This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognize that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author‘s prior consent. 1 2 Auschwitz: Art, Commemoration and Memorialisation: 1940 to the Present day by Stefan Ludwik Aloszko A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Humanities Faculty of Arts October 2011 3 4 STEFAN LUDWIK ALOSZKO AUSCHWITZ: ART, COMMEMORATION AND MEMORIALISATION: FROM 1940 TO THE PRESENT ABSTRACT This thesis explores chronologically the art, commemoration and memorialisation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camps at Auschwitz, from their establishment in 1940 to the present day. Following a review of the literature in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 examines the production of works of art by the inmates of the camp. That art should have been produced at all in Auschwitz may conflict with our expectations, given the conditions of life within the camp. Nevertheless, art was as necessary in Auschwitz as it is elsewhere. The present account of the making of art under such difficult circumstances attempts to make a significant addition to the established narratives of Auschwitz. The post-war development of Auschwitz as a site-specific museum, established to commemorate the victims of the camp almost as soon as the site was liberated in 1945, permits analysis of techniques utilized by the museum authorities to display artefacts in order to narrate the story of Auschwitz. This is the subject of Chapter 3. For a period, the site was used by successive Polish political administrations to construct and bind Polish national identity to Russian political demands. The act of memorialisation has been shaped by political requirements almost throughout Auschwitz‘s post-war history. The determinant of recognition for memorial purposes was national identity. The use of overtly religious iconography, whether Christian or Jewish, was severely limited. Communist governments defined all victims as political, and specifically as victims of the struggle against Nazism. These political 5 considerations affected the inconclusive 1957 memorial competition. This competition, and its political contexts, is described in Chapters 4 and 5. In 1968 the Polish government began an anti-Semitic campaign that provoked international condemnation. Chapter 6 surveys these events, and describes one significant outcome, the establishment at the site of what was known locally as the Jewish pavilion. Finally, in Chapter 7, I draw together the three overriding concepts of art, commemoration and memorialisation – the predominant themes of this discussion – in order to show how the conception of Auschwitz has moved beyond the physical boundaries of the historical site. The question of what the site itself means, or should mean, remains a matter of continuing debate. The narrative of memorialisation at Auschwitz becomes increasingly marked by single events such as the establishment of the Jewish Pavilion, each embodying the turn towards the recognition that what should be remembered lies beyond nationality, and is separate from the contingent politics of the post-war settlement. Behind this, however, lies a further and more important narrative: that at every point in its history Auschwitz was intrinsically and inescapably a Jewish experience. This subsumes the particularities of the slow realization that this is what the site should celebrate. This thesis is committed to embodying this overarching narrative, and aspects of it can be found throughout, in every chapter. 6 Acknowledgements My thanks go too many people for their untiring enthusiasm and assistance with this project, namely Sam Smiles and Jenny Graham at the University of Plymouth. At the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum at Oświęcim, Poland, my particular thanks go to the Director of Education, Dr Alicija Biełecka and Dr Igor Bartosik (Senior Curator), Dr Jacek Lachendro (Deputy Head of the Research Department), and Beata Juszczyk, who acted as my translator. Outside of the University of Plymouth and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum many people have offered assistance, in particular Jonathan Marshall, Jack Mellor, Jackie Armstrong, Jill Bright and Alan Munton. Finally and most of all, I thank my partner Robert Nunn. 7 AUTHOR‘S DECLARATION At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the author been registered for any other University award. Relevant seminars and conferences were regularly attended at which work was often presented. Word count of main body of thesis: Signed…………………………………. Date……………………………………. 8 Contents List of Illustrations 12 1 Introduction and Literature Review 18 Literature Concerning Art of the Holocaust at Auschwitz 23 Literature Concerning Attempts to Memorialise Auschwitz 39 Literature Concerning the Museum at Auschwitz 38 2 Inmate art at Auschwitz 1940 – 1945 44 Auschwitz and Its Origins 45 Artist Inmates 51 Illicit Artworks 56 Voluntary Artworks 61 The Lagermuzeum 66 Commissioned Artworks 79 Conclusion 96 3 The Founding of the Auschwitz Museum: 1945 – 1955 99 Inmate Survivors Return to the Camp 113 First Exhibitions at Auschwitz 115 The Official Museum at Auschwitz 121 The Official Opening of the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau 127 Display Strategies at Auschwitz, 1947 133 Picasso Visits Auschwitz 137 Developments in 1950 140 Blocks 4 and 5: A Case Study of the Contents of the 1955 Displays 142 Block 4: The Extermination of Millions 143 Block 5: Evidence of Mass Extermination 146 Conclusion 150 4 Memorialising Auschwitz 1944 – 1956 149 Looking Back from the Twenty-First Century: An Overview of Memorials at Auschwitz II-Birkenau 152 Early Memorials at Auschwitz 153 Brandhuber‘s Memorial 160 Brandhuber‘s Design in Context: War Memorialisation in Poland 175 9 Memorialisation at Auschwitz 1945—1956: ‗Form and Function‘ 178 Memorials Post-Brandhuber‘s Design: The Stone of Martyrdom: The First Permanent Memorial at Auschwitz II-Birkenau 184 Conclusion 191 5 The Memorial Competition at Auschwitz 1957—1967 194 British Entrants to the Completion 196 Carol Visser: The Emotional Effects of Responding to the Memorial Competition 200 Henry Moore, Poland and the Auschwitz Memorial Competition 202 The Committee Choose the Three Suitable Designs: 1958 206 Oskar Hansen‘s Winning Design 208 Former Inmates Oppose Hansen‘s Design 214 Contextualising Hansen‘s Memorial Regarding the History of the Site 216 The Competition Outcome: 1961 221 A Memorial Competition in Western Europe: The Monument to the Unknown Political Prisoner, Berlin 229 Conclusion 234 6 Auschwitz, a site 1968 – 1989 236 Political Background 238 The Anti-Zionist Campaign and Auschwitz 245 The International Response 247 The Creation of a Jewish Pavilion at Auschwitz 248 A Description of the Contents of the Exhibition Display of 1968 250 The Opening of the Exhibition 255 Visitor Numbers at Block 27 257 Jewish Pavilion 1978 258 Israeli Responses to the Exhibition 260 Political Elites Contribute to the Growing Internationalisation of Auschwitz 261 10 Auschwitz-Birkenau Becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site 262 Conclusion 267 7 Conclusion: Auschwitz Today 268 The Use and Display of the Art Collection 268 Memorials – Monuments at the Site 277 Commemoration – the Museum 287 Illustrations 290 Bibliography 349 11 List of Illustrations Fig. 1 Stefan Jassienski, Crucifix, (after 29 September 1944), incised marks on plaster, Block 11, Cell 21, KL Auschwitz, H. 15 x W. 10 cm. Fig. 2 Anonymous, Clock without Hands, Pencil, incised marks and domestic paint, Block 2, Auschwitz II-Birkenau, H. 60 cm. Fig 3 Map showing the locations of Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz. Fig. 4 Anonymous, First Deportation of Prisoners to Auschwitz from Tarnów Prison Collection of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Archives. No Nr. or neg. reference given, size unknown. Fig. 5 Anonymous, A Baby‘s Cot, oak, produced by inmate carpenters employed by the Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Fig. 6 Włodzimierz Siwierski (?), Don Quixote and Rosinant, wood and string, H. 50 cm (KL Auschwitz 1940-1945), Collections of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Fig. 7 Józef Szajna, Our Personal Data, Ink thumb prints and pencil on paper, 35 x 17 cm KL Auschwitz (1944), Collections of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Fig. 8 Marian Ruzamski, Portrait of Xawery Dunikowski, Pencil, paper, 29 x 19,7 cm (KL Auschwitz 1943-44). Collections of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Fig 9 Photograph, Dismantled Barracks Awaiting Collection, Judenrampe, Auschwitz II-Birkenau. View taken from the ‗Gate of Death‘ watchtower Spring/Summer 1945. Fig. 10 Photographer, ‗Alex the Greek Jew‘, Sonderkommando Photograph (‗Bodies of people who have been gassed are burnt in the open air by Jewish prisoners‘). KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau (1944). Fig. 11 Photographer, ‗Alex the Greek Jew‘, Sonderkommando Photograph (Naked Jewish women being herded towards Gas Chamber V). KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau (1944). Fig. 12 Marianne Grant, Wall Mural, Children‘s‘ block, Birkenau Oil on plaster, KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau (no later than July 1944). Fig 13 Anonymous, Konigsgraben (King‘s Canal), oil on plaster, Ceiling painting, Penal Company block, Auschwitz II-Birkenau (no later than July 1942). Fig. 14 Fransziek Targosz, A Letter with an Ornament ‗Crocuses‘ Tempera, paper, 21 x 15 cm, KL Auschwitz (1942), Collections of the State Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Fig. 15 Francziszek Targosz, Arabian Horse, Pencil on cardboard 21 x 29.5 cm KL Auschwitz (1944), Collection of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Fig. 16 Francziszek Targosz, Hussar of Death, Oil on cardboard, 17 x 11.5 cm, KL Auschwitz (1942), Collection of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum 12 Fig. 17 Mieczyslaw Koscielniak, Interior of the Lagermuzeum, Signed MK and dated 1942. 69 X 59 cm. KL Auschwitz (1942). Collection of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Fig. 18 Halina Olomucki, Ringworm is Cured in the Camp, Pencil and Ink on Paper, KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau (1942). Collection of the Ghetto Fighters‘ House, Israel.