Re: The Museum at Auschwitz, 1941-45

It is a known fact the Germans and allied did allow prisoners of war to
take part in recreational activates. Could it be this information was
withheld from the general public to make the Germans only look bad.

Kurt Knoll.
=
"John Vreeland" <Vreejack@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:1103885997.301190.75760@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 wrote:
> The Museum at Auschwitz, 1941-45
>
>
> Unbelievable but it seems they had even a museum in Auschwitz! With
> artwork from the more gifted prisoners.
> http://lastexpression.northwestern.edu/essays/Museumessay.001.pdf
>
> "...In October 1941 Rudolf Höss, the camp commandant at Auschwitz
> allowed a museum to open in barrack 6 at Auschwitz  I.  It  moved  to
> barrack  24  in  March  1942,  where  it  occupied  two  rooms  until
> Auschwitz  was liberated in late January 1945. "The goal of the
museum
> was to collect, in small quantities, various rarities, art  works,
> valuable  objects, coin  and  stamp  collections  as well  other
rare
> objects  located  in  the  prisoners' personal possessions (such as
> do***ents, awards, banners, liturgical clothing, etc.). About six
> prisoners were assigned  to  the  museum.  Two  of  them  were
> assigned  to  translate  the Talmud  into  German,  one  repaired
> watches  for  the  SS,  the  remaining  prisoners  were  mostly
> artists,  graphic  artists,  or  fine  arts,  and  created works of
art
> that were considered the property of the camp and were used as
presents
> to visiting dignitaries from the Reich."i
> The initiative to open this museum had come from the Polish prisoner
> Franciszek Targosz, who had been de****ted  to  Auschwitz  in
December
> 1940,  and  assigned  prisoner  number  7626.  In  early  1941,
Höss
> discovered  Targosz  sketching  horses.  Targosz  knew  that  art
not
> specifically  ordered  by  the  camp administration was a punishable
> offense. To save himself, he suggested that Höss establish a museum
in
> one of  the  camp  barracks. ..."
> http://lastexpression.northwestern.edu/exhibition_fr_essays.html

It seems that they must have been such happy campers to be able to
participate in arts and crafts activities.