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Authentic memorabilia and documents contribute to the Memory of Auschwitz

14-04-2015

Authentic artifacts and documents connected with the history of the German Nazi Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp are so unique because they preserve and commemorate the history of people to whom they belonged. That is why all personal memorabilia donated to the Memorial are of particular importance.

“Numerous artifacts and documents connected with Auschwitz are dispersed throughout the world. The idea of collecting and depositing them at the Memorial aims at complementing our knowledge – in particular the knowledge about the fate of individual people, as well as at protecting them as meaningful testimonies for future generations. That is why the growing number of families of the Auschwitz victims living all over the world who contact the Museum in this context are for us an important sign”, said Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Museum Director.

Memory is not something that is acquired once and stays on forever. The moment that the last eyewitnesses and survivors pass away, we have to work together to build on that which remains: the testimonies of those former prisoners and the authentic artifacts connected with Auschwitz. Each item can have its own enormous meaning and should find its place in the collection of the Auschwitz Memorial. Here, it will be preserved, studied, and displayed. Its place is here.

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The latest donation for the Memorial Collections is an authentic camp blouse and trousers of the former prisoner Abraham C. Frydman from the Dachau camp, according to the camp number 149654 sewn. The striped uniform has been donated by Frydman’s relatives residing in the United States – children: Riva, Benjamin and Jeffrey and his wife Erika.

“We decided to donate this personal item to the Auschwitz Memorial. Our father passed a brutal selection in this camp before he was transported to Vaihingen, a Natzweiler sub-camp, together with his brother”, said Riva Frydman. “Our father rarely spoke about his story. He wanted to ‘protect’ his children from the dark stories of the past. He made it a point to visit the Auschwitz Memorial every time we visited Poland, as he felt it was important for us to be reminded of the evils of humanity and to never forget”, she emphasized.

“This donation is very precious because the entire uniform, i.e. blouse and trousers, has been preserved. Moreover, Abraham Frydman was 14 years old at the time, that is why the uniform is of small size, and such uniforms are rare in our Collections”, said Agnieszka Sieradzka, curator of Museum Collections.

Abraham Frydman was born on January 3, 1929. During World War 2 he was among others in the ghettos in Łódź, Piotrków Trybunalski and Warsaw. During the Ghetto Uprising in April 1943 he was deported by the Germans to Majdanek and then to several sub-camps, among others in Budzyń and in Radom. Then he was transported to the Auschwitz camp and immediately after selection he was taken with his brother Lolek to Vaihingen, Natzweiler sub-camp. At the end of the war Abraham Frydman was evacuated in the Death March towards the Dachau camp. On April 5, 1945 he was liberated by American troops in Mittenwald. After the war he emigrated to the United States where he completed his law studies. He died on October 9, 2010. Of Abraham Frydman’s 42 closest relatives, his brother Lolek was the only one apart from him to survive the Holocaust.

Read the biography of Abraham Frydman written by his family members.

The Abraham Frydman’s camp uniform is one of numerous items recently donated to the Memorial Site. Among other items there are: the prisoner’s blouse and patches belonging to prisoner Jadwiga Browicz. Apart from camp memorabilia, artworks are also donated to the Memorial, such as the painting by David Olère, former Auschwitz prisoner and member of Sonderkommando, the drawing by former Auschwitz III-Monowitz prisoner Benjamin Grünfeld depicting the execution of three prisoners, or the works by Walter Spitzer, former prisoner of the camps KL Auschwitz III-Blechhammer, Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald.

“All personal memorabilia donated to us are fist verified as far as their state of preservation is concerned. If necessary, they are taken to the specialist Museum Conservation Laboratory. Next they are incorporated into the Museum Collections, studied by the historians and made available for the visitors. We can say that they all contribute to the memory of this site”, emphasized Elżbieta Cajzer, head of Museum Collections.

Documents donated to the museum undergo a similar procedure. “In 2015, Memorial Archives have already received 96 authentic documents, in particular camp letters. They include a special collection connected with Tadeusz Łukasiewicz consisting not only of 24 letters sent by him from the camp to his family, but also 21 letters sent by the relatives to the Auschwitz prisoner”, said Dr. Wojciech Płosa, head of the Archives.

The Archives also receive camp administration documents. They include among others the telegram informing about the death of prisoner Henryk Raczyński as well as the probably authentic list of new coming prisoners who arrived in KL Auschwitz on May 21, 1941 recently found in 2nd Secondary School in Łódź.

“We have to remember that SS men destroyed the vast majority of documents created by the camp administration. That is why all authentic archives received by us are priceless. These personal memorabilia donated by the families are often the source of information about Auschwitz victims which has so far seemed irretrievably lost”, emphasized Wojciech Płosa.

Abraham C. Frydman was born in Łódź, Poland on 3 January 1929 to parents Chaim and Rywy (Riva) Frydman. He and his brother Lolek (Louis) Frydman were the only two surviving members of his 42+ extending family. He survived numerous concentration and death camps, including, but not limited to Majdanek, Auschwitz, Dachau, Budzyn, Radom, Vaihingen, Unterriexingen, Kochendorf and survived 3 death marches. In the end of April 1945, after surviving three death marches starting from Allach, Abraham was liberated by the American troops in Mittenwald. Afterwards he was placed in several DP camps and 3-months later he eventually immigrated to America, were he settled in the Bronx, NY and was miraculously reunited with his brother Lolek. Working long days, and attending school in the night, he graduated from Baruch College - City College of NY, with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1955. He continued onto becoming a C.P.A, Certified Public Accountant, and attended Brooklyn Law School, where he completed his Juris Doctor in June of 1961. He resided in Scarsdale, NY and maintained his legal practice in two offices in the Bronx, NY & Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Abraham was married twice – First to Miriam Mesler, with whom he had two sons, Jeffrey and David. He then married his last wife Erika Frydman, with whom he had daughter, Riva, and son, Benjamin. Abraham taught his entire family the true meaning of living each day to the fullest and, never looking back…He passed away on October 9, 2010, but his spirit continues to live on in the numerous lives he managed to touch along the way.

Riva Frydman