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“At the Doorstep of Auschwitz” Otto Küsel

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“At the Doorstep of Auschwitz” Otto Küsel O Ś WIĘ CIM ISSN 1899-4407 PEOPLE CULTURE HISTORY “NEW LIFE”—EXHIBITION AT THE JEWISH CENTER RETREAT “AT THE DOORSTEP OF AUSCHWITZ” OTTO KÜSEL —PRISONER NO. 2 “HISTORY IN BIOGRAPHY” —ZOFIA ŁYŚ no. 5 May 2009 Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 5, May 2009 EDITORIAL BOARD: Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine EDITORIAL A few dozen Oświęcim residents We are publishing several of them in orary citizenship for him. Monika who left their hometown at different Oś, and one of the beautiful photo- Bernacka recalls his story. times and for different reasons are graphs taken during the work on the Additionally, you will fi nd the sec- still living in Israel. They began new exhibition graces our cover. The hero ond part of the story by former pris- lives in the new land. A New Life is of one of the articles in the May issue oner Czesław Arkuszyński in Oś, also the title of an exhibition that can of Oś is Auschwitz prisoner number along with an interview with Dr. Igor be seen at the Jewish Center, and we 2, Otto Küsel, on the one-hundredth Bartosik about his book on Henryk Editor: warmly recommend it. These are 19 anniversary of his birth. In the mem- Mandelbaum, a report on a retreat at Paweł Sawicki personal stories of former Oświęcim ories of survivors, most of those fi rst the Center for Dialogue and Prayer, Editorial secretary: residents—extraordinary stories of 30 German common-criminal pris- and a text about a Polish-German Agnieszka Juskowiak victory, the will to live, the longing oners are written in letters of blood. seminar focusing on Zofi a Łyś. Editorial board: to survive and to bring about the re- Otto, however, was a wonderful ex- Paweł Sawicki Bartosz Bartyzel birth of the Jewish nation after the ception. After the war, his Polish fel- Jarek Mensfelt Editor-in-chief Bogdan Owsiany catastrophe. low-prisoners even applied for hon- [email protected] Jadwiga Pinderska-Lech Leszek Szuster Artur Szyndler Columnist: Mirosław Ganobis A GALLERY Design and layout: Agnieszka Matuła, Grafi kon Translations: OF THE 20TH CENTURY William Brand Proofreading: Beata Kłos Before the fi rst day of May in the 1950s, several years, a swath of white material day provided trouble-free mass enter- Cover: our city, like all cities, drowned in red, intended to serve as a screen hung on tainment—unlike the nearby “Leader” Olga Chrapek in the fl ashing of holiday illumination, the wall of a building on Kościuszko movie theater, where managing to buy Photographer: and in offi cial splendor and pomp. The Square, and a fi lm was shown from a ticket often bordered on the miracu- Tomasz Mól amusement of the crowd seemed au- a truck-mounted projector—usually a lous, and the windows were in danger thentic, although many people marched color “cloak-and-dagger” production. of shattering and the walls collapsing in those years under the threat of pun- The visual quality was poor and the under the pressure of the entertain- PUBLISHER: ishment and repression. In the run-up sound hopeless, but there was no short- ment-starved masses! to the “May holiday” in our town for age of “fi lm fans.” The authorities of the Andrzej Winogrodzki Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum www.auschwitz.org.pl PARTNERS: Jewish Center www.ajcf.pl Center for Dialogue and Prayer Foundation www.centrum-dialogu.oswiecim.pl International Youth Meeting Center www.mdsm.pl IN COOPERATION WITH: Kasztelania www.kasztelania.pl State 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 www.kasztelania.pl e-mail: [email protected] Celebrations of the anniversary of the May 3rd Constitution. Photograph from the collection “A Gallery of the 20th Century” 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 5, May 2009 Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum TO FIND SOMETHING POSITIVE IN EVERYONE Am From the Auschwitz Crematorium is a book by Igor Bartosik and Adam Willim—an in-depth interview with Henryk Mandelbaum, a former Auschwitz prisoner and member of the Sonderkommando—the special group of I prisoners forced by the Nazis to service the machinery of mass killing. rangements four months that visited him would earlier to meet with ask him after the meeting a group, he would come if they could fi nd his sto- even if he had a fever. ry in some book. When He once even begged for Adam Willim and I we a hospital pass, in order were already working on to make a prearranged the text, he encouraged meeting. Beyond this, us to fi nish as quickly as he had a great under- possible. We had a cer- standing for people—he tain problem, since at the tried to fi nd something outset it was to be a clas- positive in everyone. He sical, chronological biog- never got into confl icts, raphy—birth, wartime, which he felt were not ghetto, Auschwitz, post- in any way needed. He war, as well as Henryk’s tried to fi nd a common thoughts on various sub- language with everyone. jects. Later, however, we He made every effort so decided to divide it into that people lived with chapters by subject mat- each other as best they ter. We did not know, photo: Private archive could. “Why is it that however, what to do with Henryk Mandelbaum and Igor Bartosik people cannot be kind all the philosophical de- to each other and were liberations on contempo- The Henryk Mandelbaum room. I was very tense. member of Sonderkom- unable to smile?” he rary man, the world, reli- whom I got to know thanks I tried to ask my ques- mando? would ask. I admired in gion etc. In the end, they to this interview is a man tions, which were needed It took two to three years. him the ability to recon- formed their own post- of strong character, capable for the report, but Hen- I already knew his his- cile himself to the great script. I believe that this and intelligent, sensitive to ryk, who was forthright tory, of course not all of tragedy that befell him; is valuable, because we human wrong and—despite and relaxed, slapped it, because right up to after all, he lost his whole dared to pose questions all his experiences—he has me on the knee and the last months some- family and himself was on faith, death and what an optimistic view of the said: “Please, my young thing new was always mentally damaged. The is most important in life. world and people. friend do not be nervous. revealed. He very often Sonderkommando was At some moment I felt, in I will not harm you and, spoke of his experiences, a monstrous shock. “ One truth, that I did not want The editing of the book if you like, I can tell you but to get down to the must not live in the past. to fi nish this book. It al- was completed in April my life’s story”. I remem- details was very diffi cult. One should remember ways seemed that there of 2008, two months be- ber that, the whole time, He had a photographic it, but not live it.” Those was so much yet to do, to fore Mr. Mandelbaum’s I was conscious of the memory, but did not were his words. For him, ask. However, when we death. This book is a fact that those hands, know the complete his- the only sense in going to noticed that Henryk was summary of an impor- those eyes, this man had torical context. His in- the former camp was to beginning to fade, we did tant part of your life. been right in the middle terlocutor had to possess safeguard the memory the fi nal editing and he How did your friend- of it all. This was not read factual knowledge per- of those who died there, reviewed the entire text. ship with Henryk Man- about, heard, or seen at taining to the Sonderkom- so that their deaths were A month and a half later, delbaum begin? a movie theatre. He was mando. I tried at fi rst to not in vain. Henryk de- Henryk Mandelbaum Igor Bartosik: I learned of in the Sonderkommando. check how much he still clared himself an unbe- died. Henryk from documenta- I was already then fasci- remembered, and only liever, but there was no ry fi lms and press articles. nated by Henryk Man- later tried to guide him fear of death in him. This Interviewed by Pawel Sawicki I knew, that such a per- delbaum, and I wanted into more details. An- I also found fascinating: son existed, I knew what to maintain this contact. other matter is that he that a man who survived he looked like, where he And he said: “It’s good was incredibly specifi c. all of this did not look for lived; however, I did not that you’re here. Come, He was unable to embel- any explanation. He had know at that time what as long as there is time. lish or confabulate—a come to terms with it. kind of person he was. There will come a day, precise question brought Until the very end. I very much wanted to when you will want to a precise answer. It was a And was it that way to meet him, since my M.A.
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