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Adam Cyra, A Trace of Them Remains…
This is a book about Block no. 11 and the fate of the prisoners who carved inscriptions and sketches on its walls, doors, window sills, and ceiling beams—in many cases, before going to their deaths.
Block no. 11 was called the "Death Block." In its cellars, the Auschwitz SS set up their camp jail. The prisoners from the penal company and the reeducation company were among those quartered on the two floors above. Prisoners under police jurisdiction, most of whom came from the Katowice notarial district and arrived in Auschwitz after being held for interrogation in the prison at Mysłowice, were also held there. In special cases, police prisoners were also incarcerated in the cells in the basement of Block no. 11. Most of them were Poles.
Many of the inscriptions represent a final farewell to the world. They bear witness to exceptional courage, steadfastness, and love of country. Some of them also contain requests by the doomed men for their families to be informed about their fate. Sketches, initials, and their authors' Auschwitz camp numbers accompany many of the inscriptions.
The prisoners used various tools to scratch their messages: hairpins, pencils, chalk, the edges of sharp instruments, and even their fingernails. There are several hundred inscriptions. The last one is dated January 6, 1945—three weeks before the liberation of Auschwitz.
In over ten chapters, Museum historian Dr. Adam Cyra attempts to provide an authoritative answer as to the identity of the authors and, in many cases, to detail their tragic fates. Unfortunately, the partial nature of the preserved Auschwitz records makes it impossible to identify the authors of all the inscriptions and drawings in the Death Block, or to document their fates.
The Exhibition Department has prepared an exhibition under the same title, A Trace of Them Remains…, to accompany the launch of the book. Dr. Adam Cyra, the author of the book, also designed the exhibition scenario. It has been on display in the lobby of the Visitor Service Center at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum since June 12, 2006.
Adam Cyra, Pozostał po nich ślad... [A Trace of them remains], Oświęcim 2006, 108 pp.
Editor: Jadwiga Pinderska-Lech
Cover design: Piotr Kutryba
21 x 23 cm., text, illus., documents, name index.
Wydawnictwo Państwowego Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau w Oświęcimiu.
ISBN 83-60210-20-9
