About Righteous in Penitentiaries Forbidden Art August Kowalczyk
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O Ś WIĘ CIM ISSN 1899 -4407 PEOPLE CULTURE HISTORY AABOUTBOUT RRIGHTEOUSIGHTEOUS IINN PPENITENTIARIESENITENTIARIES FFORBIDDENORBIDDEN AARTRT AAUGUSTUGUST KKOWALCZYK’OWALCZYK’ JJUBILEEUBILEE no. 34 October 2011 Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 34, October 2011 EDITORIAL BOARD: Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine EDITORIAL The October edition of Oś devotes witz as well as this year’s laureate of On the Path of Memory and Reconcili- quite a large amount of space to edu- the Irena Sendler prize For Saving the ation: from Wadowice and Münster to cational projects offered to unique World, Grażyna Frenc, a guide at the Auschwitz—is the title of the work- audience—inmates, who are incarcer- Auschwitz -Birkenau State Museum in shops, which took place at the end of Editor: ated in the correctional institutions Oświęcim as well as a secondary school August and beginning of September Paweł Sawicki of Małopolska region. Currently, the history teacher in Kęty. We also invite at the Center for Dialogue and Prayer Editorial secretary: third edition of the project Auschwitz— you to the exhibit of Forbidden Art. in Oświęcim, about which we write in Agnieszka Juskowiak -Sawicka History—Civic Education is underway. We also recommend a report about the this edition of the monthly. We also Editorial board: The topic being presented is profi les of joyous celebration to mark the nine- invite you to take a look at the next Bartosz Bartyzel the Righteous Among the Nations. tieth birthday of August Kowalczyk, part of the guide around the Jewish Wiktor Boberek On the pages of the Museum, we also that took place at the International Oświęcim. Jarek Mensfelt report about the Polish and Israeli sup- Youth Meeting Center. The pages of Olga Onyszkiewicz Paweł Sawicki Jadwiga Pinderska -Lech port for the Auschwitz -Birkenau Foun- the Meeting Center also include an dation, and about the French edition of article about the visit by the famous Editor -in -chief Artur Szyndler [email protected] Columnist: the fi ve -volume study about Ausch- Israeli artist, Yehuda Bacon. Mirosław Ganobis Design and layout: Agnieszka Matuła, Grafi kon Translations: David R. Kennedy A GALLERY OF THE 20TH CENTURY Proofreading: Beata Kłos Cover: The pointillism in the realm able pile of sand, which for in town could stop. At that time of... shortages. It is there Art work made by of historical memory corre- children from nearby homes time it was constantly cov- that I bought candy, either in a member of the project lates to pointillism in paint- became an improvised sand- ered with hay and oats and rolls or in paper wrappers, Auschwitz—History ings, in other words, dots box where they created ever- it was there that the chickens as well as individual ciga- —Civic Education that are created through -changing buildings and from the small local farms rettes for my father. He was Photographer: small dabs and marks in the tunnels. would preside, pecking an occasional smoker… Paweł Sawicki past within the memory’s At the intersection of Zabor- away at the grains. Below is a photograph of a recorded history. So, here ska and Piastowska Streets, a Returning to the chestnuts: section of Jagiełły Street, tak- are some “pointillist” imag- space currently occupied by standing next to them was a en from the balcony of build- PUBLISHER: es, memories from the past a building, there was a small general food kiosk offering ing number 23 in 1970. years. empty yard where horse- the complete range of prod- Auschwitz -Birkenau On the site of the contem- -drawn wagons that arrived ucts that was available at the Andrzej Winogrodzki State Museum porary parking area next to www.auschwitz.org.pl the City Hall, from the side of Jagiełły Street, there grew two quite large chestnut PARTNERS: trees. In May, they decorated themselves with candelabras Jewish of faded pink fl owers, while Center in the autumn they dropped hundreds of round, spiky www.ajcf.pl shells on the street and side- walk below; and out of these shells that we peeled away, we gathered the smooth, Center for Dialogue and Prayer glossy, and shiny seeds—the Foundation tree’s fruit. With the help of small sticks, matches, www.centrum -dialogu.oswiecim.pl and wires, it was possible to create an entire army of, so -called, miniature people or a variety of different ani- International Youth mals. Meeting Center Jagiełły Street was paved www.mdsm.pl with granite stones, while Zaborska Street was “cob- blestoned.” A low level of traffi c fl ow characterized IN COOPERATION the two streets, but if there WITH: was any—it was more often horse -drawn and not mo- Kasztelania torized. The horse related traffi c often left the streets www.kasztelania.pl marked by the horse’s pres- ence, which was regularly State Higher removed by cleaners as well Vocational Schoolol as sparrows. in Oświęcim On the corner of Jagiełły and Zaborska Streets there was www.pwsz -oswiecim.pli i l an empty space (a building, destroyed during the War Editorial address: had once stood there, then „Oś – Oświęcim, Ludzie, later it was the site of a kind Historia, Kultura” of fl ower garden, and cur- Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz -Birkenau rently there is a new build- ul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 20 ing there) where somebody 32 -603 Oświęcim once dumped out, for some e -mail: [email protected] Photo: Private Archive unknown purpose, a size- Jagiełły Street. Photo from Andrzej Winogrodzki’s collection 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 34, October 2011 Auschwitz -Birkenau State Museum FORBIDDEN ART— TO CAPTURE UNIMAGINABLE orbidden Art is the title of a new exhibition at the Auschwitz Memorial, featuring twenty works of art made illegally and under the threat of death by prisoners in German Nazi concentration camps. Each of the pho- Ftographs shown in the exhibition is accompanied by a historical commentary and excerpts from archival ac- counts. The time when the exhibition at the Museum is available for viewing was prolonged until 20 November. Afterwards, it will be shown to audiences in other countries, including the United States. ARTISTS WHOSE WORK IS SHOWN IN THE EXHIBITION Peter Edel Maria Hiszpańska Franciszek Jaźwiecki Mieczysław Kościelniak Halina Ołomucka Stanisława Panasowa -Stelmaszewska Marian Ruzamski Josef Sapcaru Włodzimierz Siwierski Sawicki Zofi a Stępień ł Józef Szajna Stanisław Trałka The anonymous artist with the initials MM Photo: Pawe Exhibition in the former camp laundry Anonymous artists “How to capture and ex- terror? How to portray Auschwitz? The works in The exhibition is divided illegal correspondence by press the unimaginable? fear, helplessness, and de- this exhibition, the artists’ in two parts. The fi rst part prisoners. How to represent the en- spair, but also the longing attempt to cope with the shows the reality of the The Forbidden Art exhibition tire hell of Auschwitz with for freedom? How to avoid camp experience, hint to a camp—various scenes from can be seen on the grounds the help of minimal rep- forfeiting humanity and degree at answers to these the functioning of the camp of the former Auschwitz I resentational means in an the remnants of dignity questions,” we read in the as well as portraits of pris- camp in the camp laundry atmosphere of unending in the inhuman world of folder accompanying the oners. The second part of- building until the end of exhibition. fers a look at various kinds November 2011. The pho- “The works that we show of escape from camp reali- tographs were taken by at the exhibition in pho- ty: caricatures, albums con- Michał Dziewulski. It will tographic form are quite taining greetings, and fairy be accompanied by a two- diverse in terms of subject tales that prisoners wrote -day scholarly conference matter, the material used, for their children. in which specialists from and technique. The most Most of the photographs at museums and memorial important thing, however, the exhibition show works sites in Israel, Germany, is that there is a moving of graphic art, but there are Poland, and the United story behind each of these also such items as a bracelet States will talk about the works. This makes our with scenes from the Łódź subject of art made in the exhibition not only an en- ghetto found near the gas ghettos and concentration counter with art but also chamber on the Auschwitz camps. an important lesson in II -Birkenau grounds, or a The exhibition will soon be history,” said Agnieszka miniature fi gure of a devil available for viewing by Sieradzka, an art historian made in Auschwitz from audiences in several cities from the Museum Collec- tape and a piece of wire; in the United States. tions Department. it was used for smuggling Paweł Sawicki Photo: Collections Depatment, A -BSM Photo: Collections Depatment, A A bracelet with scenes from the Lizmannstadt Ghetto 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Auschwitz -Birkenau State Museum Oś—Oświęcim, People, History, Culture magazine, no. 34, October 2011 POLAND AND ISRAEL SUPPORT THE AUSCHWITZ -BIRKENAU FOUNDATION oland will be supporting the Auschwitz -Birkenau Perpetual Fund with a 10 million Euro injection. The clubs within the Sejm as well as the Senate supported a special law that dealt with this issue. President of the Re- Ppublic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, signed this document on October 5. Former Auschwitz II–Birkenau camp grounds “This place is a universal the nature of humankind, the need for this has a great symbol of evil and is a very than we would truly like meaning,” said the director important point of reference to hear.