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85th anniversary of the deportation of the first Poles to KL Auschwitz - National Day of Remembrance
June 14, 1940, is recognized as the date marking the beginning of the operation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz.
On that day, the Germans deported a group of 728 Poles from the prison in Tarnów to Auschwitz. Among them were soldiers of the September Campaign, members of underground independence organizations, high school and university students, as well as a small group of Polish Jews. They were assigned camp numbers from 31 to 758.
The commemoration of the 85th anniversary of this event was held under the Honorary Patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda. By decision of the Polish Parliament, June 14 is observed as the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of German Nazi Concentration Camps and Extermination Camps.
The commemoration events at the Memorial were attended by 10 Survivors of Auschwitz, as well as representatives of the President of Poland, state and local authorities, the diplomatic corps, churches and religious communities, the Roma community, state institutions, associations and foundations, delegations of the event organizers, numerous institutions and social organizations, and all those who wished to honor the memory of the victims of the German Nazis.
Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz Museum, read letters sent to the participants by the Marshal of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Hanna Wróblewska.
“The experiences of World War II serve as a warning that under certain historical circumstances, people can create social institutions that lead to genocide and the normalization of aggression. History teaches us that evil does not begin with extermination camps, but with words of hatred, indifference, and the acceptance of lies and violence. In today’s times of growing intolerance, political turmoil, and ongoing armed conflicts, we must not allow dehumanization, the trampling of human dignity, or the division of people into better and worse,” wrote Marshal Szymon Hołownia.
“I thank the organizers of the ceremony for preserving memory, collecting documents, and recording eyewitness testimonies. Our identity and freedom are deeply rooted in the martyrdom of those who went through the hell of the camps; their voice is an undeniable testimony to the truth,” the Marshal's letter states.
“I would like to pay the highest tribute to all victims – prisoners of Auschwitz and other concentration and extermination camps – who suffered at the hands of the Nazi German machinery of death, as well as to their families who endured the trauma after the camps, and to all those who did not and do not allow the world to forget this tragic chapter of human history,” wrote Minister Hanna Wróblewska.
“In paying tribute here to the victims and prisoners of the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi concentration and extermination camp, I also want to commemorate all the victims of World War II – the greatest and bloodiest of total wars – and express deep opposition to the systematic acts of cruelty and terror being perpetrated today against Ukrainian men and women,” she added.
Dr. Piotr Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz Museum, emphasized the importance of the Survivors in shaping memory of Auschwitz: “85 years after the deportation of the first Polish prisoners to the newly created Auschwitz camp, we must also remember the Polish Survivors who began creating this Memorial Site immediately after liberation. In today’s turbulent times, we understand even better the role our memory plays, and we must recognize that it is thanks to them that we have this space, which helps us assess our own actions.”
In front of Block 11, the national anthem was played, and at the Death Wall in the courtyard of Block 11, wreaths and candles were laid in memory of all victims of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz.
On June 14, wreaths were also placed at the plaque dedicated to the first transport on the building of the former Polish Tobacco Monopoly, located near today’s Auschwitz Museum. It was there that SS men placed the prisoners in quarantine on June 14, 1940. Today, the building houses the Małopolska State University named after Captain Witold Pilecki.
The official commemoration began in the morning at the St. Maximilian Center in Harmęże, where an exhibition of works by a survivor of the first transport, no. 423, Marian Kołodziej, titled “Labyrinths – Labors of Memory”, is on display. A Holy Mass was celebrated there, led by Bishop Roman Pindel, Ordinary of the Bielsko-Żywiec Diocese.
In his homily, he referred to the slogan displayed over the main gate of Auschwitz I: “Today, we ask about the meaning of the phrase on the camp gate, ‘Arbeit macht frei’ (Work sets you free). It certainly does not originate from the Bible, but is a falsified phrase from Jesus in the Gospel, which actually reads: ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ Substituting the word ‘truth’ with ‘work’ is significant. It was made by people who did not love the truth, but anti-Christian ideology. Many also embraced atheism or antisemitism. The evil in changing just one word lies in offering false hope and mocking the wronged person sentenced to death in this camp – often by means of forced labor.”
“The slogan, which promised the freedom of a man who enjoys working, was accepted in the Third Reich, especially among the circles of National Socialism. Placed on the gate of a concentration camp, it was meant to motivate, even momentarily, those who were grasping for any hope. However, the promise was fundamentally illusory, as prisoners were forced into grueling labor in exchange for starvation-level food rations of very poor quality. Anyone who ended up in the camp quickly learned that they would only be free once they died, once they left the camp through the chimney,” the bishop said.
Organizer of the commemoration event:
• Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Coorganizers:
• St. Maximilian Center in Harmęże
• Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki State University of Małopolska in Oświęcim
with
• Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation
• Auschwitz Memento Association
• Center of Roma History and Culture
• Bielsko-Żywiec Diocesan Curia
• Castle Museum in Oświęcim
• Department of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Kraków
• Foundation for International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim
• Foundation for the Memory of Auschwitz-Birkenau Victims • Foundation of Memory Sites Near Auschwitz-Birkenau
• Foundation Monument-Hospice for the Town of Oświęcim
• Jewish Center in Oświęcim
• Kraków Foundation Center for Information, Meeting, Dialogue, Education and Prayer in Oświęcim
• movart Foundation
• the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression
• the town of Oświęcim
• Oświęcim commune
• Oświęcim County Office
• Province of the St. Anthony of Padua and Blessed Jakub Strzemię of the Order of Friars
• Remembrance Museum of Land of Oświęcim Residents
• Roma Association in Poland
• Society for the Protection of Oświęcim (TOnO)
• the town of Tarnów
