Czesława Kwoka

Czesława Kwoka

Czesława Kwoka (born August 15, 1928 in Wólka Złojecka in Poland , † March 12, 1943 in the Auschwitz concentration camp ) was a Polish Catholic girl. She died at the age of 14.

Life

Origin and childhood

Czesława Kwoka was born on August 15, 1928 in the Wólka Złojecka Schulzenamt in the rural municipality of Nielisz , in the Powiat Zamojski of the Lublin Voivodeship . Her father Paweł Kwoka died when Czesława was a little girl and from then on she lived alone with her mother Katarzyna Kwoka.

The Zamość action

Expulsion of Poles by the SS in the Zamość Region (December 1942)

The three portrait photos

On the night of November 27-28, 1942, units of the Ordnungspolizei , the SS and local garrisons of the Luftwaffe and the Wehrmacht began resettling the local population as part of Aktion Zamość . Czesława and her mother, along with the rest of the population living in the village, were transported to the Zamość resettlement camp and selected by the immigrant central office for “further use” in the fourth of four racial groups. It summarized those men, women and children who the National Socialists classified as “criminal” or “asocial” in their ideology, because they resisted, for example, or because of their nationality and / or religion were in principle “racially bad”. Immediately after their selection they were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and recorded there on December 13, 1942; Czesława under number 26947. Her further fate in the following quarter is not known.

Katarzyna Kwoka died of an unknown cause of death on February 18, 1943, followed by her daughter Czesława on March 12. The entry noted cachexia in intestinal catarrh as the cause of death . Since a natural cause of death had to be given, it is unclear whether that recorded in the death certificate also corresponded to the actual cause of Czesława's death.

reception

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum

The three prisoner photos of Czesława Kwoka are part of the permanent photographic exhibition in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum .

Documentary Portrecista

In 2005 the Polish documentary Portrecista (The Portraitist) by Irek Dobrowolski was released about the Polish Auschwitz prisoner and camp photographer Wilhelm Brasse . In his memoirs, the three photographs by Czesława Kwoka and details of their registration on December 13, 1942 were specifically addressed by Wilhelm Brasse:

“I remember the picture of this girl because she looked so young. The girl. So disarming as a girl, as a prisoner wearing a headscarf. She still looked good, not emaciated. Special numbers were called up again and again. But in German. And this girl just didn't understand what was going on and what was being said to her. And then this guard ... I saw this in several cases ... slammed her with a stick, hit her in the face ... "

- Wilhelm Brasse : Portrecista (German translation)

Wilhelm Brasse repeated this representation again and again in his later notes and further interviews. The young girl then tried to wipe the tears and blood from her face before taking the photographs and looked into the camera with a mixture of pride and horror. He regrets that he was unable to help.

Lori Schreiner and Theresa Senato Edwards

Inspired by the photographs and memories of Holocaust survivor Wilhelm Brasse, the book Painting Czesława Kwoka, Honoring Children of the Holocaust was published in 2012 in a joint effort by the painter Lori Schreiner and the writer Theresa Senato Edwards. It contains images drawn by the artist based on the photographs of Czesława Kwoka.

Coloring

In 2018, the Brazilian artist Marina Amaral colored the three photos for an illustrated book created with the British popular historian Dan Jones ; their pre-publication on the Internet generated a great response.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Artur Wróblewski: "Niepotrzebne" dzieci likwidowano zastrzykiem for fenolu. In: interia.pl. September 8, 2017, accessed March 20, 2018 (Polish). 
2. ↑ The Portraitist with English subtitles (from 0:06:56) on YouTube , accessed on March 20, 2018 (Polish with English subtitles).
3. ↑ Reiner Engelmann: The photographer from Auschwitz. Chapter 19: Czesława Kwoka, cbj Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-641-14073-1 , pp. 94–96. ( Preview in Google Book Search)
4. ↑ Painting Czeslawa Kwoka, Honoring Children of the Holocaust In: unboundcontent.com , July 9, 2013 (English).
5. ↑ Tomasz Frymorgen: An artist colored in a photo of an Auschwitz victim and it's heartbreaking. In: BBC , March 15, 2018 (English).

literature

• Jerzy Bebski: Auschwitz death books. Volume 2: List of names A – L, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-598-11275-0 .
• Reiner Engelmann: The photographer from Auschwitz. Chapter 19: Czesława Kwoka, cbj Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-641-14073-1 , pp. 94–96. ( Preview in Google Book Search)
• Herma Ebinger: Dossier General Plan Ost, children from Zamość remember this crime after 60 years , 2002 ( digital copy RTF )
• Werner Röhr, Elke Heckert: Europe under the swastika - The fascist occupation policy in Poland (1939-1945), Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-326-00294-7 .
• Lori Schreiner, Theresa Senato Edwards: Painting Czesława Kwoka, Honoring Children of the Holocaust. Unbound Content, Englewood NJ 2012, ISBN 978-1-936373-27-7 .

Web links

Commons : Czesława Kwoka  - collection of images, videos and audio files