World Journal of Medical Images, Videos and Cases

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT The 75th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation celebrated at the .

Piotr Kochan1

Introduction

This year’s anniversary of liberation of the Nazi German death camp at Auschwitz- Birkenau traditionally took place in Cracow at the Jagiellonian University on 24 January 2020 (Figure 1).

Figure 2. Full recording of the transmission of Michele Gold’s live talk from the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust (LAMOTH), USA. To see the film please visit the official WJOMI YouTube channel or click on the link: https://youtu.be/sj0Wah6GSEU

The programme of the 75th Anniversary of Auschwitz Liberation was opened by the Figure 1. Collegium Novum hall where the Rector of the Jagiellonian University Prof. celebrations took place. Wojciech Nowak. It was followed by a lecture of Prof. Igor Gościński, the current head of The event was co-organized by the Rector of Cracow Medical Society. He updated the the Jagiellonian University, Prorector of the audience on the developments of a vast Jagiellonian University Medical College, collection of articles published as Medical Cracow Medical Society (TLK) and the Review – Auschwitz / Przegląd Lekarski – Memorial and Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau. Oświęcim. Currently there are ongoing works The day started with a live transmission from to make those articles available to an the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust international audience by translating them into (LAMOTH) in the United States of America. English. More information about these The speaker was Michele Gold, Board Chair publications may be found in the previous from LAMOTH. You may see the full WJOMI articles by Prof. Gościński and on recording in Figure 2. Medycyna Praktyczna website [1, 2, 4, 5].

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World Journal of Medical Images, Videos and Cases

January 2020, Volume 6, World J Med Images Videos Cases  2020 WJOMI

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World Journal of Medical Images, Videos and Cases

Figure 3 (previous page). The famous drawing anatomist considered the father of Cracow’s depicting the Nazi with School of Anatomy on Kopernika Street. His Jagiellonian University professors being life and death was described in details by Prof. arrested on 6 November 1939, taken from Prof. Skotnicki. He is known as one of the most Skotnicki’s presentation. The modern day famous Jagiellonian University medical photo below represents the same university doctors to have been murdered by the Nazis. staircase in Collegium Novum where the He died in the Sachsenhausen concentration events took place. camp on 11 January 1940.

Prof. Gościński’s presentation was followed by Such anniversaries make one think not only of an interesting guest speaker, Father Dr. the victims but also of the atrocities that Manfred Deselaers, the Pastor of the German humans are capable of. The worrisome aspect Episcopate abroad, Vice President of the of annual meetings is that the gatherings do not Krakow Foundation for the Center for attract such a big audience anymore and that Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim who gave a it’s up to all of us to make the future moving speech about his 25-year experience of generations remember. Hopefully, using dialogue at the gates of Auschwitz. Father modern communication tools, such as the Deselaers spoke very good Polish and Internet, will make it possible to propagate this concluded that the best way to make such a very important historical message as a warning difficult dialogue is to listen. He has a lot of to future generations. experience with international visitors and for

the past 25 years he lives in Oświęcim in

Poland. References [1] Gościński I. Formal meeting on the occasion of 72nd The last talk of the afternoon was that of Prof. Anniversary of the Liberation of the Nazi German Concentration Aleksander Skotnicki, the former head of the Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau - Part II. World J Med Images Haematology Clinic of the Jagiellonian Videos Cases 2017; 3:e55-56. [2] Gościński I. Formal meeting on the occasion of 72nd University Medical College and now part of Anniversary of the Liberation of the Nazi German Concentration the TLK authorities. He concentrated on Camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau - Part I. World J Med Images Videos Cases 2017; 3:e35. Sonderaktion Krakau, the day of 6 November [3] Towarzystwo Lekarskie Krakowskie – Działalność 1939, when the German occupants of Cracow wydawnicza. Access valid on 31 January 2020: tricked Polish professors to attend a lecture at http://www.tlk.cm-uj.krakow.pl/wydawnictwo.html [4] Medical Review – Auschwitz (Przegląd Lekarski – Collegium Novum and then arrested them all Oświęcim). The project has been developed with the aim of and sent them to the Sachsenhausen sharing all 31 volumes of Medical Review – Auschwitz with the concentration camp (Figure 3). The professors international community by making the articles available free of charge online. TLK & Medycyna Praktyczna. Access valid on 31 were internationally acclaimed, so the action January 2020: https://www.mp.pl/auschwitz/ aimed at the Polish intelligence fired back on [5] Gościński I. Remembering Prof. Józef Bogusz - the longest serving president of Cracow Medical Society. World J Med the Nazis and under international pressure Images Videos Cases 2019; 5:e75-78. some of them were released. Unfortunately

many died before that time. Prof. Kazimierz Kostanecki was the famous physician and

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World Journal of Medical Images, Videos and Cases

Conflict of interest: Piotr Kochan is the Editor-in-Chief of WJOMI as well as the Board of Directors Member of the Cracow Medical Society (TLK). To cite this article: Kochan P. The 75th Anniversary of Authors’ affiliations: Auschwitz Liberation celebrated at the Jagiellonian University. 1 Chair of Microbiology, Jagiellonian University Medical World J Med Images Videos Cases 2019; 6:e1-4. College in Cracow, . Submitted for publication: 24 January 2020 Corresponding author: Accepted for publication: 30 January 2020 Piotr Kochan, M.D., Ph.D. Published on: 31 January 2020 Chair of Microbiology JUMC ISSN: 2450-5773 ul. Czysta 18  World Journal of Medical Images, Videos and Cases 31-121 Cracow, Poland e-mail: [email protected]

January 2020, Volume 6, World J Med Images Videos Cases  2020 WJOMI

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