"Schorsch" <bartelq77@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:1103885112.623879.223880@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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. ..."
Let's continue:
The museum, Targosz argued, would provide a place of culture for Nazi
officers stationed at Auschwitz. Such a museum would exhibit examples
of Nazi-approved art, including handicrafts and folk objects
"collected" from the prisoners. Höss saw the propaganda potential of
such a museum, since Nazi dignitaries visiting Auschwitz would be
impressed by his cultural achievement and he would also have a vehicle
to show the supremacy of the Aryan race. He consented to the plan and
ordered Targosz early in 1941 to organize the museum. Thus, Targosz
managed both to save his own life and to have some of his drawings
exhibited.
[...]
It is clear that ****traits were commissioned by the Germans as gifts
to superiors or to their own families, and also for do***entation of
medical experiments. Thus, Josef Mengele commissioned a Czech Jewish
artist, Dinah Gottliebova, to do ****traits of Roma (Gypsy) prisoners
as illustrations for a book he hoped to publish about his medical
experiments in Auschwitz. Other prisoner artists, like Leo Haas,
Halina Olomucki, and Arnold Daghani also re****ted receiving orders to
do ****traits of Nazi officers, often from photographs of relatives
missing in action. If the resulting work was acceptable, it often
helped secure more lenient work assignments or better rations.
=============
A museum for the benefit of the Nazis, involving primarily non Jewish
prisoners, primarily working on art commissioned by the Nazis for
their own benefit.
Nothing unbelievable about it. The Nazis were masters at exploitation.
--
Philip Mathews
"Mankind have a great aversion to intellectual labor; but even
supposing knowledge to be easily attainable, more people would be
content to be ignorant than would take even a little trouble to
acquire it."
Samuel Johnson
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