On Auschwitz

A special group of prisoners in the Auschwitz camp were prisoner functionaries, responsible, among other things, for maintaining discipline among prisoners, keeping order in the blocks, and supervising the work being carried out. Dr Wojciech Płosa, Head of the Auschwitz Museum Archive, talks about the first thirty functionary prisoners – Germans brought to Auschwitz on 20 May 1940 and assigned numbers from 1 to 30.

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Voiceovers: Kate Weinrieb, Tom Vamos

Over the nearly five years of the operation of the Auschwitz camp, around 8,200 SS men and 200 SS female overseers served there. Dr Agnieszka Kita, Deputy Head of theAuschwitz Museum Archive, talks about what their leisure time looked like, what they did after duty, when they returned to the barracks, and what their days off looked like.

=====Voiceovers: Sarah Edwards Weinstein, Kate Weinrieb

Among the unique artifacts held in the collections of the Auschwitz Memorial are fairy tales created while the camp was in operation. Crafted out of a heartfelt need, and in the hope of leaving behind a trace of their authors, these stories were smuggled out the camp. Their creators were prisoners employed in the camp’s Construction Office. With the help of people on the outside, they passed these fairy tales on to their loved ones. The story behind the fairy tales from Auschwitz is told by Jadwiga Kulasza, a retired employee of the Memorial Archives, as well as family members of the authors: Felicjan Świerczyna, son of Bernard Świerczyna, and Andrzej Czulda, son of Henryk Czulda.=====Voiceovers: Greg Littlefield, Michael Takiff, Kate Weinrieb

We discussed the group of functionary prisoners at Auschwitz in one of our previous podcasts. You can find it at: podcast.auschwitz.org. In this episode Dr. Wojciech Płosa, the head of the Auschwitz Museum Archives will talk about the post war fates of some of the functionary prisoners.

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Artwork: Mieczysław Kościelniak, Praca przy walcu (Working on the roller), Auschwitz Memorial Collectons.

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Voiceover: Therese Mc Laughlin, Mike Skagerlind

The Germans established the Auschwitz concentration camp in the spring of 1940 for man  prisoners. The first women were deported to the camp in March 1942. In total, more than 130,000 women  prisoners were registered there during the

camp’s existence. The history of the first transports of women is discussed by Dr. Teresa Wontor-Cichy from the Research Center of the Auschwitz Museum.

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Online lesson about women in KL Auschwitz

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Voiceover: Sarah Edwards, Kate Weinrieb

Before the war, Oświęcim was a town inhabited mainly by Poles and Jews. During the Second World War it was annexed to Germany and the name of the town was changedto Auschwitz. At the end of 1939 the town had a population of over 12,500 people, about half of whom were Jews. Near Oświęcim there were several villages, which in December of 1939 were incorporated into the German administrative unitof Stadtbezirk Auschwitz. About 13,000 people lived in thesevillages.  

Due to the establishment and expansion of the Auschwitz camp, several thousand Polish and Jewish residents of Oświęcim and nearby villages were forced to leave their homes. In the “On Auschwitz” podcast, we share fragments oftestimonies from witnesses and their relatives about these events.

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The podcast features material from the collections of:

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Archives:

- account by Zofia Przybyłowska

- account by Piotr Bielenin

- account by Marian Górnicki

- account by Sylwester Szałaśny

- account by Krystyna Szałaśny

- account by Sabina Rosenbach (transcribed, read by a narrator)

- account by Helena Mataniak (written down, read by a narrator)

- account by Helena Hoła (written down, read by a narrator)

Museum of Remembrance of the Residents of the Oświęcim Region:

- account by Helena Grzesło

- account by Aleksander Karkoszka

- account by Józefa Handzlik

- account by Wanda Saternus

- account by Maria Gawron

- account by Janina Stawowy

- account by Wanda Patyna

- account by Henryk Kuczek

- account by Maria Jurczyk

- account by Tadeusz Firczyk

Jewish Museum in Oświęcim:

- account by Abraham and Jerzy Feiner

- account by Lola Bodner

The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw:

- account by Ewa Neiger (written down, read by a narrator)

- account by Sylwia Bachner (written down, read by a narrator)

- account by Anna Hönig (written down, read by a narrator)

- account by Tauba Grünn (written down, read by a narrator)

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Voiceover: Therese McLaughlin, Mike Skagerlind

Among the many groups of people deported to the German camp Auschwitz, Slovakian Jews occupied a special place. They were brought to the camp at a time when it was undergoing fundamental, organizational and functional transformation. From a place of concentration and gradual destruction of prisoners through dramatic living conditions and hard labor to a center of mass extermination in gas chambers. Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz, the head of the research center of the Auschwitz Museum, recounts the details of this process.

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On-line lesson about the deportations of Jews from Slovakia

=====Voiceover: Michael Takiff

How the demographic structure of the area around the camp changed and what contacts existed between the SS camp garrison members and the local civilian population is discussed by dr. Agnieszka Kita, deputy head of the Auschwitz Museum archives.

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Article published in the post-conference publication, "Face of War", Vol. 6, "City and the War".

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Voiceover: Therese McLaughlin, Kate Weinrieb

On 17 January 1945, the SS began evacuating the Auschwitz camp. Around 56,000 men and women, prisoners under the escort of armed SS men, marched out from various parts ofthe camp complex in the direction of Wodzisław Śląski and Gliwice. Several thousand people were killed during these so-called Death Marches.

In this episode of the “On Auschwitz” podcast, we quote fragments of eyewitness accounts relating to these events.

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Illustration:

Zbigniew Otfinowski, Marsz ewakuacyjny [Evacuation march] (1946). Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Collections

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Excerpts from accounts read by narrators (Therese McLaughlin & Mike Skagerlind) come from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Archives: 

Teofil Balcarek, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements],t. 115, k. 204-205.

Israel Berkowski, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 35, k. 29.

Wanda Bienioszek, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 116, s. 176.

Wanda Błachowska-Tarasiewicz, APMAB, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 1, k. 19-20.

Józef Ciepły, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t.86, k. 48, 127-128.

Jan Dziopek, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t.10, k. 29.

Jan Dziopek, APMA-B, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 50, k. 138-143

Róża Dryjańska, APMA-B, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t.88, k. 211, 233.

Ilona Engelova, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 80, k. 171.

Abraham Dawid Feffer, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 16, k. 54.

Jan Gabryś, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t.104, k. 138-140.

Janina Hinczowa, APMA-B, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 62, k. 60.

Irena Konieczna, APMAB. Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements],t. 113, k. 130.

Wanda Koprowska, APMA-B, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 13, k. 66-68.

Eulalia Kurdej, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t.66, k. 142.

Erwin Olszówka, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 72, k. 138.

Antonina Piątkowska, APMA-B, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 85, k. 45

Franciszka Pieczka, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 88b, k. 133.

Ilona Strusińska, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements],t. 80, k. 170.

Marii Śleziona, APMAB. Inne Zespoły [Others] (IZ) – 27/3.

Maria Ślisz, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t.61, k. 134.

Zofia Stępień-Bator, APMAB, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 74, k. 167.

Maria Świderska, APMA-B, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 21, k. 85, 88.

Józef Tabaczyński, APMAB, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 44, k. 60-63.

Anna Tytoniak, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t.12a, k. 198

Jan Wawrosz, APMA-B, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories]t. 1, k. 59.

Franciszek Wieszała, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 16, k. 81.

Helena Włodarska, APMA-B, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 66, k. 78.

Jadwiga Zając, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 139, k. 13-15.

Leszek Zienc, APMA-B, Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 2, k. 226.

Natan Żelechower, „Siedem obozów”, [in:] Zespół Wspomnienia [Memories], t. 83, k. 68-72, APMA-B.

Maria Żumańska, APMA-B, Zespół Oświadczenia [Statements], t. 4, k. 420.

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The Waffen-SS and Police Hygiene Institute at Auschwitz was established in the autumn of 1942. Its tasks included conducting hygienic and bacteriological tests for SS units, the German army, the police, and concentration camps, including the entire Auschwitz camp complex. Teresa Wontor-Cichy from the Auschwitz Museum Research Centre talks about the activities of the institute, which used camp prisoners both for labour and as research subjects.

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Voiceover: Sarah Edwards, Therese McLaughlin