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Fairy Tales from Auschwitz
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum has published Bajki z Auschwitz [Fairy tales from Auschwitz]. This is a collection of six tales that originated in the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.
“They are the illegal work of Polish prisoners who had access to paints, carbon paper, and paper because they were forced to labor in the SS offices that produced plans for the expansion of the camp,” says Museum historian Jadwiga Kulasza, the Museum historian who was the first to research and write about the subject. “Prisoners smuggled the finished fairy tales out of the office. They took advantage of lapses of vigilance by the SS guards and passed the fairy tales to civilian workers with whom they came into contact while performing construction work outside the camp. These civilians delivered the fairy tales to the indicated addresses.”
“This is an exceptional publication. Until now, for obvious reasons, we have published books aimed at adult readers—historical studies, memoirs, source material, etc.,” says Jadwiga Pinderska-Lech, head of the Museum Publication Department. “This is the first book we have published that could also find a place on the bookshelves in the children’s room. With a view to the youngest readers, the preface is written in a language that children can understand.”
We read in the introduction that “one copy of the Fairy Tale about a Hare, a Fox, and a Cockerel was delivered to the daughter of Auschwitz prisoner Artur Krzetuski, and another to Bernard Świerczyna’s son Felicjan. Felicjan waited in vain for his daddy to come home—the Germans murdered him just before the end of the war. Another fairy tale reached five-year-old Alojza Kotulek, whose mama helped prisoners by supplying them with food and medicine. And so fairy tales, with lovely color illustrations and texts written in meticulous calligraphy, were composed even in this grim place where people suffered and died—as testimony to paternal love and hopes for a better world: fairy tales from Auschwitz.”
The publication is available at the online Museum bookshop and on the grounds of the Auschwitz Memorial. All proceeds will go to the conservation of objects connected with the extermination of children in Auschwitz and the so-called children’s barrack at the Birkenau site.
See the video: Fairy Tales from Auschwitz
About the Authors
Accounts by prisoners indicate that they managed to produce a total of about 50 copies of the fairy tales clandestinely in the camp.
The author or translator of the majority of the texts is Stanisław Bęć; some of the fairy tales contain verses by other prisoners including Bernard Świerczyna and Artur Krzetuski.
The drawings and full-color paintings are the work of Marian Moniczewski, Piotr Kopańczuk, Henryk Czulda, Alfred Przybylski, Jacek Kopczyński, Wacław Stępkowski, and Jerzy Baran.
Prisoners with access to the necessary materials and copying equipment, including Eugeniusz Nosal, Andrzej Czarnecki, Józef Drożdż, Zbigniew Goszczyński, and Fryderyk Junger, were responsible for various aspects of production such as matrixes on technical paper, mimeographs, and binding.
About the Fairy Tales
The Fairy Tale about the Black Chick tells how Darkie and his brother Monk set out to travel the world despite warnings from their mother the brood-hen. This is probably the first fairy tale to originate in Auschwitz.
The Fairy Tale about a Hare, a Fox, and a Cockerel is the story of a hare whose cottage was taken over by a fox. It is translated from the Czech. Nothing further is known about the original.
About All Living Things is a collection of verses about the insects, birds, and other animals that can be found in fields, meadows, and backyards. It, too, is based on a Czech fairy tale with an unknown title.
The Wedding in Wasp Town tells the story of the wedding of a wasp and a drone bee, their guests—insects from the meadows, forests, and fields—and their entertainments. This is one of two fairy tales without illustrations. It is preserved on two sheets of paper, written on both sides.
The title character of The Selfish Giant is jealous of his garden and the children who play there. Based on the prose original by Oscar Wilde, this version is in verse. It is the second of the two fairy tales without illustrations.
The Story of the Learned Cat describes the adventures of some hares who run away from home and embark on a variety of escapades. A copy of this fairy tale was donated to the Museum in 1999.
See Jadwiga Kulasza, “O pisaniu i ‘wydawaniu’ bajek w KL Auschwitz” [On the writing and ‘publishing’ of fairy tales in Auschwitz], Zeszyty Oświęcimskie, 23, pp. 112-147
