Kazimierz Smoleń

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Kazimierz Smoleń's grave in the Chorzów Stary cemetery

Kazimierz Smoleń (born April 19, 1920 in Chorzow , Upper Silesia , † January 27, 2012 in Oświęcim ) was a Polish resistance fighter , prisoner in Auschwitz and later head of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum .

Life

The law student was arrested on April 15, 1940, because he had participated in the Polish resistance in Königshütte . On July 6, 1940, he was sent to the main camp of Auschwitz (Auschwitz I) , which at that time was still a relatively small camp. Initially, Smoleń with the prisoner number 1327 was assigned to the construction team when the Auschwitz II extermination camp was built. He was later assigned to work in the concentration camp's office.

In total, Smoleń was imprisoned in the Auschwitz camp complex for about 4.5 years. The SS evacuated the camp in January 1945, and Smoleń was deported to a satellite camp of Mauthausen on January 18 . He was liberated from the Ebensee satellite camp on May 6, 1945.

Smoleń returned to Poland and studied law at the Catholic University of Lublin . He then worked as a trainee lawyer at the court.

As one of the co-founders of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum , he initially worked in the documentation department there. From 1955 to 1990 he was director of the memorial.

Smoleń published one of the first memorials by survivors of the Holocaust : Memories of Auschwitz Prisoners . The German-language first edition was published, translated by Herta Henschel, 1970.

He died on the 67th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp by the Red Army .

Contemporary witness

Smoleń was later also a witness in post-war trials , for example in the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial in the trial against Hans Stark . As a contemporary witness and member of the International Auschwitz Committee , he worked on documentaries, exhibitions and scientific documentaries. Smoleń also gave lectures as a contemporary witness in schools and universities .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Report of January 27, 2012 on the death of Kazimierz Smoleń on the Daily Mail website , accessed on July 27, 2019.
  2. ↑ Kazimierz Smoleń's eyewitness report on the archived website "Mixstory" , accessed on July 27, 2019.
  3. ↑ Short biography of Kazimierz Smoleń on the website of the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum - Birkenau , accessed on July 27, 2019.
  4. ^ Documentary from 1991 about Auschwitz and Kazimierz Smoleń: "Auschwitz - Memories of Prisoner No. 1327" , accessed on July 27, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Smoleń, Kazimierz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish survivor of Auschwitz and later head of the Auschwitz concentration camp memorial for many years
DATE OF BIRTH April 19, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Chorzow , Upper Silesia
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 2012
Place of death Oświęcim