Franciszek Znamirowski

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Franciszek Julian Znamirowski (born January 15, 1894 in Stary Sącz , Austria-Hungary , † September 19, 1972 in Mississauga , Canada ) was a major in the Polish armed forces and a painter . In the Gusen II concentration camp , he created a total of ten watercolors , which were considered lost for a long time and attracted a great deal of attention in specialist circles. So far, 16 scientists from different disciplines from Germany , Austria , the Netherlands , Poland and the USA have used the images for research purposes.

Life

Memorial Gusen

Znamirowski was born into a Polish Catholic family. Around 1910 he began studying painting with the artist Bronisława Rychter-Janowska in Kraków and Stary Sącz. On August 1, 1914, he volunteered for military service in the Joint Army . He was assigned to the Polish Legion West under the leadership of Józef Piłsudski . Five years later, on November 9, 1919, he joined the Polish army as a professional soldier and served there under Józef Haller . On November 22, 1921 he married Stanisława Halicka; a year later daughter Irena was born, and son Witold in 1926. Around 1930 he worked in the Polish Ministry of Defense. As a major in the Polish Army, he fought against Nazi Germany in occupied Warsaw during World War II . On September 4, 1939, he was in command of a battalion for defense in Warsaw. After the German occupation, he created a resistance group in the Warsaw district. There he lived under the name Julian Babecki and appeared under the code name Professor . The Warsaw Secret State Police arrested him on June 2, 1943 and initially took him to Auschwitz . From there he was deported to the concentration camp in Gusen on November 6, 1943. From January 2, 1944, he was forced to work for the Messerschmittwerk in Regensburg . In 1943 and 1944, components for the Luftwaffe's fighters were produced there . He was subordinated to the Regensburg skilled worker Karl Seider, who oversaw the company's painting workshop. Znamirowski wrote in his memoirs published in 1971 that Seider demonstrated humanity in this “inhuman environment”. In this atmosphere, Znamirowski created a total of ten watercolors, which particularly show life in the barracks and in the camp, to which Seider was not allowed. Znamirowski gave him the watercolors on the occasion of his birthday.

The concentration camp was liberated on May 5, 1945; Znamirowski flew to London to the General Staff of the Polish government in exile . In June 1946 he went on a trip to the DP camp near Linz . The aim was to transfer money from the government-in-exile to the areas occupied by the Red Army . In 1948, in Scotland, he was elected chairman of the Polish Home Army retired group. In 1962 he emigrated to Canada . He last set foot in his home country Poland in 1961. Znamirowski traveled to Frankfurt am Main in 1964 to testify as a witness in the Auschwitz trials. In 1971 he published his memoirs in Canada in a small edition in Polish. He died a year later on September 9, 1972 in Mississauga , Canada.

Znamirowski has received several awards in Poland, he received a. a. the Silver Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland .

Artistic work

When an estate was liquidated, the Regensburg antiquarian Reinhard Hanausch received an album with ten colored, small-format watercolors in 1997. He recognized the special value of the work and gave the works of art to the State Library for safekeeping. Under the direction of Mark Spoerer from the University of Regensburg and Bernhard Lübbers from the Regensburg State Library, an exhibition project with a book was created.

Experts praise the works “beyond their artistic value [as] a unique historical source for everyday life in the Gusen concentration camp”. They enable previously unknown insights into the daily work flow of the camp and provide information on the special relationship between Seider and Znamirowski.

Three works are mentioned here as examples:

  • Malzeit Malereibude : The watercolor thematizes the poor supply of food in the warehouse. The painter's workplace is shown, who sees a bulging board in his workshop in front of him in his dream . Above it there are several muntin windows on which the word "IM GEISTE" can be seen. An exuberant family with father, mother and child is waiting for the meal to begin. The sun shines over the scene, which - with a face - is also looking forward to the meal. In the middle of the sheet is a painter in prisoner clothing smoking a cigar and working on the scene described. To the right of the person is another scene with the heading “Reality”. It shows a prisoner, thin and with sunken cheeks, who is eating a plate of soup in front of the barracks . In contrast to the bright sun, the scene is bathed in a dark blue and is only illuminated by individual arc lamps behind the barracks. The orthographic gap in the title of the picture - Ma-h-lzeit - is intentional. Znamirowski portrays himself, knowing his current situation, dreams of a better time with his family.
  • Well-intentioned ... : This work is assumed to be the first page of the collection. The sheet is punched and not, like the other watercolors, glued to wrapping paper. It shows a man standing at a window smoking a pipe and looking at the silhouette of Regensburg. Other drawings with the same person suggest that the man is Seider. That would also explain the position of the sheet in the collection. Seider, too, longs to look back at Regensburg and his homeland. At the same time, the title “Well-Minded” describes the positive attitude that Seider displayed with regard to the treatment of the slave laborers who were under him.
  • On post ... Illicit work : Znamirowski shows his daily work as a painter, which helped him survive in the concentration camp. In addition to production, he had to deliver commissioned work for civilians as well as SS employees. This was forbidden in the camp, but was carried out in secret. Some of the prisoners received additional food rations for work. Seider can also be seen in this work. He stands - again smoking a pipe - to the left of Znamirowski at the window and takes care ("on the post") that nobody disturbs the work and that the two are discovered doing their forbidden work.

The originals were shown on May 6, 2014 on the occasion of an exhibition by the Remembrance, Responsibility, Future Foundation in Berlin. The art historian Michaela Haibl from the Technical University of Dortmund introduced the exhibition with a lecture. The watercolors were previously exhibited in the State Library in Regensburg.

Karl Seider

Seider was born on March 1, 1907 as the second child of a Catholic family in Vilshofen an der Donau . He completed his training as a painter and worked in various painting companies in Regensburg in the 1930s. In December 1937 he joined the NSDAP and from January 10, 1938 worked as a painter for the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke in Regensburg. At the end of 1943 he was posted to Gusen and headed the painting workshop of the production facility, which had since been relocated from Regensburg to Austria for reasons of war. After the end of the war, his membership in the NSDAP was checked and he enjoyed the Christmas amnesty in 1946 . Seider died on February 14, 1960 in Regensburg.

literature

  • Franciszek Julian Znamirowski : Pamietamy . Ontario 1971 (Polish).
  • Catalogs and publications of the Regensburg State Library: Survival through art: Forced labor in the Gusen concentration camp for the Messerschmitt factory in Regensburg . 1st edition. Dr. Peter Morsbach Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-937527-52-9 , pp. 345 .
  • Remembrance, Responsibility, Future Foundation: Exhibition script “Survival through Art” . 1st edition. 2014, p. 20 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Watercolors for the foreman , regensburg-digital.de website, accessed on May 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ Franciszek Znamirowski - a life between struggle and art. A Political Biography 1945–1956 , Roman Smolorz website, accessed on May 3, 2014.
  3. ↑ Karl Seider - Biography of a righteous Bavarian soul 1945–1956 , website of Roman Smolorz, accessed on May 3, 2014.
  4. ^ 1. Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial, criminal case against Mulka and others. a., 4 Ks 2/63, Regional Court Frankfurt am Main, 87th day of the hearing, September 10, 1964 , website of the Fritz Bauer Institute, accessed on May 3, 2014.
  5. ↑ Pamietamy ( Memento of May 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), website of the Mauthausen Memorial, accessed on May 3, 2014.
  6. ↑ Survival through art , excerpt from the university in the city and region , October 2012, (PDF), website of the University of Regensburg, accessed on May 3, 2014.
  7. ↑ Survival through art in the Gusen concentration camp , Bibliotheksforum Bayern 06 (2012), website of the Bibliothekforum Bayern, (PDF), accessed on May 3, 2014.
  8. ↑ Scan of an article in the Danube Post with the watercolor "Gut Gesinnt" ( Memento of the original from May 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of the Regensburg State Library, (PDF), accessed on May 3, 2014.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.staatliche-bibliothek-regensburg.de
  9. ↑ Invitation flyer for the exhibition opening , website of the Foundation EVZ, (PDF), accessed on May 3, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Znamirowski, Franciszek
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Znamirowski, Franciszek Julian (full name); Babecki, Julian (alias)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Major in the Polish Army and painter
DATE OF BIRTH January 15, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Stary Sącz
DATE OF DEATH September 19, 1972
Place of death Mississauga , Canada