The Archives of the Auschwitz Memorial

The transcript of the podcast

The archives of the Auschwitz memorial collect, preserve and provide access to documents connected with the history of Auschwitz. Dr. Wojciech Płosa the Head of the Archives, talks about the documents and the work of this part of the Memorial.

The memorial Archives were formally established after the creation of the Auschwitz Museum, but it is worth mentioning that documents forming part of their resources were secured when the camp had still remained in operation, what are the collections of documents kept by Museum Archives?

The most important part of the collections of our Archives, is of course constituted by original documents, produced by camp authorities and also by prisoners within the period of the functioning of the camp. It is also necessary to add that until about mid-1944, camp authorities had been undertaking numerous actions in order to destroy the documents and erase the traces of committed crimes. It was most often, of course done using prisoners’ hands. They were supposed to take the documents out of camp offices, arrange them in stacks which where next burned and for this reason, unfortunately, our archives include a very small fraction of this documentation. We estimate, by comparing our collections to those kept by other memorials, or by referring to the memories and accounts of survivors who used to work in camp offices, that we are in possession of about 5 up to 10% maximum of the entire original documentation.

Apart from this, of course right after the establishment of the museum, and in particular later from the mid-1950s, a crucial part of its activity consisted in collecting the accounts, memoirs and statements of all this evidence by former prisoners, those who survived Auschwitz. And it also constitutes a very important part of our collections, of course similarly to the accounts concerning the involvement, for example, of civilians from the surrounding are of Oświęcim, who providing the prisoners with assistance under occupation and during the era of camp operations.

You have mentioned that we are in possession of original documents and that it is 5 up to 10%. Does it constitute the total of the preserved documents or is there any other collection that was preserved but we do not have the access to it? I mean here the Russian archives?

It is of course necessary to emphasize here clearly, that upon camp liberation, i.e from January 27th 1945, these were in particular specially appointed units of Soviet intelligence, NKVD, that entered together with the Red Army the area of Oświęcim, the liberated camp as well, to collect camp documents that the Germans had not managed to destroy. Great merit in their saving, so that they remained in Polish hands, should in particular be attributed here to the staff of the Polish Red Cross who, already in early February arrived at the liberated camp premises, led by Dr Józef Bellert from Krakow, who had coordinated very efficiently. And these people would not only save the lives of those liberated prisoners in need of urgent medical intervention, but also the members of the Polish Red Cross who would save the documents so that they would not fall into the hands of the Red Army.

But it’s true that the Russians managed to take a lot of documents with them. And they remain in Russian archives until today, apart from one exception. As in the early 1990s, a decision was made by Boris Yeltsin, the then president of Russia, who agreed for a part of these documents, exactly 48 volumes of death registry records of Auschwitz prisoners, to be forwarded to our archives. Suggestions emerged at the time, maybe even hopes we should say, that maybe the Russian party will give the remaining documents back, but it wasn’t the case. We do know of course which Auschwitz documents remain within the Russian collections as we are in possession of their copies that we received unfortunately, in a not very good condition, but we did manage, thanks to the efforts of both the Museum and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also a with big support of the Ministry of Culture as well, to obtain them.

It is clearly visible that after the liberation, the Red Army would concentrate in particular of course on documents concerning Soviet POWs, as they constituted a separate group of prisoners incarcerated at Auschwitz as well. They were clearly interested in all issues connected with camp hospitals and this may lead us to the conclusion that their areas of interest included for example, pseudo-medical experiments, and of course plenty of documents among those taken over by them refer in general to the construction of the camp, architectural designs, technical documentation referring to subsequent camp facilities as well as data on the number of prisoners or workers hired for the completion of construction projects as well as all documents relating to the contacts of camp authorities with various private companies that used to perform the tasks connected with camp construction and development. It all formed part of Soviet interests and documents of this kind are still included in Russian archives. The access to them is importantly hindered.

What groups of original documents can be found in the Museum archives?

Documents reflect in particular the functioning of camp administration consisting of six departments. These departments would of course fulfil their specific predefined tasks, and such a camp administration system would not constitute a particularly innovative solution applied for Auschwitz, but it was invented already in 1933, when the first concentration camp managed by the SS had been established in Dachau, in the vicinity of Munich. It is clearly visible that the decision was made to destroy these documents. It was performed simultaneously from two sides, chronologically the oldest and the latest ones were destroyed at the same time. For this reason, we have a relatively smallest number of documents referring to the early days of the camp, i.e. the period from spring 1940 to the beginning of 1941 and the second half of the year of 1944, and of course the very last days of camp operations. It is weakly represented in documents, however, and it is for example particularly interesting, we have a document dated January 18th 1945, so actually the last day of camp functioning. It is the list of prisoners employed as doctors and nurses in Block 21, that was one of the buildings of the camps infirmary.

In general, these preserved documents were created in particular, in the camp headquarters, in its political department, constituting the camp Gestapo. Within the third department, camp management. In the department responsible for the prisoners work and the department extending its authority over camp hospitals or, in a broader sense, simply medical treatment at the camp. These documents also include of course, papers written by the prisoners themselves. It is necessary to remember that non-Jewish prisoners had the privilege to send correspondence outside the camp to their families and receive their responses. Official correspondence of course, had to be kept in the German language as the content of these letters was controlled by the SS men before their sending, so that they would not contain any details on the situation in the camp, the camp reality, health condition of the prisoners, so each fragment that seemed suspicious to an SS man, a censor was simply removed from a camp letter. But we continue to receive such letters even today. They are kept and very conscientiously stored by numerous families as such unique souvenirs, so it is of course also special for us when someone decides to, let’s say, trust us in this way, trust the institution that we represent, trust the museum and the archive and entrust these priceless memorabilia to us. In exchange, we provide them with good quality copies. We also translate these letters as sometimes the donors would of course like to know what is written in them. But they are of course aware of the fact that the information usually used to be very fragmentary, it was impossible to write anything else. But there are over 17 thousand camp letters and camp postcards. We have received them and are actually still receiving today.

And here I’d also like to refer to an interesting part of our collections, I mean original documents connected with the functioning of the Camp Resistance Movement. This may be an interesting, but also quite surprising issue, because how is it possible that we have documents that confirm prisoners’ engagement in the resistance movement? We could assume that such documents should have been destroyed so that no traces of such activity remain. But not all of them were destroyed and that’s why they’re in our possession. Very interesting items, sent illegally, secret messages concerning camp reality, they even include so called periodical reports, written at least once every two weeks, even though only those from the year 1944 were preserved, but they include very important records made by Resistance Movement prisoners connected here more with the left-wing environment, who would send to their headquarters in Krakow the news on what was going on in the camp.

It’s very interesting because we have there for example the information on the arrival of transports of Jews from Hungary and how the extermination looked like, how it was organized. A lot of information for example about the behaviour of the SS men towards prisoners. Different information on mass attempts to escape. And these materials are really priceless as they show us a certain fragment of camp reality, this time from a little different point of view. Presented not by camp authorities, not prisoners, as everyone used to adopt their own perspective of Auschwitz, but including the view of the Resistance Movement, organized to the extent possible within camp reality.

The Archives include original documents, memoirs, accounts preserved after WW2, letters, as you have said, but also visual and audio-visual content.

Audio-visual materials are concentrated around recordings, i.e. audio and video recordings, while iconographic collections, these are of course photographs. And they also constitute a very important part of our collections. We can say that audio-visual collections chronologically begin with this famous chronicle of the liberation of Auschwitz, shot by Red Army operators, so this is the material created right after camp liberation. It is a little edited, as we know it, the original is the material made for sure in various, at least two different periods of the functioning of this already liberated camp, right after its liberation. And these are the scenes recorded in this, let’s say, original winter scenery, because we know that when Red Army forces entered, and still until the turn of January and February, there was a lot of snow and it was freezing. While all these scenes that present the prisoners in already a little better condition, those who were already able to walk, some of them already leaving the liberated camp, they were recorded much, much later.

There is no earlier video coverage, even though we know it, and this information appears in survivors accounts, despite that, we know that earlier for sure, for the purposes of German Film Chronicle, Wochenschau as it was called, kind of a weekly chronicle shown in German cinemas, materials of this kind would for sure be recorded, but they were not found anywhere, it has never been possible to determine whether they were preserved. They were most probably simply destroyed, but there was a story connected with building this reservoir next to camp fencing within Auschwitz 1, this original camp from the side of the Soła River, from the road towards Brzeszcz and Bielsko. In this location, in 1944, a fire reservoir was created, it was of course the time when Auschwitz found itself within the reach of Allied air forces, so air raids targeted in particular at the Chemical Plant in the nearby village of Monowice were frequent, so it was decided to build such a water reservoir in case of the necessity to extinguish fire, but it was also adapted, one can say, as a swimming pool. And actually, as recalled by survivor and future long-term Museum Director, Mr. Kazimierz Smoleń, in his account, at the turn of August and September 1944 something that could be called the inauguration of this pool took place. So, it was of course made available only to German prisoners, only those who, thanks to the functions they served at the camp, looked good. They were of course not emaciated and exhausted by hard work and diseases. Because they were showed to this film crew, swimming in this pool. It was supposed to be, as we can conclude, a propaganda material to show how good the life at Auschwitz was. They even have their own swimming pool, but unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to find this video anywhere.

So, as I’ve already said, the first video coverage is the Liberation Chronicle, and we also have the films prepared later. This is of course a very interesting subject and much more could be told here about fiction feature films made within the former camp site, at the time serving as a film set, but we also collect documentaries, of course referring to the history of Auschwitz. We collect recordings of various kinds, in particular interviews with survivors. Of course, our work used to consist for a very long time also in recording interviews. First these were only audio tapes, but later also digital cameras.

Survivors visit us and sometimes these encounters were very moving. They were presenting their experiences in a very interesting way. I remember one situation when we were recording the account of Eva Mozes Kor, incarcerated at Auschwitz together with her sister Miriam. As twin sisters, they fell victims of Dr Jozef Mengele’s pseudo-medical experiments and I remember a very moving, long talk with Eva Mozes Kor, who presented the story of her life in a very moving way, and less than a week later we got to know that she passed away. So, we can say that it was probably the last interview that Eva Mozes Kor gave before she died.

And of course, iconographic collections represent great importance, I mean photographs. They are connected with very interesting situations because in fact we need to acknowledge one crucial thing. Each SS man, or female SS guard, who would begin their service at Auschwitz, first had to complete the training. They were introduced into the secrets of what actually the service at a concentration camp consisted in. At the end of the training they used to sign the statement that they would keep completely confidential everything that they would witness at Auschwitz. And this statement was supposed to be binding for them not only within the camp premises, but also wherever else, also when their service is over. So in theory they were supposed to remain silent about anything happening within camp premises.

At the same time photographs taken at Auschwitz 1, Auschwitz 2 within the period of camp functioning, date back to around late 1942 until 1944. They were all performed either by the SS men themselves, or by prisoners under SS supervision. Like for example the photographs performed for the construction office, so called Centralbauleitung. It is an incredible collection of over 500 photographs presenting how various buildings were being erected within the camp site, including gas chambers and crematoria. Not only from the outside, we can also see shots from the inside, performed when the crematoria ovens were ready inside the buildings and finishing works are being carried out. This is really a very specific historical resource, similarly for example to photographs performed by Bernard Walter on the ramp at Auschwitz 2 in Birkenau during the selection of a transports of Jews arriving from Hungary. He even made kind of an album from these photographs. The album that survived and had its own interesting further history, and these photos are of course known and used in numerous projects, publications, while they constitute an incredibly important resource and an even more moving piece of evidence than the accounts of those prisoners who had survived the selection on the ramp themselves.

Apart from the photographs presenting buildings and situations, there were also registration photographs referring to camp operations.

There is a story connected with them that in early July 1943, an order was sent by Heinrich Himmler to the commandants of concentration camps with express instruction to limit if possible, the taking of personal photos to be attached to prisoners’ camp files. The Reich is in the state of war and this war efforts consists in the necessity to economize photographic materials, chemical substances and resources of this kind.

Interestingly enough, when we follow the photographs of men and women incarcerated in the camp that form part of our collection, and there are only about 39 000 of them, we will find the photographs of prisoners with very high camp numbers. No other personal details are included on the photos. Only camp numbers. It is the only trace to follow while trying to identify a given individual. But these camp numbers assigned still in 1944, they would clearly point to the fact that this order given by Himmler was not so strictly respected at Auschwitz. We are of course unable to determine how many photographs were destroyed because, as I’ve already said, only 39 thousand photographs were preserved and they were preserved in quite specific circumstances as they were already supposed to be destroyed. Their negatives were already inside a tile stove in one of the Blocks within Auschwitz 1. It is said that the fire was even already lit.

I refer here to what Mr. Wilhelm Brasse said after the war, and he was a prisoner, a photographer who took, as he recalled, most of these photographs together with his fellow inmates working for camp Gestapo as photographers. But at this very moment when the fire was already set to burn these negatives, the SS man supervising the process of their destroying, was called to go somewhere else and the prisoners who remained there extinguished this fire hastily and then no one returned to destroying these photos and only after the war, when renovation works were in progress, when the stove was disassembled, because exposition space was being prepared for the future museum, those 39 thousand negatives were found. Some of them after developing do in fact bear the traces of the attempts to burn them, so here this account, this story quoted by Mr Wilhel Brasse seems highly probable.

These photographs are extremely important, very moving. Please remember that they were taken in very specific conditions, when the prisoners had already gone through the entire registration process, so they were faced with this brutal camp reality. They already experienced dehumanization. Instead of their name and surname they were given a number; instead of their clothes worn upon arrival, they were given striped uniforms. Most of them had already had their heads, and not just their heads, shaved. A lot of them already spent a long time in prison. They were questioned, sometimes in a very brutal way, tortured. One can often see it in their faces marked by the traces of physical violence. But for me, the photos of children are particularly moving. Because there are also children there. Especially when it comes to the transport of civilians from the Zamość region, so the period of the late autumn and winter of 1942. Among those transported to the camp, there were teenagers aged 13, 14, 15 and 16 photographed.

What are the latest items acquired by the Museum Archives? Does it often happen that the Museum receives new documents? Where can we find them?

It’s an interesting thing. We can say that even today, we keep on receiving new valuable documents. To prove it I can say that last Friday, I visited the family of a survivor near the town of Pszczyna and we also acquired there interesting documents to include in our archives. Yesterday I got a parcel containing two documents also referring to one Polish prisoner, so survivors’ families still remain in possession of very interesting documents. It is of course these kinds of documents that the family could keep, could receive while remaining in contact with the prisoner, the person incarcerated at the camp, so these are camp letters. Unfortunately, in case of someone’s death the telegrams informing about this fact or death certificates, including their abbreviated versions that camp authorities were obliged to send to the families, or the notifications on sending parcels or small money transfers. Of course, I’m referring here to the privileges that non-Jewish prisoners had, Jewish prisoners were deprived of any possibility to keep correspondence or receive any parcels beforehand.

We of course remain in contact with various institutions and archives and we often manage to acquire, at least under the form of a copy, various documents connected with the functioning of the camp and such places. There is a particularly important part of our collection, very valuable, but not coming directly from Auschwitz, not connected with the history of this place. It is the so-called archives of Chaim Eiss. As we know, Chaim Eiss cooperated with a group of Polish diplomats, collaborators of the Polish Polish embassy in Bern in Switzerland and they were involved in the action of providing the aid to the Jews. They remained in contact with the honorary consul of Paraguay in Switzerland who would provide them with blank passport forms. And Chaim Eiss, who knew influential individuals, even if on a regular basis he lived in Zurich, he originated from Poland and knew people in occupied Poland and would forward personal details for the passports to be issued.

These people were also able to, from the territory of occupied Poland, the so called General Government, or from the areas annexed into the third Reich, send their photos because interestingly enough, it was then possible to issue passports for entire families. I mean one form was enough for the entire family, but it included the names of all its members, and photographs of all of them were enclosed. And this entire operation, lasting from around November 1942 to 1943, when Chaim Eiss suddenly died from a heart attack, covered as it seems even thousands of Jews. So, we aren’t able to determine how many passports were issued, but for sure many people had applied for them.

But when this topic found itself within the area of interest of current Polish diplomats, and it was in 2018, the Ministry of Culture of course decided that the Polish State will undertake every effort necessary to take over these documents and in this way these 12 original passports were included in our archives, as according to the decision of the Ministry of Culture, they are supposed to be included in our collections. It is of course a great distinction for us and an important thing that we can store here, in our Archives, these extremely important documents confirming the engagement of Polish diplomats in the action of rescuing Jews. And it is in fact since 2018 that we have recorded increased interest in this action in general because as it turned out, not only diplomats in Bern were involved, but the Polish embassy in Ankara in Turkey used to coordinate such actions as well, so even so many years after WW2 we are able to establish many interesting facts and find so many interesting documents. It is the source of great joy from the point of view of historians and archivists and all those interested in the history of WW2.

If someone is in possession of a document of this kind, what should they do, whom should they contact if they wish to donate this document, or even make its copy available?

Yes, we would of course be very grateful for this. We are all, the staff of the Archives and the Bureau for Former Prisoners, open to such contact. Our addresses are available on the website of our Museum. There is the traditional postal address, the e-mail and phone number. We are willing to talk, to establish contact. We ensure, as I’ve already mentioned, professional takeover, transport of these kinds of documents and we of course always remain in close contact with our colleagues from the conservation department. They are most of all responsible for reviewing such newly acquired documents, preparing necessary conservation treatment and performing it because sometimes it happens that the documents we receive are not in a very good condition.
But it’s also connected with the fact that the time is passing by and in some cases, one needs to act quickly, so we’ll of course be extremely grateful for any piece of information, any contact detail, and as I’ve already mentioned, we always try to provide something in return. We can always perform the copy, translate the document, always help in checking whether there exists any other information concerning a given prisoner that could complete the story of their life for the family. So, the contacts of this kind would of course be very important for us.