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Auschwitz Museum Staff Rescue a Painting Decorating the SS Kitchen
Oświęcim (PAP-Polish Press Agency) – Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum staff have saved a painting of a man and woman in SS uniforms and a child in a Hitlerjugend uniform, which decorated the SS kitchen in the Auschwitz camp.
Museum workers discovered the painting this winter, during an exploratory inspection of original camp buildings located outside the grounds of the Auschwitz I main camp, said Collections Department head Igor Bartosik. They decided to try to rescue it, even though the condition of the wooden building initially seemed to make it completely impossible to do so. The ceiling was in danger of collapse. Only recently has it proven possible to fit the provisional braces that allowed specialists to take down the painting.
Bartosik said that this was the only such original painting, following the canons of Nazi art, in the Museum collections. The official art of Nazi Germany employed a romantic realist style. Intended to proclaim the glory of the Aryan race and the power of Germany, it featured classical ideals of beauty.
Bartosik said that the colorful figures were painted on 4 large flaxen panels, 2 meters wide and 3 to 4 meters high. Next to the figures of the man, woman, and child is an inscription in German reading: “True strength lies in a strict upbringing.”
The wooden building that once housed the SS kitchen stands several hundred meters from the main gate a the Auschwitz I site. The painting on the flaxen panels was mounted on one of its interior walls. Bartosik said that the identity of the artist is unknown, but the possibility that the painting is the work of an Auschwitz prisoner cannot be ruled out. The picture is currently undergoing preservation. No decision has yet been taken as to whether or not it will be exhibited to visitors in the future.
The blueprints for the wooden building known as the SS kitchen were drawn up in 1941. Construction began soon afterwards. The term “kitchen” is applied somewhat arbitrarily, since the very large building also contained a canteen and a cinema with a stereo sound system. The Germans also planned to locate additional facilities, including a bowling alley and a small beer garden, in the building.
At present, the building is protected, but is not listed as a landmark. It is administered by the office of the starosta of Oświęcim. There are no funds allocated for its restoration.
