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Memorabilia and documents related to Walentyna Konopska donated to the Museum
Unique memorabilia and documents related to an Auschwitz Survivor Walentyna Konopska were donated to the Museum's Collections and Archives. These include an album and a portrait made in the Auschwitz II-Birkenau, as well as letters and postcards sent from the camp.
Walentyna Konopska was arrested by the Germans in 1942 for her involvement in the resistance. From the prison in Piotrków Trybunalski, she was deported to Auschwitz on 30 July 1942, where she was assigned prisoner number 13156. Due to her knowledge of German, she was put to work in the camp’s admissions office (Aufnahmebüro) of the Political Department. She used her position to help other women prisoners, including forging questionnaires to change their classification from "Jewish" to "Aryan".
For her birthday in December 1943, she received a special gift. A small book filled with poems and illustrations was crafted by her friend, Krystyna Żywulska – a writer and columnist of Jewish origin and one of the leading Polish creators of satirical works.
The hand-made book, made of high-quality hard paper and tied with a leather strap, contains verses expressing gratitude for help towards fellow prisoners, as well as hand-drawn illustrations depicting the reality of the camp. One page shows various medicines that were desired in the camp but almost never available, alongside a poem:
Sister, Mother, and Grandmother,
All have fallen ill,
Probably from durchfall,
We need to tell Wala!
On another page, there is a touching personal thank you to Wala from Krystyna Żywulska:
My dearest Wala,
I write this poem in delight...
How hard it is to wish someone,
To whom you owe your life...
“This album is valuable for several reasons – firstly, very few artistic works made in the women’s camp in Birkenau, as well as in Birkenau itself, have survived, and secondly, it is one of the rare, illustrated albums made by prisoners behind the barbed wires of concentration camps in general,” said Agnieszka Sieradzka, curator at the Museum's Collections.
The book was donated to the Museum by Walentyna Konopska’s nephew, Roman Chmielewski. His mother, and Walentyna’s sister, Danuta Chmielewska, preserved the memory of her sister throughout her life and kept her memorabilia. Along with this unique booklet, the family of Walentyna Konopska also donated her portrait made in Birkenau by her friend, Janina Unkiewicz, who worked with Wala in the admissions office (Aufnahmebüro), with the Museum already possessing several portraits by her.
The Archive also received 23 letters and 11 postcards sent by Walentyna Konopska from the camp, covering the period from September 1942 to December 1944.
“A very interesting thing is the secret message from Walentyna Konopska sent to her family just before being transported from the prison to KL Auschwitz. It is dated 29 July 1942, and on the next day she was already a prisoner of KL Auschwitz. It reads: ‘Dear ones. May God be with you. We are all leaving. Please stay calm and keep a good spirit. I ask for prayers. Once again, stay calm. Wala,’” said the Head of the Archives Dr. Wojciech Płosa.
Walentyna Konopska remained in the camp until its evacuation in January 1945. She escaped from the Death March in Poręba, near Pszczyna, with Danuta Mikusz (in the camp Danuta Mosiewicz, prisoner number 46208). The conditions in the camp greatly weakened her body. She passed away in the autumn of 1945 at the age of 26.
