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.