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Frames of Memory - Labyrinths of Marian Kolodziej
We are here at an exhibition called Frames of Memory - Labyrinths by Marian Kolodziej, a former prisoner of Auschwitz.
Marian Kolodziej arrived on the first transport to Auschwitz on 14th June 1940 and was marked by number 432.
He survived the entire war in the camp: partly in Auschwitz and about 2 years in the other camps.
But he remained silent for 50 years about his camp experiences.
Since then after 50 years he wants to give a testimony about the hell of Auschwitz by his drawings.
At that time he was moved by the words of the poet Herbert who said:
You remain alive not in order to live, you have very little time, the testimony must be given.
This is the testimony of the man who survived the camp ordeal in Auschwitz.
The concentration camp Auschwitz was the camp for Polish political prisoners until 1942.
Among the prisoners there was Father Maximilian Kolbe who was brought to Auschwitz on 28th May 1941 by transport from Warsaw.
Father Maximilian was marked by number 16670. Kolbe spent eleven weeks in the Auschwitz.
The next day was sent to work. Over the first three days Father Kolbe worked in the main camp on a collection of gravel
for the construction of hoarding near the first crematorium.
After that he was sent to the hardest working commando which was called Babice commando.
The work in this commando consisted of fencing pasture by branches in the Babice village.
In the third week of work Father Maximilian was beaten senseless.
Prisoners after work brought him to the camp.
At the evening roll call Father Kolbe did not stand but laid with the dead prisoners.
Because he gave signs of life so soon he was put in the camp hospital.
During his stay in the hospital he came round and he helped prisoners by hearing their confession.
In the second half of July after being discharged from the hospital Father Maximilian worked for several days in a hosiery room
and then in a potato room near the camp kitchen.
When the prisoners were losing their hope Father Kolbe was the last resort for inmates maltreated by beating and hard work.
In the second half of July when the Polish priests had been meeting secretly for a common prayer
Father Maximilian gave a memorable sermon in the hell of Auschwitz.
He explained them who the Immaculate Mary was and her relationship with the three Persons of the Trinity.
He also told who Mary was her relationship with the people.
- Would a mother - he had been ending his sermon - abandon her children and leave them in a pain and a misery?
She appears frequently among us in a glowing vision offering a sweet consolation.
Persevere to the end because the day of the Lord's Mercy is near at hand.
These were the last words of his last sermon as he parted with inmates.
Father Maximilian resided in Auschwitz for 11 weeks.
In the darkest moments of the suffering in Auschwitz he wrote the only letter to his mother dated 15th June 1941.
- Dearest Mom, at the end of the month of May I came by transport to Auschwitz Camp.
Everything is all right. Dearest Mom, be calm about me and my health,
because beloved God dwells in every place and He thinks of everybody and everything with great love.
I suggest that you would not to write to me before my next letter because I do not know how long I will stay here.
With warm-hearted greetings and kisses - Raymond Kolbe.
In the end of July 1941 a terrible news shocked the Auschwitz Camp.
A prisoner escaped from block number 14.
As a punishment 10 prisoners from this block were sentenced to death in the starvation bunker of the death block, block number 13.
After selecting 10 prisoners during the memorable roll call Father Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward
and wanted to go to death for one of the convicts.
The camp commander Karl Fritz questioned - Who are you? - and Father Maximilian responded
- I am a Polish Catholic priest.
In the basement of the block 13 in the cell number 18 Father Maximilian had been dying
for two weeks with the other prisoners.
On 14th August in a cell number 18 four prisoners were still alive with Fr. Maximilian among them.
That day at 12.50pm Father Maximilian was finished off by a deadly injection of phenol as the last of the prisoners.
It was assumed that every prisoner who was brought to Auschwitz was destined to die.
There is a remarkable drawing behind me entitled The Crematorium Grate.
In this work Marian Kolodziej presents the incineration of human corpses in crematoriums of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
We can see the figure of St. Maximilian Kolbe who holds Franciszek Gajowiczek in his hands, the one whom he gave his life for.
Marian Kolodziej portrays a godsend of his life in a symbolic way - as though Fr. Maximilian throws Franciszek from the crematorium furnace.
Thus he saved his life.
These drawings are not only a testimony to these events, the testimony of Father Maximilian,
but most of all they allowed us to remember
how precious the life of every human being is.
The exhibition Frames of Memory - Labyrinths by Marian Kolodziej is located in St. Maximilian's Centre near Auschwitz.
Fr. Stanislaw Czerwonka was our guide around the exhibition.
www.harmeze.franciszkanie.pl