DOCSLIB.ORG

Shared Culture of Memory Considered at Nuremberg

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Shared Culture of Memory Considered at Nuremberg Oświęcim ISSN 1899-4407 PEO P LE SHARED CULTURE CULTURE Of memOry CONSIDERED AT HISTORY Nuremberg HATiKVA meANS HOPE... ArTiSTic SpriNg AT THe iymc no. 19 July 2010 Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 27, July 2010 EDITORIAL BOARD: Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine EDITORIAL For four days during a conference en- Andrzej Zoll and Zbigniew Gluza. In triangle, as well as handwritten notes. titled “Auschwitz and the Holocaust Oś you will find excerpts of the debate, On the pages of the Jewish Center, you against the backdrop of genocide in as well as an article on the conference. will read about the Israeli music group the twentieth century”, teachers from The IYMC also extends an invitation Hatikva 6, who were one of the guests across Poland attended lectures, as to three art exhibitions. of the first Life Festival, and the visit well as discussed the nature and the In this issue, among others, we write of fourteen American cadets to Po- consequences of genocide in the mod- about a visit by Polish educators land and Oświęcim for the program Editor: ern world. Discussion also focused on to Nuremberg, the Documentation “American Services Academies Pro- Paweł Sawicki contemporary challenges facing edu- Center, which is located in the historic gram.” Also on the pages of the Cen- Editorial secretary: cation about tragic events of the past. Congress Hall on the former site of the tre for Dialogue and Prayer, there are Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka party congresses of the Third Reich articles about the visit to Oświęcim of Editorial board: During the conference, which took (photograph of this is on the cover), as a group of survivors from Hiroshima Bartosz Bartyzel place at the International Youth Meet- well as a valuable gift the daughters as well as the “Bearing Witness” re- Wiktor Boberek Jarek Mensfelt ing Center, panel discussions were of former Auschwitz prisoner Stefania treat. Olga Onyszkiewicz held dedicated to the topic of “re- Budniak transferred to the Museum— Paweł Sawicki Jadwiga Pinderska-Lech sponsibility” in which several spoke, A prisoners striped dress, a piece of Editor-in-chief Artur Szyndler including: Prof. Zdzisław Mach, Prof. fabric with a camp number, prisoner [email protected] Columnist: Mirosław Ganobis Design and layout: Agnieszka Matuła, Grafikon Translations: A gALLery David R. Kennedy Proofreading: Beata Kłos OF THE 20TH CENTURY Photographer: I mentioned once on these shade of a maple tree, the and the blades of meat grind- in the wire mesh on the out- Paweł Sawicki pages about the city herald, organist and his parrot that ers. Sometimes there were side, while the inside was left that provided residents of was good at predicting the those who would use “cold smooth and even. the city, still in the post-War lottery did not appear, nor welds” to fix holes in rusted This is a forgotten folkloristic period, communications and did the so-called “handełes,” pots, with little success, when craft, an interesting ethno- PUBLISHER: information from the munici- swift and versatile business- compared to the excellent graphical craft, which, like all pal offices. I recalled a figure men and hawkers, mainly sharpening. During the years those of the past is worth sav- Auschwitz-Birkenau and the function of the postal Jews who were purchasers I write about, there were rare ing from oblivion! State Museum horse van that carried, at the of goods of all kinds, the pre- appearances by “wire-men,” Today, Roma bands rarely time, the consignments from cursors of the cash and carry who fixed damaged, cracked wander from block to block, www.auschwitz.org.pl the post office to the railway trade. But in those years on or broken stoneware vessel or counting on small amounts station, which was not called the streets and in backyards, clay bowls, pitchers, among of coins wrapped in paper, the station at the time. Today, other public services, such as others. They fixed the dam- flying from windows or bal- PaRTnERS: a more intimate story about a portable blade sharpener aged parts of the pottery us- conies in exchange for a “con- events that took place in the who carried his workshop ing a tight wire mesh, braided cert.” But this is generally a Jewish backyards and the individu- on his back, and powered like a plait. Even in the 1970s, “miserable” amount, when Center als. the grinder with his feet. there functioned a profession- compared to the length and Of course, in the post-War The grinder’s wheels rotated al “wire-man” doing repairs. strength of music! www.ajcf.pl years, in our backyard in the sharpening knives, scissors, The pottery was only covered Andrzej Winogrodzki Center for Dialogue and Prayer Foundation www.centrum-dialogu.oswiecim.pl International Youth Meeting Center www.mdsm.pl In COOPERaTIOn WITH: Kasztelania www.kasztelania.pl State Higher Vocational School in Oświęcim www.pwsz-oswiecim.pl Editorial address: „Oś – Oświęcim, Ludzie, Historia, Kultura” Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau ul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 20 32-603 Oświęcim e-mail: [email protected] Photo: www.kasztelania.pl Surroundings of the Oświęcim Castle. Photo from Mirosław Ganobis’s collection “A Gallery of the 20th Century” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 27, July 2010 Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum uNiTed STATeS cONTribuTeS $15 miLLiON TO AuScHwiTz-birKeNAu fOuNdATiON ecretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in Cracow on Saturday that the United States will support the Auschwitz- SBirkenau Foundation to the amount of $15 million (€12.2 million), bringing pledges to the Foundation to around €80 mil- lion—two-thirds of the required total of €120 million—in less than a year and a half since it was established. Clinton flew into Cracow for a meeting to mark the tenth anniversary of the Com- munity of Democracies. Contributions will be de- the world visited the mu- in many forward-looking posited in a special Per- seum and memorial. The democracies around the petual Fund. The income preservation and continu- world, mindful of histori- from the Fund will finance ation of Auschwitz Memo- cal experience, gives us a a permanent long-term plan rial is essential so that fu- good chance to preserve to preserve the authentic re- ture generations can see for what remains at this Memo- mains of the Nazi German themselves why the world rial. When we began work- Auschwitz concentration must never again allow a ing to set up the Founda- and extermination camp. place of such hatred to scar tion almost two years ago, Annual interest on the Fund the soul of humankind”— I did not know how things should amount to €4 to €5 said Hillary Clinton. would turn out. Today, I million. have a real hope that work At a special conference in Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński, the financed by the interest on Cracow, Clinton informed director of the Auschwitz- the Perpetual Fund will about the decision of the US Birkenau State Museum, begin in 2012. I feel a great Photo: Bartosz Bartyzel US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director of the Auschwitz president Barack Obama. who is also the president sense of satisfaction.” Museum Piotr M.A. Cywiński “The United States strongly of the Foundation, thanked The United States is the encourages other nations the Secretary of State per- third country to declare who have not already done sonally. Commenting on substantial support to the states) have jointly pledged Belgium, the United King- so to follow suit and to con- previous declarations of Foundation since it was es- €60 million, and Austria has dom, France, and several tribute to the Auschwitz- support for the Foundation, tablished last year. So far, pledged €6 million. Talks other countries. Birkenau fund. In 2009 he said that “things are go- the German federal govern- are also at an advanced alone, more than 1.3 mil- ing well. The reaction of the ment and the governments stage on the subject of sup- lion people from around public and decision makers of the Länder (federal port for the Foundation by AgAiNST crime Of geNOcide he third Raphael Lemkin Seminar—organized by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau, The Raphael Lemkin Center for the Preven- Ttion of Genocide, and the Holocaust Research Center at the Jagiellonian University—has come to an end. Taking place from 20 to 27 ticipants of the seminar and well as from the State Mu- of June, the seminar is in- tour of the former Ausch- seum Auschwitz-Birkenau. tended for professors and witz Concentration Camp, RaPHaEL LEmkIn CEnTER lecturers from all military were lecturers from West The lecturers included, schools, educating the offic- Point, Fort Leavenworth, among others: Dr. James fOR GEnOCIDE PREvEnTIOn ers of the US Military and The Auschwitz Institute for Waller from Keene State NATO. Among the 35 par- Peace and Reconciliation, as College of New Hampshire, Raphael Lemkin Center for Genocide Preven- Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz the tion was created by The Auschwitz Institute for Manager of the Research Peace and Reconciliation [AIPR]. It was estab- Department at the State Mu- lished to connect the leaders of the world in- seum Auschwitz-Birkenau, volved in preventing genocide and armed conflict. Ms. Norul Rashid from the Raphael Lemkin, who the seminar is named after, was Office of the Special Adviser a pre-War Polish Jewish lawyer and creator of the term to the UN Secretary General “Genocide.” During the War, he was able to get to the for Genocide Prevention. United States. Adopted in 1948, the UN Convention on Subjects of the lectures in- the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Geno- cluded: the definition and cide was created largely thanks to the efforts of the in- history of genocide, respon- ternational community as a response to the crimes of sibility to protect against the Holocaust.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Holocaust Awareness Week
    HOLOCAUST AWARENESS WEEK JANUARY 23-26, 2017 The College of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Holocaust Awareness Committee, and the Northeastern Humanities Center invite you to a series of commemorative and educational events that reflect on the Holocaust's legacy in the 21st century. Personal Confrontations With the Past northeastern.edu/hac ABOUT HOLOCAUST AWARENESS WEEK The Holocaust Awareness Committee at Northeastern University publicly remembers the Holocaust each year, not only as historical fact and a memorial to its millions of victims, but also as a warning that the horrors of the past must never be repeated. The programs that we present bear witness to the Holocaust's events and explore issues arising out of the war of extermination against Jews and other groups targeted by the Nazis. Speakers ask how lessons learned from the Holocaust can be applied to our own historical moment. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Northeastern Holocaust Commemoration The Portraitist: Wilhelm Brasse and Photography Ethics in Auschwitz Alison Campbell The Search for Meaning: Survivors' Children and Their Choice of a Life in the Law Rose Zoltek-Jick Monday, January 23 4:30 - 6 p.m. Cabral Center 40 Leon Street Reception to follow. Philip N. Backstrom, Jr. Survivor Lecture Series A Talk with Holocaust Survivor Anna Ornstein Tuesday, January 24 12:30 - 2 p.m. Raytheon Amphitheater 120 Forsyth Street Lunch will be served. Bill Giessen Film Screening What Our Fathers Did: A Nazi Legacy Followed by Q&A with Philippe Sands, Screenwriter Moderated by Professor Natalie Bormann Wednesday, January 25 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Raytheon Amphitheater 120 Forsyth Street Hors d'oeuvres will be served during the film.
    [Show full text]
  • Web of Performance: an Ensemble Workbook
    Web of Performance An Ensemble Workbook Edited by Monica Prendergast & Will Weigler UVic Theatre 2018 Web of Performance book.qxp_Web of Performance 2018 book 2018-06-04 6:13 PM Page 3 Web of Performance An Ensemble Workbook Edited by Monica Prendergast & Will Weigler UVic Theatre 2018 Web of Performance book.qxp_Web of Performance 2018 book 2018-06-04 6:13 PM Page 4 Copyright © 2018 by Monica Prendergast, Will Weigler, Robert Birch, This book is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Trudy Pauluth-Penner, Sandra Chamberlain-Snider, Kathy Bishop, International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license, except as excluded in the Colleen Clement List of Images. This means that you are free to copy, display, perform, and modify this book, as long as you distribute any Published in Canada by University of Victoria modified work on the same terms. If anyone wants to distribute Victoria, BC V8P 5C2 modified works under other terms you must contact [email protected] [email protected] for permission first. Under this license, anyone who distributes or modifies this book, in whole or in part, should properly attribute Cover image: “Spider Web” by sethink on pixabay.com, CC0. the book as follows: Book design by Rayola Creative Prendergast, M, & Weigler, W. (Eds). Web of performance: An Printed and bound by University of Victoria on 100% post-consumer ensemble workbook. Victoria, BC: University of Victoria. This book is content recycled paper published by the University of Victoria under a CC BY-NC-SA 4. 0 International license. For questions about this book, please contact the Copyright and Scholarly Communications Office, University of Victoria Libraries at [email protected] Download this book for free at: http://dspace.library.uvic.ca/handle/1828/3857 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Web of performance : an ensemble workbook / edited by Monica Prendergast & Will Weigler.
    [Show full text]
  • Young American Journalists in Germany and Poland International Summer Academy the Faces of Justice Auschwitz Album Revisited
    O Ś WIĘ CIM ISSN 1899-4407 PEOPLE CULTURE HISTORY YOUNG AMERICAN JOURNALISTS IN GERMANY AND POLAND INTERNATIONAL SUMMER ACADEMY THE FACES OF JUSTICE AUSCHWITZ ALBUM REVISITED no. 31 July 2011 Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 31, July 2011 EDITORIAL BOARD: Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine EDITORIAL Last month, the Jewish Center host- Their authors were Rodryg Romer, Site? Gerhard Hausmann, a lecturer ed FASPE project participants, on his daughter Elżbieta, and her fi ancé at this German institution, answers which we reported in the previous Maksymilian Lohman, who were im- this question in an interview in this issue of the monthly. Among them prisoned in Auschwitz in 1943. Fam- Oś. were young journalists as well as ily members of the former prisoners students from the Columbia Univer- donated these priceless heirlooms. We also invite you to visit the ex- Editor: sity in New York. In this issue of Oś, Within this Oś, we also summarize hibition at the International Youth Paweł Sawicki we are publishing their texts, which the fi rst International Summer Acad- Meeting Center. For the fi rst time Editorial secretary: were the effect of the ten-day pro- emy, which was prepared for teach- in Poland, the works of Pat Mercer Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka gram. To start with, we have chosen ers from abroad by the International Hutchens are on display. In total this Editorial board: general refl ections and descriptions Center for Education about Ausch- includes twenty-fi ve reproductions Bartosz Bartyzel Wiktor Boberek of the entire visit, as well as a text witz and the Holocaust; as well as of oil paintings, which are an artis- Jarek Mensfelt written by Eugene Kwibuka from report on a visit to the Memorial tic and literary interpretation from Olga Onyszkiewicz Rwanda, who, in a particularly emo- Site by members of the International the infamous Auschwitz Album.
    [Show full text]
  • Untitled
    The Journal of Perpetrator Research (JPR) is an Issue Editors inter-disciplinary, peer-reviewed, open access Dr Susanne C. Knittel (Utrecht University) journal committed to promoting the scholarly Dr Stéphanie Benzaquen-Gautier study of perpetrators of mass killings, political (University of Nottingham) violence, and genocide. The journal fosters scholarly discussions General Editors about perpetrators and perpetratorship across Dr Susanne C. Knittel (Utrecht University) the broader continuum of political violence. Dr Emiliano Perra (University of Winchester) JPR does not confine its attention to any Dr Uğur Ümit Üngör (Utrecht University) particular region or period. Instead, its mission is to provide a forum for analysis of perpetrators Advisory Board of genocide, mass killing and political violence Dr Stephanie Bird (UCL) via research taking place within the fields of Dr Tomislav Dulic (Uppsala University) history, criminology, law, forensics, cultural Prof. Mary Fulbrook (UCL) studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, Prof. Alexander L. Hinton (Rutgers University) memory studies, psychology, politics, litera- Prof. A. Dirk Moses (University of Sydney) ture, film studies and education. In providing Prof. Alette Smeulers (University of Tilburg) this interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary Prof. Sue Vice (University of Sheffield) space the journal moves academic research on Prof. James Waller (Keene State College) this topic beyond, and between, disciplinary boundaries to provide a forum in which robust Copyeditor and interrogative research and cross-curricular Sofía Forchieri (Utrecht University) discourse can stimulate lively intellectual en- gagement with perpetrators. Layout & Typesetting JPR thus not only addresses issues related Sofía Forchieri (Utrecht University) to perpetrators in the past but also responds Dr Kári Driscoll (Utrecht University) to present challenges.
    [Show full text]
  • Holocaust Representations and the Testimony of Images
    WI BEY T NESS O TH REBECKA REBECKA ND THOR KA E TZ HOLOCAUST REPRESENTATION AND THE TESTIMONY OF IMAGES THREE FILMS BY YAEL HERSONSKI HARUN FAROCKI AND EYAL SIVAN WITNESS BEYOND BEYOND T REBECKA REBECKA H T KAT H E O Z R HOLOCAUST REPRESENTATION AND THE TESTIMONY OF IMAGES THREE FILMS BY YAEL HERSONSKI HARUN FAROCKI EYAL SIVAN FOR SAM AND ISIDOR PRELUDE 1–3 9–13 WHAT IS A WITNESS? 15–23 AN EVENT WITHOUT AN IMAGE 23–24 WHEN NO WITNESSES ARE LEFT 24–28 IMPOSSIBLE REPRESENTATIONS 28–31 IMAGE AS WITNESS 32–36 GESTIC THINKING 36–39 RESITUATED IMAGES AND THE QUESTION OF FRAME 39–43 STILL IMAGES 45-69 BRESLAUER AT WORK IN WESTERBORK, 1944. 45 A FILM UNFINISHED BY YAEL HERSONSKI 46–55 RESPITE BY HARUN FAROCKI 56–63 THE SPECIALIST BY EYAL SIVAN 64–69 ARCHIVAL WORK 71–72 THE STATUS OF ARCHIVAL IMAGES 73–76 ARCHIVAL STORIES 1: DAS GHETTO AND A FILM UNFINISHED 76–80 ARCHIVAL STORIES 2: THE WESTERBORK MATERIAL AND RESPITE 80–83 ARCHIVAL STORIES 3: RECORDING THE EICHMANN TRIAL AND THE SPECIALIST 84–86 5 STRUCTURING FRAMES 87–88 AGENCY AND ANALYSIS 88–91 THE HOW OF THE IMAGE 91–95 OVERCOMING AESTHETIC DISTANCE 96–99 TRUTHS IN NON-TRUSTWORTHY IMAGES 100–104 REFLEXIVITY AND EXPOSURE 104–107 VOICE, TEXT, AND NARRATION 109–110 VERBAL AND PICTORIAL WITNESSING 110–115 SOUNDS OF SILENCE AND COMMOTION 115–117 SHOWING INSTEAD OF TELLING 117–119 VISUALIZING TESTIMONY 120–123 THE PERPETRATOR AS WITNESS 125–126 THE NAZI GAZE 126–129 THE PERPETRATOR IN FOCUS 129–132 REMOVING THE WITNESS 132–137 HAPPY IMAGES OF THE CAMP 137–141 THE TESTIMONY OF IMAGES 143–144 TESTIMONY
    [Show full text]
  • IPG Spring 2020 Photography Titles - December 2019 Page 1
    Photography Titles Spring 2020 {IPG} David Batchelder Alfred & Me Christiane Stahl Summary David Batchelder’s images are labyrinths of wondrous forms, surprising colors, and shifting layers. They give us the impression of flying over landscape formations, snowy mountain ranges, meandering rivers; or, alternatively, we seem to be in the midst of choppy seascapes, where unfamiliar creatures are rising up out of the blue-green depths. However, the photographs depict nothing more than banal segments of a beach in Charleston, South Carolina. The abstract quality of these natural motifs bring out hidden ideas. Suddenly we Michael Imhof Verlag see faces, ghosts, animals, and plants. Batchelder, an American born in 1939, is not interested in the laws of 9783731908814 Pub Date: 2/1/20 structure but the chaotic, strange, surreal, and irrational—in short, the world of dreams and the imagination. On Sale Date: 2/1/20 $22.95 USD/€19.95 EUR Contributor Bio Discount Code: LON Dr. Christiane Stahl has held positions including: Academic Assistant at the Deutsche Historische Museum Hardcover Berlin, Head of the Alfred Ehrhardt Stiftung Köln, and Deputy chairperson of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für 112 Pages Photographie (DGPh), among others. Carton Qty: 18 Photography / Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions PHO004000 11.8 in H | 9.8 in W | 0.5 in T | 2.1 lb Wt Darren Almond: Nocturn Darren Almond, Andreas Baur, Johannes Meinhard Summary The title of the book and exhibition is derived from the large-format Nocturnes (2004–2010) featuring photographs of moonlit landscapes using long exposure times, which evoke Romantic landscapes in their European variants, and classical Japanese and Chinese landscape painting in their Asiatic motifs.
    [Show full text]
  • Auschwitz Concentration Camp 1 Auschwitz Concentration Camp
    Auschwitz concentration camp 1 Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz German Nazi concentration and extermination camp (1940–1945) The main entrance to Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp Location of Auschwitz in contemporary Poland Coordinates [1] [1] 50°02′09″N 19°10′42″E Coordinates: 50°02′09″N 19°10′42″E Other names Birkenau Location Auschwitz, Nazi Germany Operated by the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS), the Soviet NKVD (after World War II) Original use Army barracks Operational May 1940 – January 1945 Inmates mainly Jews, Poles, Roma, Soviet soldiers Killed 1.1 million (estimated) Liberated by Soviet Union, January 27, 1945 Notable inmates Viktor Frankl, Maximilian Kolbe, Primo Levi, Witold Pilecki, Edith Stein, Simone Veil, Rudolf Vrba, Elie Wiesel Notable books If This Is a Man, Night, Man's Search for Meaning [2] Website Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Auschwitz concentration camp (German: Konzentrationslager Auschwitz [ˈaʊʃvɪts] ( listen)) was a network of concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II. It consisted of Auschwitz I (the base camp); Auschwitz II–Birkenau (the extermination camp); Auschwitz III–Monowitz (a labor camp to staff an IG Farben factory), and 45 satellite camps. Auschwitz I was first constructed to hold Polish political prisoners, who began to arrive in May 1940. The first extermination of prisoners took place in September 1941, and Auschwitz II–Birkenau went on to become a major site of the Nazi "Final Solution to the Jewish question". From early 1942 until late 1944, transport trains delivered Jews to the camp's gas chambers from all over German-occupied Europe, where they were killed with the pesticide Auschwitz concentration camp 2 Zyklon B.
    [Show full text]
  • Photography and Film As Acts of Perpetration
    Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal Volume 12 Issue 2 Images And Collective Violence: Article 6 Function, Use And Memory 10-2018 Bonding Images: Photography and Film as Acts of Perpetration Christophe Busch Kazerne Dossin: Memorial, Museum and Research Center Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp Recommended Citation Busch, Christophe (2018) "Bonding Images: Photography and Film as Acts of Perpetration," Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal: Vol. 12: Iss. 2: 54-83. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5038/1911-9933.12.2.1526 Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/gsp/vol12/iss2/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Open Access Journals at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal by an authorized editor of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Bonding Images: Photography and Film as Acts of Perpetration Christophe Busch Kazerne Dossin: Memorial, Museum and Research Center Mechelen, Belgium “Schöne Zeiten” On December 2, 1959, SS-Untersturmführer (second lieutenant) Kurt Franz was arrested at his home in Düsseldorf. As a former cook, he joined the Waffen-SS in 1937 (Third SS-Totenkopfstandarte Thuringia) and worked at the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar. At the start of the Second World War, he was summoned to the Führer’s chancellery and was asked to serve as kitchen chief at Grafeneck, Hartheim, Brandenburg and Sonnenstein. At these psychiatric institutions, the T4 euthanasia program, which included the killing of psychiatrically ill people in Germany and Austria, was executed.
    [Show full text]
  • Wilhelm Brasse Il Fotografo Di Auschwitz E Sulla Fotografia Della Shoah
    Wilhelm Brasse Il fotografo di Auschwitz e sulla fotografia della Shoah « Un giorno che tornavamo dal lavoro vedemmo tre forche drizzate sul piazzale dell'appello: tre corvi neri. Appello. Le S.S. intorno a noi con le mitragliatrici puntate: la tradizionale cerimonia. Tre condannati incatenati, e fra loro il piccolo pipel, l'angelo dagli occhi tristi. Le S.S. sembravano più preoccupate. Più inquiete del solito. Impiccare un ragazzo davanti a migliaia di spettatori non era un affare da poco… Tutti gli occhi erano fissati sul bambino. Era livido, quasi calmo, e si mordeva le labbra. L'ombra della forca lo copriva… I tre condannati salirono insieme sulle loro seggiole. I tre colli vennero introdotti contemporaneamente nei nodi scorsoi. - Viva la libertà! - gridarono i due adulti. Il piccolo, lui, taceva. - Dov'è il Buon Dio? Dov'e? - domandò qualcuno dietro di me. A un cenno del capo del campo le tre seggiole vennero tolte. Silenzio assoluto. All'orizzonte il sole tramontava… Poi cominciò la sfilata. I due adulti non vivevano più. La lingua pendula, ingrossata, bluastra. Ma la terza corda non era immobile: anche se lievemente il bambino viveva ancora... Più di una mezz'ora restò così, a lottare fra la vita e la morte, agonizzando sotto i nostri occhi. E noi dovevamo guardarlo bene in faccia. Era ancora vivo quando gli passai davanti. La lingua era ancora rossa, gli occhi non ancora spenti. Dietro di me udii il solito uomo domandare: - Dov'è dunque Dio? E io sentivo in me una voce che gli rispondeva: - Dov'è? Eccolo: è appeso lì, a quella forca… Quella sera la zuppa aveva un sapore di cadavere »1.
    [Show full text]
  • Third International Biennial of Socio-Political POSTER in Oświę Cim No
    O Ś W i Ę c i M ISSN 1899-4407 PEOPLE CULTURE ciM HISTORY THiRD inTERnaTiOnaL biEnniaL Of SOciO-POLiTicaL POSTER in OŚWiĘ no. 22 October 2010 oś—oświęcim, People, history, culture magazine, no. 22, october 2010 EDITORIAL BOARD: oś—oświęcim, People, history, culture magazine EDITORIAL “Confrontation and Refl ection” is the It is accompanied by a brief conversa- meeting was the tenth anniversary of title of the winning poster in the Third tion with Zofi a Posmysz, whose novel this institution. The last page includes Biennial of Socio-Political Poster in was the inspiration for the composer. a series of photos from the anniversary Oświęcim, which adorns the cover. Its In this month’s issue you will fi nd celebrations. author Bangqian Zheng is from China. two interviews. For four years Dr. We also invite you to read the text of The 74 best posters of the contest can Piotr M.A. Cywiński has led the work an extraordinary collection of decorat- editor: be viewed at the International Youth of the Auschwitz Memorial Site. He ed greeting cards made by Auschwitz Paweł Sawicki Meeting Center until the end of the talks about, among other things, why prisoners. Helena Datoń-Szpak has editorial secretary: year. In this month’s Oś you will fi nd he agreed to accept a job offer at that made a precious donation to the Mu- Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka a review of the exhibit and a report point and if he regrets that decision, seum. During the war, while working editorial board: about the awards ceremony.
    [Show full text]
  • No. 33 September 2011 Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture Magazine, No
    O Ś WIĘ CIM ISSN 1899-4407 PEOPLE CULTURE HISTORY no. 33 September 2011 Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 33, September 2011 EDITORIAL BOARD: Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine EDITORIAL The last fi ve years at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Muse- number 11 (pictured on the cover), the building that pris- um have been a period of considerable changes: attendance oners named the “Death Block.” has constantly grown to new record highs, a new main We also recommend reading an article by the volunteers exhibition is under construction, the Auschwitz-Birkenau from abroad, who worked in the past year at the Interna- Foundation has been created for funding maintenance of tional Youth Meeting Center. It recounts how they view the authentic Memorial Site, and a new visitors center is the history of Auschwitz, as well as life in modern day Editor: being created. In this edition of Oś we publish an extensive Oświęcim. Paweł Sawicki interview with Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, who has directed On the pages of the Center for Dialogue and Prayer, you Editorial secretary: the Museum for the last fi ve years. can read about the commemoration of the death of Ed- Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka In the September edition, we also report on two round an- ith Stein, known today as Saint Teresia Benedicta of the Editorial board: niversaries, that took place in August and in September: Cross. We also invite you to take a walk down the path of Bartosz Bartyzel the murder of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, as well as the fi rst the Jewish History of Oświęcim.
    [Show full text]
  • Challenging the Perpetrators' Narrative: a Critical Reading of The
    JPR Challenging the Perpetrators’ Narrative: A Critical Reading of the Photo Album ‘Resettlement of the Jews from Hungary’ Ulrike Koppermann Abstract: In the discourse on photographs taken by the SS or the Wehrmacht at concentration camps, ghettos, and during mass shootings, the ‘perpetrators’ gaze’ or ‘perpetrators’ perspective’ is referred to repeatedly. Notwithstanding the ubiquity of the term, theoretical or empirical approaches to the issue are largely missing from the discussion. Drawing on a well-known photo album produced by SS-photographers at the Auschwitz II (Birkenau) concentration camp in 1944, this article analyses the pho- tographic mediation and narration of events preceding the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Jewish deportees from Hungary. To this end, the paper explores the limited scope of the representation, the construction of an alleged rationale behind the murder and various dimensions of photography in the context of violence. Keywords: photography, perpetrators’ perspective, Auschwitz-Birkenau concentra- tion camp, photo album Introduction ur visual imagination of the murderous proceedings at the Auschwitz II (Birkenau) concentration camp is considerably shaped by a set of almost 200 photos taken in the summer of 1944, when 434,000 to 437,000 Jews were deported from OHungary, and the SS murdered 325,000 to 349,000 of them upon arrival.1 Operating behind the cameras were two SS-photographers, Bernhard Walter and Ernst Hofmann, both working in the Identification Service This contribution is an extended and revised version of a previous article by the author, pub- lished in German: ‘Das visuelle Narrativ des Fotoalbums “Umsiedlung der Juden aus Ungarn”.
    [Show full text]