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Let's Build Remembrance: A Display of Items Donated to the Auschwitz Museum
Personal mementos, documents, and works of art connected with the history of the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz donated to the Museum by former prisoners and their relatives can be seen at the Let's Build Remembrance exhibition in block 12 at the former Auschwitz I camp. All the donations were made to to the Memorial in the course of the last three years
Among the items on display are striped prisoner garments and insignia with camp numbers, signets made in the camp, camp letters, a sign from a train that carried deported Jews from the Westerbork camp in the occupied Netherlands, and even toys that a prisoner cut from pieces of rubber for Genowefa Marczewska's son.
The Museum director feels that this is a very emotional exhibition since many of the items are personal mementos that have been treasured in families for decades. However, it is essential for such surviving items to be at the Museum. "These items are then placed in the proper context, they harmonize with other objects, and above all they reveal new details and parts of this tragic history to us. Furthermore, these mementos are completely secure here, are given the proper conservation, and are protected by specialists in the preservation of collections. Here, they will last for generations," said Director Cywiński.
"Each authentic item connected with Auschwitz is a history unto itself and testimony to those tragic times. We are grateful for the support we have received and urge that such objects be donated to our institution so that they can serve to increase the knowledge of the history of Auschwitz and the commemoration of the people whose fate it was to encounter one of the most tragic places in history," we read in the introduction to the exhibition.
One display case presents cards donated to the Museum by Helena Datoń-Szpak. Prisoners made the cards as signs of gratitude for her help. "During the war Helena Szpak worked in the SS mess and helped prisoners. She passed on illegal correspondence with their families. The prisoners made hand-lettered, hand-painted greeting cards for her name day and at the holidays. One of the stories connected with these cards is especially touching since it shows how mutual feelings developed between Helena Szpak and one of the prisoners. This is reflected in a poem written especially for her," said Elżbieta Brzózka, head of the Collections Department.
The Let's Build Remembrance exhibition is opened through the end of February. All the items can also be seen online at www.auschwitz.org
Let's give the documents and historical items in our possession to the Auschwitz Memorial
Remembrance is not something that can be taken for granted. At the moment when the last eyewitnesses and survivors are leaving the scene, we must work together to try to build remembrance on what's left: accounts by former prisoners and authentic objects connected with Auschwitz. All of these items can have enormous significance and deserve a place in the collections at the Memorial, where they will be protected, conserved, studied, and displayed. This is where they belong.
Contact: Collections Department
