Maria Albin Boniecki

Maria Albin Bończa-Boniecki (* 1908 ; † 1995 ) was a Polish sculptor . As a survivor of the Majdanek concentration camp , he emigrated to the USA in 1957 .

Life

youth

Boniecki's father was a Polish patriot and was deported to Siberia when Boniecki was five years old. His mother decided to move with the children. Circumstances after the Russian Revolution made it possible for Boniecki to escape with his siblings. They returned to Poland in 1921 with great difficulty.

Boniecki studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and graduated in 1929. Before the war he designed many sculptures , most notably the work The Birth of Thought , which is exhibited in the National Museum in Warsaw . He has been accepted as a permanent member of the National Art Gallery Zachęta , one of the most important institutions for contemporary art in Poland.

Second World War

Pillar with three eagles on the grounds of the Majdanek Memorial

After the outbreak of war , Boniecki joined the Polish Home Army Armia Krajowa . In 1939 he worked as a volunteer paramedic , from 1940 to 1942 he was a member of the counter-espionage in the second sub-district of Warsaw under the pseudonym "Adam".

He was arrested by the Gestapo in October 1942 and imprisoned and interrogated in Warsaw's notorious Pawiak prison. He was then transferred to the Majdanek concentration camp. Although he was a victim of Nazi experiments and suffered from the appalling conditions in the camp, Boniecki continued to create sculptures from whatever was found to encourage his fellow inmates and encourage them to persevere. Above all, the turtle and the column with three eagles should be mentioned here, which were the first memorials on the camp grounds in Majdanek to commemorate murdered prisoners .

His very symbolic sculptures include:

The frog (fountain)
The turtle
Three eagle mausoleum (also known as the three eagle pillar )
The seal with fish
The turtle
The shrine

When he had the opportunity in the Majdanek concentration camp with the cynical action of the camp management to make your home more beautiful, he suggested the creation of a stele with three eagles, which interpreted the eagles as a German symbol. Boniecki's intention , on the other hand, was to symbolize Poland's freedom, comradeship and victory. Human ashes from the camp's crematorium were secretly placed in the stele .

The mausoleum with the three eagles was destroyed after the war and reconstructed by Stanisław Strzyżyński in 1962 on the instructions of the Polish government and against the will of Boniecki. The reconstruction is presented in the Majdanek Memorial.

At the same time the column was created, Boniecki was head of Department V of the Wachlarz, a division of the Armia Krajowa, and gathered in the camp for representatives of the Polish government-in-exile . The information was continuously smuggled in and out of the camp.

With the help of the Armia Krajowa, Boniecki escaped in 1944 and resumed his espionage activities instead of fleeing abroad. He took part in the Warsaw Uprising and was caught again. He passed the internment camps Lamsdorf , Groß-Born and finally Sandbostel . There he was liberated by British units.

After the war

Boniecki moved to Paris , where he met his wife Krystyna Boniecki (née Binental), who was also an artist. Together they continued sculpting and painting , and developed educational toys for children, including a tactile alphabet for the blind .

In 1957, the couple moved to Denver , USA, and were naturalized in 1964. They later moved to Tulsa , Oklahoma, United States.

Solo exhibitions

Exhibition of Polish Masters , National Museum in Warsaw
Exhibition of Polish Artists , Museum of Contemporary Art in Warsaw
City hall in Bielsko-Biała , Silesia
Exhibition of the Association of Polish Artists in Paris , Polish Seminar in Paris
Esposizione Internazionale di Arte Sacra , Pontificia Academia del Pantheon, Rome
International House, Denver, Colorado
Englewood State Bank, Englewood , Colorado
Millennium of Poland , Colorado University, Boulder , Colorado
Creative Art Gallery, Denver, Colorado

Permanent works of art in public spaces

The Turtle , Majdanek Museum and Memorial (original concrete)
Pillar with three eagles , Majdanek museum and memorial (reconstruction)
The Lizard , Majdanek Museum and Memorial (original concrete)
St. Francis D'Assises , Museum in Rome (sculpture, bronze)
Annunciation , Polish Church in Rome (sculpture, bronze)
Tribute to General Marquis de Lafayette , Civic Center Park, Denver, Colorado (plaque, bronze)
St. Francis D'Assises , Museum in Rome (sculpture, bronze)
The seal , in front of the children's hospital in Lublin (fountain, bronze)

Military awards

Cross of Valor (Medal of Valor) - London, 1942
Cross of Valor - 1944

Web links

Majdanek Memorial and Museum - Official website
The Majdanek camp on deathcamps.org

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Marian Louise Camden: Artists were formed in the fires of suffering; Eastern Oklahoma Catholic. In: Magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa. Edition of September 1, 1983, p. 20.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Sid Scheiner: Englewood State Bank to Sponsor Art Exhibit by Talented Refugee Couple. In: Englewood Herald and Enterprise and Press. December 7, 1961, p. 6.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Philip Rosen, Nina Apfelbaum: Bearing witness - a resource guide to literature, poetry, art, music, and videos by Holocaust victims and survivors. Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut 2002, ISBN 0-313-31076-9 .
^ Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki: Sto Jedenaście Dni Letargu - Wspomnienia z Pawiaka. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakau, 1966, p. 153 (German: 111 days of lethargy - memories of the Pawiak. ).
↑ ^a ^b Maria Albin Boniecki: Rzeźby Jedyne w Historii In: Polish Daily News. July 13, 1961, p. 6 (German: Historically unique sculptures ).
^ Józef Marszałek: Majdanek - obóz koncentracyjny w Lublinie. Interpress, Warsaw 1987, ISBN 83-223-2298-4 , p. 156.
↑ F. Le Guevel: La Valeur des Jouets et des Jeux pour les Enfants éducatifs Aveugles. In: Le Louis Braille. January 1955, p. 4 (German: The benefit of toys and educational games for blind children ).
^ French Couple New to Denver Turn Out Kit to Help Blind See. In: Rocky Mountain News. June 21, 1958, p. 32. Note: The newspaper later corrected the nationality of the Boniecki couple.

personal data
SURNAME	Boniecki, Maria Albin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Bończa-Boniecki, Maria Albin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Polish sculptor
DATE OF BIRTH	1908
DATE OF DEATH	1995

[Oklahoma-1] A ^b Marian Louise Camden: Artists were formed in the fires of suffering; Eastern Oklahoma Catholic. In: Magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Tulsa. Edition of September 1, 1983, p. 20.

[Englewood-2] Sid Scheiner: Englewood State Bank to Sponsor Art Exhibit by Talented Refugee Couple. In: Englewood Herald and Enterprise and Press. December 7, 1961, p. 6.

[Apfelbaum-3] Philip Rosen, Nina Apfelbaum: Bearing witness - a resource guide to literature, poetry, art, music, and videos by Holocaust victims and survivors. Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut 2002, ISBN 0-313-31076-9 .

[4] Adam Grzymała-Siedlecki: Sto Jedenaście Dni Letargu - Wspomnienia z Pawiaka. Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakau, 1966, p. 153 (German: 111 days of lethargy - memories of the Pawiak. ).

[Boniecki-5] Maria Albin Boniecki: Rzeźby Jedyne w Historii In: Polish Daily News. July 13, 1961, p. 6 (German: Historically unique sculptures ).

[6] Józef Marszałek: Majdanek - obóz koncentracyjny w Lublinie. Interpress, Warsaw 1987, ISBN 83-223-2298-4 , p. 156.

[7] F. Le Guevel: La Valeur des Jouets et des Jeux pour les Enfants éducatifs Aveugles. In: Le Louis Braille. January 1955, p. 4 (German: The benefit of toys and educational games for blind children ).

[8] French Couple New to Denver Turn Out Kit to Help Blind See. In: Rocky Mountain News. June 21, 1958, p. 32. Note: The newspaper later corrected the nationality of the Boniecki couple.