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Childhood in a Striped Camp Uniform
A new, expanded (Polish) edition of the oft-reprinted collection of stories about children in Auschwitz concentration camp. It includes stories never published before. One of them, titled “The Jew“, was blocked by the censor in 1968.
This is one of the most moving documents about the tragic fates of Auschwitz prisoners, and an emotional depiction of the camp as seen through the eyes of a child. In lapidary style, the author describes hunger, fear, loneliness, and the despair of children torn away from the secure world of childhood and left to the mercy of violence and death. The dry tone of the narrative heightens the drama of the scenes portrayed.
Bogdan Bartnikowski was born in Warsaw in 1932. At the age of 12, he took part in the Warsaw Uprising as a courier in the Ochota district. Units of the SS RONA (Russian National Liberation Army), fighting on the German side, eventually took control of the area. At that point, Bartnikowski and his mother were expelled from their home and sent to the transit camp at Pruszków. From there, they were deported to Auschwitz on August 12, 1944. Bartnikowski’s father died in the Uprising.
Bogdan Bartnikowski was one of many children, boys and girls, whom the Germans imprisoned in Auschwitz. His Auschwitz experiences left an indelible mark on his memory. In an interview, he spoke of his memories of the period: “I wanted to discard them, to rid myself of them. Forever! And so I began to write down my memories and those of the boys and girls I knew. I was hoping that, if I wrote them down, they would leave me in peace. Unfortunately, this did not occur….”
Bogdan Bartnikowski. Dzieciństwo w pasiakach [Childhood in a Striped Camp Uniform]
Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau, Oświęcim 2007
Cover design by Juriana Jur
14.5 x 20.5 cm, 165 pp.
ISBN 978-83-60210-34-5
About the Author
A journalist and writer of prose and poetry. He published his first article in 1961 and his first book in 1966, and has published a total of 23 books of prose. These short stories, novels, and articles include Above the Clouds (MON 1966—aviation stories), Childhood in a Striped Camp Uniform (Nasza Księgarnia 1969—stories about Polish children in Auschwitz-Birkenau), Looking into the Sky (MON 1972—aviation stories), On a Special Mission (KAW Warsaw 1978—articles about Polish soldiers on UN peacekeeping missions in the Middle East), Days As Long as Years (Nasza Księgarnia 1989—stories about Polish children during wartime).
He made his debut as a poet in 1999 with Autumn Strophes (self-published), Meeting with Nike (Abrys, Cracow 2000), Traces (ZLP Poznań 2001), A Touch of Paradise (Ibis Warsaw 2003) The Kalisz Redoubt (ZLP Poznan 2004)
Bogdan Bartnikowski’s work has been translated into Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Greek, German, and English.
As of 2007, Bogdan Bartnikowski is retired. He works as a volunteer for the Union of Polish Writers and the Union of the Warsaw Uprising. He has been awarded the Auschwitz Cross and the Knight’s Cross and the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Poland Reborn.
New Stories
New to this edition are the stories “Life Anew,” “Evacuation,” “Freezing,” “Bombs,” “Stones,” “Not Long Now,” “The Final Hours,” “The Death March,” and “Gun Salute.”
