the Litzmannstadt opportunity by moving to Brzezińska Street
(Łódź) ghetto. (Sulzfelderstrasse) 35 flat 11 (currently Wojska
Polskiego Street) on 29 January 1942. They
The Schwarz couple were deported to were not the only tenants; other Viennese
Litzmannstadt on 28 October 1941 in transport occupied the room with them: Seraphine
no. 9. They arrived the following day, 29 Schindler and Kurt Schick with two children: Igor
October, in a group of 1,000 people as the and Trude.
fourth transport from Vienna to the ghetto.
According to their declarations, they brought Initially, they had difficulties finding
RM95 with them (not much, considering that employment, as did other displaced persons. It
RM100 was the maximum amount allowed for was due to unfamiliarity with local realities and
entry per person. Like other displaced persons the Yiddish or Polish language. Surviving
from various cities in the Reich and the documentation shows that Anni was a
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, nearly housewife before the war while Erich worked as
20,000 persons in total were sent to collective a design engineer. They were, however, in a
housing known as "collectives". They were fortunate situation as they were young (Anni
colloquially named after the newcomers' place was 31 and Erich 47) compared to the other
of origin and transport number. The collective deportees from Vienna (more than 40% of
"Vienna IV" was located in two houses at whom were over 60 years old). Unfortunately,
Limanowskiego Street (Alexanderhofstrasse) 25 their fate in the ghetto remains unknown; they
and 45 (part of these buildings still exist to probably experienced the same ordeal as the
date). The sanitary and living conditions in the newly resettled population.
communal quarters were terrible even when
compared to the prevailing conditions in the A few weeks after arriving at the ghetto in
entire ghetto. Permission was only given to January 1942, mass deportations of its
move out to separate flats after some time. The inhabitants commenced to the exterminationcamp in Chełmno on the Ner. Western European Jews were left out in the first few months. It was finally decided that they would join the ranks of the deportees in the last operation between 4 and 15 May 1942. Anni and Erich Schwarz were also on the penultimate transport on 14 May. They were deported and then murdered in the extermination camp in Chełmno on the Ner. The story of the victims is intertwined with the suitcase. The circumstances of its discovery beg the question of how it ended up in this location. It can be assumed that it was deposited intentionally by the owners themselves. The tenement housed a tailoring establishment where Anni may have found employment later on. Thus, she likely hid the suitcase that she couldn't carry on her further journey into the unknown. Officially, luggage up to 12.5 kg was permitted, but in practice, it was often confiscated at the assembly points or before entering the wagons at the Radegast station. During the deportation in May 1942, the seizure of all baggage became commonplace. Information regarding this practice reached those waiting to be referred for displacement. It is thus possible that they abandoned some of their possessions in this manner. It also happened that people sent for deportation were sent back from the concentration points to the ghetto (in this way, some of them avoided deportation), while their personal belongings were often forfeited. Hiding the suitcase may have served the purpose of WiN) was a busy ghetto "arterial road" with protecting possessions from looting (in the several institutions of significance to ghetto absence of their owners). Therefore, the life. Oskar Singer, one of the chroniclers of concealment of the suitcase may have the ghetto, referred to it as the "heart" of the served to protect their possessions from ghetto district. The number of people who being plundered (in the absence of the could have access to the rooms was owners). And if they didn't do it themselves, considerably high - as was the case in the then did the concealment of the suitcase post-war period. have anything to do with an attempt to hide for the duration of the displacement. Currently, this building is displayed at the Another unanswered question is how the Radegast Station Branch, embodying the chest remained in this location for over sixty thousands of stories behind each of the years until its discovery. Dworska Street victims deported to the Holocaust. (known before the war as ul. Organizacji
The conservation of the object was performed in the Monuments Conservation Studio of
Mirosław Maciaszczyk.
The text was written as part of the grant "Preservation of the Schwarz family chest"
awarded by the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland.
I extend my sincere gratitude to Ursula Schwarz and Wolfgang Schellenbacher of the
Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes (DÖW) and Adam Sitarek of
the Centre for Jewish Research at the University of Łódź for their assistance in the
preliminary research.
Photos of the chest: Mirosław Maciaszczyk
Photos of shoes and hangers: Mateusz KowalskiPaweł Sawicki
“AUSCHWITZ. MONOGRAPH OF THE
HUMAN” BY PIOTR CYWIŃSKI
DELVES DEEPLY INTO HUMAN EMOTIONS
INSIDE THE CAMP
“Auschwitz. Monograph of the Human” is a new book by Auschwitz Museum Director Dr. Piotr M. A.
Cywiński. It is the first attempt - on a global scale - to delve so deeply into human emotions inside
the camp. It is a must-read for those seeking to understand what Auschwitz was all about. The
English translation should be published by the beginning of 2022.
The gathering of materials and work on the how frightened were they? Where did they seek
publication took almost six years. Piotr hope? What were their desires? Did they feel
Cywiński analysed over 250 books with lonely in the crowd, or did they seek to rebuild
memoirs of survivors of the German Nazi any social ties? What caused their apathy and
Auschwitz camp and extensive hitherto stupefaction? How did the disappearance of
unpublished archival material containing their reactions to all cultural stimuli unfold, and how
accounts. On this basis, he presented an in- did the deepest reflexes, known as primary
depth reflection on the condition of humans reflexes, manifest themselves? How did the
subjected to the concentration camp process. interpersonal hierarchy develop in such a
community, built anew and based on
The subject of his reflection became the completely new rules? What about decency and
emotions and inner dilemmas of the people a sense of justice? Was there room in Auschwitz
incarcerated in the camp and the defence for the development of spiritual values? What
strategies that helped them survive. The was an escape, a burden and a dream? What
diversity of issues he highlighted during truth about humanity did the prisoners
conversations with survivors and the analysis experience?”
of their memories and accounts is striking - said
Jadwiga Pinderska-Lech, head of the Museum “In post-war historiography, the history of
Publishing House. Auschwitz is most often presented through the
prism of facts, figures and dates. The
The book is divided into more than thirty establishment of these required several
chapters, each devoted to a separate subject. decades of analysis of the scarce archival
They include, among others, “Initial Shock,” resources and sometimes very painstaking
“Solitude,” “Death,” “Hunger,” historical research. It is undoubtedly a major
“Companionship,” “Empathy,” “Decency,” achievement of several generations of
“Struggle and Resistance,” “Culture and historians. I do not intend to disavow this fact at
Science,” “Fear,” and “Hope.” One great asset of all. It’s important, perhaps even fundamental in
the book is the extremely aptly chosen some ways, to know what happened and when,
quotations from nearly 450 Auschwitz particularly in relation to that section of human
survivors. history that has been and continues to be
denied and misrepresented. However,
In the preface to the book, Piotr Cywiński Auschwitz cannot be fully expressed in dates,
wrote: “What did people live on in the camp? numbers, and facts. The history of Auschwitz is
What were the thoughts in their head and above all an enormous human tragedy, the
heart? What did they dream about? What and individual dimension of which eludeschronology and goes on with its dramatic life
alongside large numbers, important dates, and
historical facts,” - it states
‘Each chapter of the book can be treated as an
independent analysis of a single issue.
However, it is only when read as a whole does it
provide an overview of the complicated
emotional world of people uprooted from their
daily lives and thrown into a world that one of
the prisoners called the heart of hell,’ added
Jadwiga Pinderska-Lech.
‘I am incredibly impressed; it’s all in plain sight,
as if you were there with me, Piotr. I read over a
hundred pages, and everything around me
seemed to cease to exist besides the Camp. You
have broadened my memories and images with
an orderly explanation of the incomprehensible,
chaotic reality of fear and the struggle for every
moment of life, in the constant encounter with
death I was so deeply trapped in and grew up
with from the age of 14 to 16,’ said Auschwitz
survivor Halina Birenbaum.
‘An extraordinary, new monograph on the Concluding the last chapter of the book
Auschwitz-Birkenau camp written from the “Auschwitz. Monograph of the Human” entitled
perspective of the prisoners’ diverse “Conclusions”, Piotr Cywiński wrote: “I hope that
experiences. It talks about suffering, loneliness, my attempt to restore the perspective that the
hunger and death, decency, empathy or the survivors spoke of, which we have not been able
inner life. Piotr Cywiński has used hundreds of to perceive fully, will do my duty to their words,
accounts by former prisoners to give us a memories and warnings. I also trust that it will
complex, fascinating, and uniquely credible fulfil its role as a proposal for a new approach in
picture of the experience of people from many the historiography of concentration camps and
European countries that were subjected to this extermination centres, and perhaps other
“hell on earth,’ said Prof. Barbara Engelking, genocide studies - so that human experience,
head of the Holocaust Research Center at the examined in the polyphony of memoir voices,
Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the becomes the full focus of researchers of the
Polish Academy of Sciences. issue. We do not owe it to them but ourselves.
And to subsequent generations. It was an
‘It is groundbreaking work. No one has ever experience too important, acute and deadly to
looked at the camp this way, and no one has be encapsulated in numbers, dates and facts.
ever described it in such a manner. By delving Analysis requires more important, much more
into the deepest experiences of former relevant issues beyond these - strictly factual -
prisoners and survivors, Piotr Cywiński reaches findings.”
almost to the very core of darkness. The book
urges us to rethink many notions we have held The book “Auschwitz. Monograph of the Human”
up to date, starting with education about by Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, is available in Polish
Auschwitz and the Holocaust’ said editor Marek on the Museum’s online bookshop and at the
Zając, chairman of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Site. The English translation should be
Foundation Board. published by the beginning of 2022.WITH MAREK ZAJĄC
ABOUT THE BOOK “AUSCHWITZ.
MONOGRAPH OF THE HUMAN”
INTERVIEWED BY PAWEŁ SAWICKI
In your opinion, does “Auschwitz. Monograph and analytical narration of the author-
of the Human” differ from other books narrator. This book, for many different
analysing the fate of prisoners of the reasons, is addressed both to those involved in
Auschwitz camp? historical studies professionally as well as to
average readers. It seems that everyone
It is a ground breaking and unique publication. perceives this book in a little bit different way,
The accounts of former prisoners and don’t they?
Holocaust Survivors are and will of course
constitute the crucial point of reference. But noThis book is a must-read for all those who
one has ever perceived these accounts from would like to come closer to Auschwitz.
such a pioneering perspective as Piotr Irrespective of their motivations. For those who
Cywiński. I always repeat it: we will never be not only want to learn something, but in
able to finally understand the experience of particular – to understand. It is a rare case of a
Witnesses and we will never touch the very book with highest analytical and research
heart of darkness called Auschwitz. I have not qualities, at the same time readily devoured by
changed my mind. However, I have never non-professionals in the field. It is the first
thought that it is possible to come so close to synthetic attempt to answer the question asked
these areas which are not fully reachable. by nearly all visitors of former camp premises.
What made it possible for those few to survive?
For Cywiński, the accounts of former prisoners What did they feel? How did they perceive
and Holocaust Survivors are the compass in the justice? Why, in spite of it all, were they able to
journey deep inside human experience. To the love and to laugh? What were they dreaming
depths and pits of humanity. But at the same of? What did they use to think about the world
time it is not a philosophy book in a sense that behind the wires? What would finally break
it is and confusing and lost in abstract them and what would give them power?
deliberations. The author does not move away
the cruel concrete of Auschwitz even for a When it comes to experts, historians are not the
while. From the very beginning until the end of only addressees. This book has to inaugurate a
this monumental publication we remain at the big international debate on the essence and
camp, experiencing this place in a nearly methods for teaching about Auschwitz and the
physical way. Where has this unique effect Holocaust, as Cywiński’s analysis is like moving
come from? Firstly, Cywiński has devoted his a railroad switch. It is the eye-opening
life to Auschwitz. His mind and his spirit. His experience that forces the reader to rethink
time, sensitivity and talent. Secondly, while many issues which have been treated as
writing about psychological mechanisms, often inviolable for years. For example, it has so far
going beyond the border of consciousness and been commonly claimed that through the lens
unconsciousness, he has never ceased to be a of Auschwitz we can show a human in so called
historian. extreme or borderline situations. It has had a
great effect on educational efforts all over the
The book is very particular in its form. It world and constituted one of the pillars of
consists not only of the fragments of memoirs teaching about the Holocaust. Cywiński in turn
and accounts, but also includes a very specific proves that this assumption is wrong to its core.Marek Zając. Photo. Inbornmedia / POLSAT
assumption is wrong to its core. That Auschwitz said so, has been fascinating and absorbing me
shows the human who is not facing extreme for years. But while reading I was surprised how
situations, but remains within the world many accounts Cywiński managed to pick out.
programmed for total dehumanization. This How many new things I have learned from these
totally changes the perspective. So, let me fifteen pages. And most of all: how much more I
explain it as follows: if we do not face this book, have understood. All in all, after this chapter
do not discuss it honestly and do not draw there comes the next one… about strong will.
practical conclusions, we will commit the fatal And this is what it is all about: Cywiński
sin of neglect. juxtaposes two extremely different situations
and makes prisoners’ accounts even more
Which of the chapters have moved you the meaningful.
most? Has anything surprised you?
For the reasons that Cywiński mentions in the
A hard question. This book really needs to be introduction, “Auschwitz. Monograph of the
read as a whole. Each chapter constitutes a Human” is not a complete book, for example
closed story, but they all form a panoramic due to wide linguistic range of the accounts. Do
view. Cywiński’s analysis is like a mosaic: every you have any advice for the author? On one
single component impresses, but only by taking hand the book can be considered a complete
a step back and admiring the entire intricate work, while on the other – just its beginning.
arrangement one can see the image of
Auschwitz. Once again: the image so close to Auschwitz and the Holocaust need to remain the
reality that the camp becomes nearly tangible open and unhealed wound forever. As I have
and possible to experience with one’s senses. already said: this story will never come to its
What is more, the structure of the book is so end as we will always be only approaching the
elaborate also thanks to its carefully thought- heart of darkness. But the entire meaning is in
out order of chapters. Cywiński is consciously fact hidden in this effort of constantly coming
guiding the reader through the maze of closer. It was claimed for years that everything
Auschwitz. had been said about Auschwitz. Piotr Cywiński
has just changed the rules of the game. He
If I had to choose one chapter, I would point to showed the new direction. He did it to himself
the one devoted to becoming a Muselmann, a and to the other. It is now our common
prisoner experiencing the state of extreme responsibility, and I am not afraid to say so, to
exhaustion and numbness. The last stage of life follow him.
without life. It is the subject that, if it can beEHRI
CLAIMS CONFERENCE UNIVERSITY
PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM IN
HOLOCAUST STUDIES
Claims Conference University Partnership Program in Holocaust Studies
The Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (The Claims Conference) provides grant funds to
European universities for the purposes of teaching Holocaust courses for one year and is currently
seeking universities that are interested in creating a partnership for the 2022-2023 academic year.
In order to be eligible for this round, the seminars open to the public, with the
university must: support of the university. The university will
not be able to add to the lecturer’s
- be Eastern European based and well responsibilities beyond those related to
established teaching these courses unless the university
offers the lecturer a stipend.
- be a public (government supported) OR
university 2. combine the above Holocaust teaching
position with an already existing lecturer
- have an established History or other position at your university, to teach a
Humanities related department maximum of 3 courses per semester.
- be offering no more than 1 Holocaust The lecturer and the curricula must be
course currently throughout the university approved by the university and the Claims
Conference.
- be able to accept funds from the Claims
Conference to pay the chosen lecturer Application deadline for University
directly (the Claims Conference will not pay Partnership in Holocaust Studies: November
the lecturer). 12, 2021.
The Claims Conference will offer a If interested or if you have any questions,
maximum (gross) amount of $25,000 to: please email Ms. Chavie Brumer at Chavie.
brumer@claimscon.org indicating your
1. create a new full-time lecturer position intent to apply.
to start in September of 2022 and end in
June of 2023. The lecturer will be expected All applications must be completed online
to teach at least 3 Holocaust courses per through the Fluxx Portal System, along with
semester in the university, including one your CV, the CVs of any recommended
course that must be an Introduction to lecturers, a signed letter from your
Holocaust. The courses should be taught in department head or provost, as well as your
the language that the majority of students university’s Academic Freedom Policy.
understand. The lecturer must also offer 4To apply, go to: https://claimsconference. If your university is re-applying, you do not
fluxx.io/. need to complete a new application. You are
only required to add an updated signed
Please begin the application process at least letter from your university that indicates
a week before the deadline in order to approval of the application.
ensure that all steps in Fluxx are completed
on time. For more information about the
application process, go to:
http://www.claimscon.org/what-we-do/
allocations/red/education/university-
partnership/Renata Koszyk
SPORT AND ATHLETES
IN KL AUSCHWITZ
“Sport and athletes in KL Auschwitz” is the title of the temporary exhibition that can be viewed at
Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau until March 31, 2022.
The exhibition presents archive materials and artistic works showing the sports life of prisoners as
well as short biographical information about selected athletes who were deported to the German Nazi
concentration and extermination camp in Auschwitz.
Despite their exhaustion, prisoners tried to combined with artistic works illustrating some
create substitutes for social, cultural and sports of the exercises making up pseudosport.
life. Although sport was not a common and
generally accessible phenomenon in Auschwitz, Athletes
and the opportunity to participate in the Almost all prisoners of the camp experienced
competition was available only to a small pseudosport, including athletes, who were also
number of prisoners, whose condition allowed deported to Auschwitz. They were people of
for additional energy expenditure related to various nationalities, practicing many sports,
physical effort, many post-war reports raise this whose sports careers - including the Olympic
topic, pointing to the important role of sport as ones - were interrupted and postponed due to
a factor supporting survival. A pathological form the war. In many cases, the war completely
of sport is also often mentioned - exercises destroyed their life and sports plans.
performed on command, which resulted in the
death of many of prisoners. Among them there were Polish athletes, before
the war largely associated in sports clubs and
Pseudosport associations. The activity of these organizations,
The concept of “sport” in KL Auschwitz was perceived by the occupant as a hotbed of
distorted by using this term to refer to patriotism, was significantly limited, and in
massively exhausting exercises combined with many cases even banned. Many sports activists
drills and singing. This form of sport, referred to and athletes joined the underground and the
as pseudosport or quasi-sport after the war, was resistance movement; some were sent to
usually a means of enforcing discipline and concentration camps, including Auschwitz.
punishing prisoners. Sometimes pseudosport Wannsee Conference in January 1942 resulted
was used as a form of deliberate degradation in the deportation of Jews, including athletes, to
and physical exhaustion of entire groups of extermination camps. In Auschwitz, only a few -
prisoners, work commandos or individuals. This considered fit for work - became prisoners. Most
form of physical exercise was known to almost were murdered in gas chambers. The names of
all female and male prisoners. Even children many of them are unknown.
were abused in this way.
Sports representatives were also among the
Pseudosport usually consisted of relatively Roma and Sinti, Soviet prisoners of war, as well
simple gymnastic exercises, however repeated as among prisoners of other social groups
many times and for many hours, also in deported to Auschwitz from many European
extremely unfavourable weather conditions, in countries. Regardless of why they ended up in
rain, frost or heat. They were often Auschwitz, only a small part of them had the
accompanied by harassment, curses and opportunity to actively pursue their disciplines
beatings by prisoner functionaries and SS men. behind the wired fence.
The exhibition presents accounts of former Sport
prisoners in which they describe their own Sports life in Auschwitz did not begin with the
experiences with this form of persecution, deportation of the first prisoners, but developedA drawing made in 1945 by Jan Kupiec, prisoner number 790, showing a prisoner performing
one of the most common exercises as punishment: squats (Kniebeugen). PMA-B Collections.
slowly. It was influenced by the general only diversified camp life, but also had a great
situation in the camp, the physical condition of impact on their psyche. At the exhibition, you
prisoners and the consent of the SS staff. will be able to see photos of camp plans where
Initially, the initiators of sports competitions major places where various disciplines were
and fights were privileged German prisoner practiced are marked, read selected reports
functionaries who, in order to make the duels describing sports matches and duels, and learn
fought against each other more attractive, about the profiles of outstanding
allowed other prisoners to participate in them. representatives of each discipline.
The observers of such fights that took place
most often on Sunday afternoons were Much attention at the exhibition was devoted to
prisoners, but some matches were also one of the groups of athletes who did not have
attended by SS men who treated participation a chance to practice their discipline in the camp:
in such events as an interesting spectacle and skiers. Many Poles tried to get out of the
distraction. occupied territories to fight in military units
established in France. In the illegal crossing of
The most popular disciplines practiced in the the southern border they were helped by the so-
camp were football and boxing, but wrestling, called couriers: skiers and mountaineers,
volleyball and basketball, and even athletics highlanders who knew the area and had the
and water sports, such as swimming, water polo appropriate skills. Couriers also helped in
and diving, were also practiced. Certain smuggling documents, money and even
disciplines were practiced over a long period of weapons. Many of them were captured and
time and in many parts of the camp complex imprisoned in Auschwitz after brutal
(boxing, football), and some were practiced only investigations. The traditional artistic skills of
briefly or only in some sub-camps. Despite this, highlanders were used by employing them in
prisoners remember matches and duels that not carpentry workshops and the camp museumA fragment of a secret message from Tadeusz Pietrzykowski to his mother. APMA-B.
[Lagermuseum], where they made utility items among other prisoners. He became the
and artistic works: paintings, sculptures, and informal champion of all weights in KL
bas-reliefs. The exhibition will present Auschwitz. He informed his mother about this
selected artistic works from the PMA-B in a secret message sent from the camp in
Collections, as well as camp letters, decorated 1942.
by prisoners with motifs referring to sports
and highlander themes. The exhibition presents his boxing glove,
donated to the Museum Collections by his
The exhibition also includes mental activities, daughter, Eleonora Szafran. He got it just
such as chess or bridge, which were treated by before his transfer from Auschwitz to
prisoners more as a springboard from the Neuengamme and he fought wearing it both in
brutal reality of the camp and an opportunity Neuengamme and after liberation, as a soldier
to spend their free time in an attractive way of the Division of General Maczek.
other than sports rivalry. Since it was a
formally forbidden activity, it was played in Antoni Czortek’s camp letters to his wife are
hardly visible places, such as overhead bunks unique memorabilia which will be presented
or cellars. The items necessary for the games at the exhibition for the first time – they are
were most often illegally manufactured by not only camp memorabilia, but also family
prisoners themselves. Undoubtedly some of memorabilia. They have been donated by
the accessories for games - not only mental Antoni Czortek’s son, Bogdan. As he
disciplines, but others, too - were illegally emphasizes, these are the only memorabilia
brought to the camp from the luggage stolen from the camp times in the family collection
from Jewish victims. and unique documents. His father, forced into
boxing fights in Birkenau, also with his pre-war
New acquisitions of the Museum friend and colleague from the rings, Zbigniew
A special place at the exhibition was devoted Małecki, reluctantly recalled the time of the
to two boxers: Antoni “Kajtek” Czortek and camp ordeal, and his boxing career, both pre-
Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski. Thanks to the war and post-war, is still awaiting a historical
generosity of the families of both athletes, the study.
Museum Archives acquired original secret
messages and camp letters of former Sport in the shadow of extermination
prisoners, which will be presented to a wide Everything that happened in Auschwitz
audience for the first time at the exhibition. happened in the shadow of extermination and
always in connection with it. Also sport. It is
Tadeusz Pietrzykowski, a pre-war Warsaw best illustrated in a fragment of a short story
boxer, was the first political prisoner to cross by a Polish political prisoner Tadeusz
gloves with a German prisoner functionary. Borowski, included in his post-war memoirs.
This fight initiated a whole series of boxing The story “Ludzie, którzy szli” (The People
duels both in Auschwitz I and in many sub- Who Walked On) describes one of the football
camps. For almost three years in the camp, he games in Auschwitz II-Birkenau in which he
fought over 40 duels and was second to none participated as a goalkeeper. The location ofgames in Auschwitz II-Birkenau in which he There was not a single man left on it ... I came
participated as a goalkeeper. The location of back with the ball and kicked it to the other
the football field in Birkenau was bizarre: it corner. Three thousand people were gassed
was built right next to the ramp, to which between the two corners behind my back.”
transports of people were brought, and near
crematorium number III. Tadeusz Borowski, Ludzie, którzy szli (The
People Who Walked On), [in:] Opowiadania
“I stood as a goalkeeper once. It was a Sunday. wybrane (Selected Stories), Warsaw 1971.
(…) I stood as a goalkeeper – with my back to
the ramp. The ball fell out of bounds and Summary
rolled up to the fence. I ran after it. Lifting it The exhibition “Sport and athletes in KL
off the ground, I looked at the ramp. A train Auschwitz” has been prepared mainly on the
had just arrived at the ramp. People started to basis of the archive materials and collections
get out of the freight wagons and walked of Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau.
towards the woods. (...) The procession It can be viewed in block 21 at the former
continued slowly, and new people from the Auschwitz camp until March 31, 2022.
wagons were constantly joining it. Finally it
stopped. People sat down on the grass and
looked at us. I came back with the ball and Exhibition curator: Renata Koszyk
kicked it to restart the game. It went from one Design: Aleksandra Mausolf
foot to another and arched back to my goal. I Coordination: Zuzanna Janusik
kicked it out to the corner. It rolled into the Consultation: Dr. Wanda Witek-
grass. I went for it again. And lifting it from the
ground, I stood still: the ramp was empty.IHRA
DRAFT GUIDELINES FOR MONITORING
ACCESS TO HOLOCAUST
COLLECTIONS PROJECT PRESENTED
During the Athens Spring Plenary meetings and about one year after the project’s launch,
the IHRA’s project on Monitoring Access to Holocaust Collections has made great strides.
Despite having to overcome many obstacles due to the pandemic, the Project Chair Dr.
Haim Gertner (Yad Vashem) and project researcher Elinor Kroitoru shared a draft of the
new guidelines at the Athens Spring Plenary. Project Chair Dr. Gertner and Deputy Chair Dr.
Veerle Vanden Daelen (Kazerne Dossin, Belgium) also presented the draft guidelines to
EUDiA, the European Union Diplomatic Archives. These new standards will serve as a
practical tool to help archivists identify Holocaust-related materials.
Monitoring Access to Holocaust Collections
Project follows up on the IHRA’s efforts to Cooperation with archival institutes is
safeguard the record of the Holocaust central to the project's approach
This current project builds upon the findings Crucial to the success of this ongoing
of the IHRA’s Archival Access Project of project is continued cooperation with and
2014–2017. One outcome of this project outreach to archival institutes. The project
was the adoption of the IHRA’s working members have been able to gain valuable
definition of Holocaust-related materials. insight while speaking with practitioners in
This definition has served as an important the field. They aim to continue this approach
tool, helping archivists around the world to in the coming year as they share their draft
work towards opening their archives and document for feedback and input.
providing full access to vital
documentation. Most recently, the project team met with
EUDiA, the European Union Diplomatic
The project also follows up on the pledges Archives, where the Project Chair and
made as part of the 2020 IHRA Ministerial Deputy Chair presented the draft guidelines
Declaration, in which IHRA Member and explored future opportunities for
Countries emphasized “the importance of cooperation. At this meeting, Deputy Chair
identifying, preserving, and making Veerle Vanden Daelen voiced: “We are
available archival material, testimonies and making a plea to archivists and curators to
authentic sites for educational purposes, understand the ambiguity and diversity of
commemoration and research.” Holocaust-related sources. Experts should
work hand-in-hand to allow access to
Despite great progress, the Monitoring documentation and support quality
Access Project has noted that many archives research.”
around the world still find it challenging to
identify which materials are in fact related For more information about the importance
to the period of the Holocaust. These new of open access to archives, read this
guidelines, which the IHRA hopes to finalize interview with Project Chair Dr. Gertner.
this year, are intended to resolve this
confusion and to enable archivists,
researchers, and anyone interested in
archival material to gain access to
Holocaust-related materials.Jewish News UK
ROMANIA’S RARE SHOAH TRIBUTE
FOR CITY OF IAȘI
Country's prime minister remembers thousands of Jews killed in a 1941 pogrom
Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu has gone further than any predecessor by paying tribute to
thousands of Jews killed in a 1941 pogrom in the north-eastern city of Iași.
Leaders of the central European state have a long history of denying Romanian connivance in
the Holocaust, but Citu broke with tradition during an unprecedented meeting of parliament, in
the presence of the massacre’s last survivors.
“We, as a nation, must openly admit that our past Around 15,000 people, almost a third of the city’s
was not always glorious,” he said, as he explained Jewish population, were killed on 29 June 1941.
the “unimaginable suffering, cruelty and savagery” They were taken to the Iași police headquarters,
inflicted on Jews on the orders of pro-Nazi marshal where they were beaten and humiliated by local
Ion Antonescu. officers and civilians before being shot by armed
troops.
Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu has gone
further than any predecessor by paying tribute to Up to 8,000 survivors were herded into two sealed
thousands of Jews killed in a 1941 pogrom in the and overheated freight trains, where thousands
north-eastern city of Iași. more died of suffocation. Up to 100 pictures of the
massacre survive, and the pogrom has been
Leaders of the central European state have a long meticulously researched, including by a
history of denying Romanian connivance in the commission led by the late Romanian-born Nobel
Holocaust, but Citu broke with tradition during an Peace laureate Elie Wiesel.
unprecedented meeting of parliament, in the
presence of the massacre’s last survivors. Antonescu, who was executed for war crimes in
1946, remains a hero to many Romanians, a point
“We, as a nation, must openly admit that our past picked up on this week by Silviu Vexler, head of
was not always glorious,” he said, as he explained Romania’s Jewish community, who lamented the
the “unimaginable suffering, cruelty and savagery” country’s “praise for war criminals”.
inflicted on Jews on the orders of pro-Nazi marshal
Ion Antonescu. Government representative Alexandru Muraru said:
“By commemorating this massacre, the worst in
Get The Jewish News Daily Edition by email and modern Romanian history, the parliament is laying
never miss our top storiesFREE SIGN UP the foundations for a truth-based reconciliation.”
Photos: Rgvis (Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0)Yad Vashem
YAD VASHEM MARKS THE OPENING
CEREMONY OF THE OLYMPICS WITH
TWO ONLINE EXHIBITIONS
COMMEMORATING JEWISH AND NON-JEWISH ATHLETES
Gymnast Estella Agsteribbe was one of five "The Jewish athletes who are making their
Jewish women to participate in the way to Tokyo to participate in the Olympic
Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928. She Games, which were delayed from summer
was a trailblazer not only as Jewish athlete, 2020 to now due to the global health
but also as one of the first women pandemic, are only the latest in a long-
permitted to compete in gymnastics at the standing tradition."
global sports event. In September 1943,
Estella and her two children were Another remarkable story included in this
murdered shortly after arriving at the unique exhibition is that of cousins Gustav
Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp – and Alfred Flatow, who represented
simply because they were Jewish. Germany at two Olympic Games. "Despite
their status as world-class athletes, their
In the spirit of the upcoming Olympic Jewish identity condemned them to an all
Games set to open tomorrow in Tokyo, Yad too familiar fate and they, too, were
Vashem, the World Holocaust murdered during the Holocaust," Porath
Remembrance Center, is promoting two reflected.
online exhibitions to commemorate both
Jewish and non-Jewish athletes during Sports often served as a bridge between
WWII. The first exhibition, entitled "Jews the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds,
and Sports before the Holocaust: A Visual resulting in friendships and comradery
Retrospective," utilizes images and formed between these two societies.
artifacts to portray different sporting During the Holocaust, some of these bonds
events and competitions in which Jews would prove beneficial in helping save
participated. This exhibition features the Jewish athletes, when their non-Jewish
personal stories and images of Jewish counterparts bravely risked their own lives
athletes before the Holocaust, including to rescue their Jewish compatriots from
champion boxer Victor Perez, the Hapoel Nazi persecution – often at risk to their own
Football team from Poland, and the lives. The second online exhibition "The
Hakoach Vienna Hockey team competing at Game of their Lives" tells the stories of
the Bar-Kochba International Sports Games those brave individuals, non-Jewish
in 1937. athletes recognized as Righteous Among
the Nations by Yad Vashem. The inspiring
"For generations, Jewish athletes, both accounts of a dozen valiant men and
men and women, competed in different women are highlighted in the exhibition –
sporting events, some of them most notably the rescue stories of world-
participating and even winning medals in renowned Italian cyclist champion Gino
the Olympics," remarked Dana Porath, Bartali, Olympian swimmer Margit Eugénie
Director of the Digital Department in the Mallász, and Czechoslovakian soccer player
Communications Division at Yad Vashem. Martin Uher. These stories truly embody theresponsibility and respect for universal share the faces and inspirational stories of
fundamental ethical principles." Jewish and non-Jewish athletes from the
time of the Holocaust."
"These two unique exhibitions are part of
Yad Vashem's ongoing efforts to curate
content that is both meaningful and
timely," concluded Porath. "At a time when
the world's attention is focused on the
athletes competing in Tokyo, we are able toEMORIA
MEMORY • HISTORY • EDUCATION
memoria.auschwitz.org
PUBLISHER
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Paweł Sawicki
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka
EDITED BY
Bartosz Bartyzel
Imogen Dalziel
Marek Lach
Łukasz Lipiński
CONTACT
memoria@auschwitz.org
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