Introduction
To better understand the artifacts, we have organized them into nine different categories. In many cases, the organization is clear-cut, for example, a cross and rosary are put under the category of religion. In other cases, the division is less clear and the object could very well be placed under two categories. The little hatpin with a yellow orb could, for example, be under both treasures and memorabilia. In these cases, we have listened to the stories of the women of the camp.
Sabotage
Sabotage was a part of the factories in the concentration camps. Because a large part of the production was for the German army, the prisoners tried to sabotage production by knitting socks, sewing anoraks, etc., so that they would fall apart quickly.
Religion
All religious activity was severely restricted in the concentration camp. In secrecy, some prisoners made crosses and rosaries. From memory, some wrote down prayers and stories of saints, which were passed throughout the camp.
Memorabilia
Creativity was boundless when it came to making things. Material for the objects was found in the areas where the prisoners worked. They were always on the prowl to find something that could be useful to make something. Buttons, toothbrush handles, pieces of fabric, threads for embroidery, ribbon, paper…
Gifts
Gifts confirmed the giver as well as the receiver and became an important communication link between the prisoners in the chaos of the camp. Prisoners tried to give gifts on special days and when they wanted to honor someone.
Food for the soul
When the prisoners arrived at the camp there were stripped of everything that reminded them of the past. The Nazis’ tactic was to break them down both psychologically and physically.
At the camp, there were older women who were compassionate souls, who thought that it was important to combat the mental chaos. They systematically tried to impress the importance to remember the time before the camp to the younger prisoners. That they should continuously think back to that time and try to remember as many details as possible. They were encouraged to remember books and poems they had read and liked. They thought if you could remember a time before the camp, then it was easier to imagine that there would be a time after the camp.
Two women who were influential were Wanda Madlerowa and Ludwika Broel Plater. Wanda Madlerowa had been a teacher. Ludwika Broel Plater became at the outbreak or World War II a member of the Poland’s largest resistance movement, Armia Krajowa (AK).
Treasures
In an environment where your name was replaced with a number, every object was a confirmation that you were still someone. It was told how a group of French women had developed a strategy not let themselves be broken down. Each week they would “dress up” on Saturday. During the week, they had to resolve the problem of finding something to wear. It could be ears o f b arley to put in buttonholes or as string to tie up their hair, or a hatpin with a yellow orb.
Owning a calendar could mean life or death. If you came to the infirmary and were asked: “What day is it?” and you answered wrong that could mean death.
Dehumanization
When the prisoners arrived at the camp, everything was taken from them, their clothes and belongings. Their names were replaced with numbers. Their hair was shaved off or cut short.
Utilities
Items of usage such as shoehorns, tweezers, nail-cleaners, medicine jars, cigarette cases, and such were the things that were found when prisoners worked with sorting through the personal items of the newly arrived prisoners.
The Camp
There were factories and workshops on the camp that made things for the German army. Many of the prisoners worked in these. Others worked in the kitchen or in the fields.
“We lived in dull, green barracks. In the smaller ones, there were 230 sleeping places, a bathroom, and 10 toilets. In the larger ones, there were 540 sleeping places, 2 bathrooms, but only 10 toilets. And many were not working or were used to keep petrol in. Bed is too beautiful of word to describe the bunks that we slept in. They were wood structures with hay sacks. The beds were supposed to be made according to military regulation and the hay mattresses were to be shaken to so that they had certain height. Punishments were often given when beds weren’t made according to regulation and it was hard to reach the to reach the ones on the top. They were in three tiers and there were endless fights every morning blaming others for stepping on ready made beds.”
/Ragna Fisher 1945/
During the last few years there could be up to eight people in the same hut. Those in charge o f b arracks were called “Block Elders” or Blochowa. Life in the barracks depended a lot on the disposition of that woman.
