Were the Nazi’s close to acquiring an Atomic Bomb?

An interesting article has recently been featured on The Times’ website stating that a team has begun drilling near a network of tunnels that were built by concentration camp prisoners in Austria in order to discover whether Adolph Hitler was near to acquiring an atomic bomb.

The Mauthausen-Gusen Camp site.

The search to discover secret underground chambers came about after the discovery of strange levels of radiation coming from the former Mauthausen-Gusen labour camps, a large area when the Nazi’s built aircraft underground to avoid any air raids by Allied forces. It is believed that up to three hundred and twenty thousand prisoners were executed in gas chambers or slaved to death within the complex. It has now been discovered though that many of these workers were scientists assigned to a secret undisclosed project from 1941, and this has lead to renewed assumption that it may have been a secret branch of the Nazi’s nuclear program.

This is ‘Little Boy’ the codename for the type of atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

It is well known that the Nazi’s were in pursuit of nuclear weapons, as they conducted many studies into the weaponry in German research institutions, furthermore Heinrich Himmler who was in charge of the SS forces visited the secretive Mauthausen-Gusen camp regularly. This furthered the theories that atomic research may have been conducted there.  The pressure to dig near the tunnels in order to locate secret laboratories or storage areas greatly increased after the discoveries of Andreas Sulzer who researched the camps. Sulzer had been working on a film about Austrian scientist Viktor Schauberger for two years when he discovered that he was secretly involved from 1941 on SS research projects and warned colleagues in letters that he was involved in atom smashing.

SS Troops posing for photographs outside the Mauthausen-Gusen camp.

During a search of archives in both Germany and the US, Sulzer found that two hundred and seventy two inmates were taken from the Mauthausen-Gusen camp to St Georgen in January 1944 to build underground passages. The known tunnels within the area have mostly been filled in but Sulzer believes that sections where nuclear experiments may have been preformed were missed.  Sulzer claims that he has found blueprints which suggest that other chambers may exist, although digging has been underway for many weeks but so far with no sign of any tunnels. The drilling is being conducted by a government-owned company which has been working for ten years to make 6 kilo-meters of tunnels safe, using the technique of pumping them full of concrete. The company is most anxious however, to determine if these theories are correct.

Reference:
Charter, D (2014). Secret tunnels ‘led to Hitler’s atom bomb lab’.  Available: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article4001752.ece. Last accessed: 09/02/2014.

Stara Synagoga (the Old Synagogue)

Stara Synagoga

The Stara Synagogue’s Fortress Exterior

The Stara Synagoga, otherwise known as the Old Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue found in the Kazimierz district of Krakow. It is the oldest synagogue building still standing in Poland and one of the most valued examples of Jewish architecture in Europe. Until the Germans invaded Poland in 1939 it was the most important synagogue in Krakow and served as the main religious and social hub to Krakow’s Jewish community. A plaque can be seen in the Stara Synagoga’s entrance hall commemorating General Tadeusz Kosciuszko’s 1794 speech from the synagogue in support of the struggle for Polish Independence:

‘The Jews proved to the world that whenever humanity can gain, they would not spare themselves.’  General Tadeusz Kosciuszko.

Although the date varies between sources it is believed the Synagogue was built somewhere between 1407 and 1492. The original building was rebuilt due to fire damage during the 16^th century by Italian architect Mateo Gucci, the outside interior was built in the Renaissance fashion whilst leaving the interiors architecture in its original Gothic style. Furthermore the rebuild included many military features such as having windows placed high above ground level and solid masonry walls with buttressing being built to endure a siege. This architecture makes the Old Synagogue a rare surviving example of a Polish fortress synagogue.

The Synagogue after the damage of Nazi forces.

During World War II the old synagogue was ransacked and destroyed by Nazi forces. Its many artworks and Jewish relics were looted and during the German occupation the synagogue was used as a magazine by Nazi forces (a term used to define a place where large amounts of ammunition are stored ready for distribution). In 1943, 30 Polish hostages were executed at the synagogues wall.

The Synagogues Gothic interior.

From 1956 to 1959 the old synagogue was once again renovated and now currently operates as a museum, functioning as a Division of the Historical Museum of Krakow, focusing in particular on Krakow’s Jewish history and traditions.  The Gothic interior of the synagogue has been restored to its past brilliance due to the help of its varied collections, including relics of Krakow’s former Kazimierz Jewish quarter, including old photographs, documents and pictures. The many exhibits are divided into different themes dealing with areas such as birth, prayer rituals, diet and death. The Beautiful Women’s Prayer Room, which dates back to the 17^th century, is used to hold the museums more contempary exhibitions.

Information found on:

Sacred Destinations (2005). Old Synagogue, Krakow. Available: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/poland/krakow-old-synagogue. Last accessed 11/02/13

Sergeldin, I, Shuluger, E and Martin-Brown, J (2001). Historic Cities and Scared Sites: Cultural Roots for Urban Futures. Washington DC: World Bank Publications.

Strzala, M. (2006). Old Synagogue in Krakow. Available: http://www.krakow-info.com/synagog.htm. Last accessed 11/02/13.

 

Szkieletor Tower

When studying the architecture of the city, it is important to analyse the underlying ideology  in order to understand the purpose behind the space and how it is remembered within contemporary society.

Throughout our study of space we began to look at underrepresented buildings situated in Kraków, analysing them through a study of stage, symbolism and didactic.

Although not strictly related to the Holocaust, the Szkieletor Tower holds symbolic connotations of Political and social unrest that has occurred and become engraved within Poland’s history.

Stage

• Within a Communist utopia there is a strong sense of progression in an aim to create a better world through continuous development. Marx (1867) emphasises an aspect of Communist progression through his belief of social movement from a state of capitalism to one of a more liberated nature for the proletariat, namely communism.
• The Szkieletor Tower was planned to be built alongside a twin tower. The two buildings were to act as a gateway to a skyscraper district for Krakow, a so-called ‘Polish Manhattan’.
• It it evident that this holds connotations of a western and capitalist state, which is strange given the need to progress away from this.
• Capitalist connotations now exist on the building through use of giant billboards to advertise products, as reiterated by Berger;‘Publicity is the life of this culture – in so far as without publicity capitalism could not survive’. (Berger, 1972: 154).  It is the capitalist concept of production and consumption that drives advertising, as adverts exist in order to sell products to individuals within society

Symbolism

• Szkieletor was the nickname given due to its symbolic references of a skeleton
• Its post-apocalyptic look is symbolic of the past failures of the city and the traumatic events that occurred in the past (WWII) 
• The architect, Krzysztof Leśnodorski, recalls that the Communist authorities specified the building be as tall as possible, relating back to the Communist ideologies of progression and bettering (1945-1989)
• The inability to complete the building is representative of the economic and political instability within 1980s Poland
• The deadline was set for 2005, but due to political and economical problems in the 1980s construction could no longer go on. Martial Law was put into place in the early 1980s which restricted citizens within Poland in an attempt to oppress political opposition, but ironically created disdain within the Polish population
• ‘The authorities were still trapped by the contradiction between following economic necessity and generating political instability. The government could not revive the economy without abandoning the state control of prices, but this would trigger another general strike. Nor could it gain the support of the population through political reform, because of the threat of Soviet intervention’
•  As the space around the site is vast, the structure appears even taller, in the context of Krakow, where so much of the cities dark memories, and the spaces associated with them still preserved within the city. It is obvious that nothing disappears. The Ambition of the tower as a monument is preserved so the ambition of the Soviet era can still be seen.

Didactic

• The architect Lesnodorski was hired by Communists to construct it so it was taller than the Saint Mary’s Basilica Church, demonstrating an empowerment over religion within the city.
• The fact that there has been an attempt to revive the Szkieletor project may significantly change the surrounding area of Krakow. Due to the fact that the construction had been halted through political change and a lack of money, serves to remind tourists and the people of Krakow of the cities disdain for the Communist regime and the people’s refusal to finish what that regime started. The city made a stand not through moving but by stopping.
• The tower was given the nickname of a villain in He-Man and the masters of the universe could further relate to the polish people opposition to the communist party. This could further reinforce didactic teaching as that nickname has stood the test of time.

 

 

 

Marx, K. (1867). Capital – A Critique of Political Economy. Moscow: Progress Publishers

The Holocaust

The Rape of Nanking

 

After the Japanese invading army invaded Nanjing under, December 13, 1937. In the following six weeks, the Japanese Army committed extremely horrible crimes, murdering innocent people. There is more than 300,000 innocent inhabitant and unarmed soldiers were massacred in Nanjing. In this unprecedented catastrophe, the old capital Nanjing was transformed into a living hell.

 

The Nanking Massacre, normally known as “The Rape of Nanking”,  was an notorious war crime event committed by the Japanese Army in and around the then capital of China – Nanjing, after on December 13,1937, it beginning the Imperial Japanese Army . (At the time, Nanjing was mainly known named Nanking in English). The duration of the massacre is not well defined, while the violence lasted well into the next six weeks, until early February 1938.

 

 

During the occupation of Nanjing, the Japanese army committed multiple atrocities, like rape, robbery, arson and the execution of prisoners of war and civilians. Regardless of the fact that the executions start under the pretext of eliminating Chinese soldiers dressed as civilians, a large number of innocent people were intentionally identified as enemy combatants and executed—or simply killed complete—as the gathered momentum of holocaust. A lot of women and children were shot dead, as rape and murder became more extensive.

 

 

 

Baidu Baike (2014). [Online] Available at: http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=RMFnDujHTLKbfRPo3JWLfNE3efda_va3u0LsZ40n_QrHyyA139gliz4AxgWCsa2b#2_15  [Accessed 5 February 2014].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Holocaust

 

The Jewish nation is a part of the world’s most oldest nations. Unfortunately in World War Ⅱ, they were massacred by Nazi Germany.

 

The Holocaust also referenced as The Shoah, was the genocide of around six million European Jews during World War II, a programmed of scientific state-sponsored eradication by Nazi Germany. The genocide of these six million people was a genocide of two-thirds of the population of 9 million Jews who had lived in Europe before the Holocaust.

 

Some scholars believe that the definition of the Massacre should also include the Nazis’ systematic murder of millions of people in other groups, including the Roma, people with disabilities, Soviet prisoners of war, Polish and Soviet civilians, gays and lesbians, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other political and religious opponents. By this illustrates, the total number of victims of the Holocaust would be between 11 million and 17 million people.

 

The persecution and genocide took place in phase. Legislation to eliminate the Jews from civil society is set by the years before the outbreak of World War II. Concentration camps were formed in which inmates were used as slave labor until they died of exhaustion or disease. Where the Third Reich conquered additional territory in eastern Europe, specialized units called Einsatzgruppen murdered Jews and shooting political opponents. Jews and Romani were imprisoned in crowded ghettos before being carried by freight train to extermination camps where, if they survived the journey, most of them were organically killed in gas chambers. Every arm of Nazi Germany’s bureaucracy was combined with the logistics of the mass murder, turning the country into what a Holocaust scholar has called “a genocidal state”.

 

 

Wikipedia(2014). [Online] Available at: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%8C%B6%E5%A4%AA%E4%BA%BA%E5%A4%A7%E5%B1%A0%E6%AE%BA#cite_note-FOOTNOTESnyder2010384-10 [Accessed 5 February 2014].

 

 

 

 

 

Different

1. The scale of war:

The Rape of Nanking: A city, or a country

The Holocaust：A race

 

2. The aims of the war:

Rough degree of Germany and Japan in World War Ⅱ, Japanese  slaughtered belong to the time of wild, while Germany is belong to the carefully planned genocide.

 

 

 

In the final analysis is the cause of the gap between eastern and western civilizations, In terms of civilization development and social development, the western more than eastern in one hundred years. When there is the ideological source of modern civilization in Europe – the Renaissance, the modern scientific revolution, the west in machine industry, there have ship, train, camera, battery… Oriental ancient times in the history of the world is still in the middle ages. When the west into the age of electricity, appear the car, phone, the east has just walked out of the spear arrow era. The brutal massacre launched by the Japanese was a kind of instinct and backward performance in that underdeveloped and barbaric period. This was the continuation of the historical behavior. Although this kind of massacre was cruel and barbaric,  there was no specific aims and purposes of eliminating and weakening certain races.   However,  the slaughter of Germans was determined by specific ideology. It was based on the scientific theory, driven by ideological base.  Furthermore, it was on a technological processing level of modern industrial civilization.  A  large quantities of miserable people were forced to orderly organized in this process. This process reduced the certain types of human suffering and was more humanized than that of Japanese. But the quality of this action was with the clear purpose and intention of some certain  genocide. What’s more, the massacre from Germans occured in the period of modern civilization of richness and that human rights and the legal system were deeply rooted among the people .Thus, the effect(consequence) is particularly  worse and sensational.

 

A Brief History of Wawel Castle

Wawel Castle

Wawel Castle, located in Krakow, Poland was built at the request of Casimir III the Great who reigned over Poland between 1333 till 1370. The Castle was built in keeping with Gothic design and consists of many different structures all situated around the central courtyard.  Wawel was erected atop a limestone outcrop found on the left bank of the Vistula River in Krakow at an altitude of 228 meters above sea level.

Although the complex consists of many difference buildings, the largest and best known are the Royal Castle and Wawel Cathedral. Some of the oldest stone buildings found in Wawel can be dated back to 970AD. The wooden parts of the compound also date back to around the 9^th century. Wawel is a place of great significance to the people of Poland due to it being not only a centre of political power but also one of the main Polish centres of Christianity.

Wawel Castle – Over centuries, various styles of architecture have evolved side-by-side.

During the 14^th century the Castle was rebuilt by Jogaila and Jadwiga of Poland (who reigned from 1384-1399). During their reign a tower was added to the complex called the Hen’s Foot. Their private chamber is also open for exhibition and contains the Szczerbiec sword which was used during coronation ceremonies which were held at the Castle. During this period other structures were developed on Wawel Hill in order to serve as housing for their clergy, royal clerks and craftsmen. Many defensive walls and towers were also erected under their rule in order offer them further protection from possible invasion.

Through the reign of Sigismund I Stary, the last member of the Jagiellonian dynasty there was an influx in the Wawel fortunes, and following a fire in 1499 Sigismund I Stary rebuilt the Royal Castle. Sigismund had spent a great deal of his youth with his brother King Waldislaw of Hungary and Bohemia, in Buda. Due to this experience he was inspired by the courts Italian artisans who were establishing the Renaissance movement (which was little known outside of Florence) and thus he decided to rebuild the residence in the Renaissance style.

Wawel Castle rebuild in the Renaissance style.

Throughout the reign of Ladislas Jagiello during the 15th century a Gothic pavilion, known as the Danish Tower was added to the castle, other than this addition however, the castle complex remained unchanged until a fire in 1595, which saw the entire northeast side of the castle burned down.  King Sigismund III Vasa did rebuild this section but despite his efforts only the Senator Stairs and Bird Room fireplace remain today. In the period of 1609, King Sigismund moved to Warsaw which meant that Wawel Castle and its surrounding buildings suffered great neglect despite the help of local governors. Fruthermore due to the Swedish Invasions of 1655-1657 and 1702 Wawel castle sadly faced further deterioration.

Throughout the reign of Ladislas Jagiello during the 15^th century a Gothic pavilion, known as the Danish Tower was added to the castle, other than this addition however, the castle complex remained unchanged until a fire in 1595, which saw the entire northeast side of the castle burned down.  King Sigismund III Vasa did rebuild this section but despite his efforts only the Senator Stairs and Bird Room fireplace remain today. In the period of 1609, King Sigismund moved to Warsaw which meant that Wawel Castle and its surrounding buildings suffered great neglect despite the help of local governors. Fruthermore due to the Swedish Invasions of 1655-1657 and 1702 Wawel castle sadly faced further deterioration.

Wawel Castle and Wawel Hill represent the some of the most historically and culturally important sites in Poland due to its remaining for centuries the residence of the Kings of Poland, and so becoming symbolic of Polish statehood, its impressive fortress visually dominates the city and has often lead to it being viewed as a seat of power in Poland. Furthermore the Castle is now one of the country’s premier art museums. The museum was established in 1930 and comprises of 10 curatorial departments in charge of different collections including: Italian Renaissance paintings, sculptures and textiles. Sigismund II Augustus tapestry collection, period furniture and armour can also be found within the Castle museum as well as Oriental art including the largest collection of Ottoman tents in Europe. The museum is also a very important centre for the conservation of art works.

Hans Frank

During World War II, Wawel Castle became the residence of Governor General Hans Frank. Born Hans Michael Frank (23^rd May 1900 – 16^th October 1946) He was a German Lawyer who worked for the Nazi party during the 1920’s and 1930s. After Hitler came to power in 1933, Frank became Nazi Germanys chief jurist and the Governor-General of Poland’s General Government territory (the area of Poland not directly incorporated into Germany). During his tyrannical regime, he oversaw the segregation of Jews into ghettos and the use of Polish civilians for forced labour. During the Nuremberg trials he was found guilty of numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity and was executed. He and Albert Speer are alleged to be the only defendants to show remorse for their actions during their trials. During his tyrannical regime many artefacts were removed from Warwel castle and still have not yet been returned to Poland. Many of the tapestries which hung in the castle also disappeared during this time.

Hans Michael Frank

Ulica Pomorska

Ulica Pomorska, otherwise known as former Gestapo cells, is situated in Kraków. It is now exhibited as part of Muzeum Historyczne Miasta Krakowa, in the Dom Slaski otherwise known as Silesian House, attracting tourists who visit the infamous city – Originally built in the 1930’s for Silesian citizens to study; it was transformed to be used as part of the Nazi’s occupation of Poland and eventually the carrying out of the ‘Final Solution’.

Ulica Pomorska was situated on 2 Pomeranian St, and was used as the headquarters of the Gestapo in WWII. The Gestapo were the secret state police for the Nazis from 1933, who’s main aims and objectives were to oppress offenders and opponents of the state, for example Jewish civilians, communists and German citizens harbouring Jews. Commanded by Hermann Goring until 1936 when the police unit was taken over by SS director Heinrich Himmler, the Gestapo had the ability to follow, arrest and interrogate those they felt were against the Nazi regime.

http://ss-standartenfuhrer.deviantart.com/

Within Ulica Pomorska, this interrogation was taken a step further. The basement of the building was turned into detention cells during its occupation in WWII. Within these cells, citizens of Krakow who were deemed political enemies of the state were interrogated and tortured by Gestapo officials. Hundreds of individuals suffered within these cells, made evident by an apparent 600 inscriptions carved into the walls of the cells, accompanied by bullet holes in the walls. On the wall of the execution cell ‘Dulce et Decorum est Pro Patri mori!’ is seen to be inscribed onto the wall. This translates as ‘It is sweet and glorious to die for one’s country’, a line taken from WWI poet Wilfred Owen, who wrote ‘Dulce et Decorum’ in Latin in 1917.

http://www.inyourpocket.com/poland/krakow/

Inscriptions on one of the cell walls 

Zegota and Irena Sendler

Zegota and Irena Sendler
(1942-1945)

Zegota, also known as ‘The Konrad Zegota Committee’ was a codename used for The Council to Aid Jews. The Council to Aid Jews was an underground organization set up in German occupied Poland in the years 1942 – 1945. It worked under the sponsorship of the Polish Government who were exiled through the Government Delegation for Poland in Warsaw (Slawinski ND). The Zegota’s main purpose was to help aid Poland’s Jews and find safe places for them to live in occupied Poland. Poland was the only country in Europe, during the war where such a devoted underground organisation existed (Piotrowski 1998).

The Zegota was created in order to supersede work of the Provisional Committee to Aid Jews, which was founded in 1942 by Zofia Kossak-Szcucka and Wanda Krahelska-Filipowicz (Piotrowski 1998). The Provisional Committee to Aid Jews consisted of mostly Polish Catholic activists and at the time had around 180 people under its care; however the Committee to Aid Jews was soon disbanded for both political and financial reasons. The Zegota was then created in December, 1942 to further continue the work of the Provisional Committee (Piotrowski 1998).

Zegota was divided up into different sections dealing with the different needs of Jews located in German occupied Poland, for instance Legalization, Housing, Child Welfare, Medical needs, Clothing, Financial etc. From the Councils base in Warsaw, Zegota networks had grown to include relief organisations in Krakow, Lwow, Lublin and the surrounding countryside (Piotrowski 1998).

It is approximated that around 50,000 Jews who survived the Holocaust in Poland were helped in some way by Zegota. Zegota has around 100 other branches, which operated mostly in Warsaw, where it distributed relief funds to around 3,000 Jews. The second largest Branch was found in Krakow but other branches also operated in both Vilnius and L’viv (Slawinki ND). It is thought that around 4,000 Jews received funding directly from Zegota, 5,600 from the Jewish National Committee and 2,000 from the Bund (a Jewish socialist party operating in Poland). However around 8,500 Jews residing in Warsaw were helped by the aid of all three organisations (Piotrowski 1998).

Konrad Zegota, as mentioned above, was not actually a person, but was the codename given to The Council to Aid Jews. In the Polish Underground, all their wartime efforts were given a codename as Zegota did not want any underground movements to do with the Jews being discovered. As Zegota was not only mentioned in discussions but also in documents, receipts etc. They used Konrad Zegota as a cover for all activities involving aid for Jews (Paulsson 2004).

One Important Zegota worker was Irena Sendler (15^th February 1910 – 12^th May 2008). She was born in Warsaw and after the death of her father, Jewish community leaders offered her mother help in paying for her education. She attended Warsaw University where she studied Polish Literature and joined the Socialist Party. She opposed the Ghetto-bench system (a system of segregation that existed in some pre-war Polish Universities) and defaced her grade card as a symbol of resistance against the Ghetto-bench system. As a result of her public protest she was suspended from the University of Warsaw for three years (Auschwitz.dk n.d).

She later became a Nurse/Social worker who served in the Polish Underground during World War II and was the head of the Child Welfare section of Zegota. As a result she was given a special permit which allowed her access into the Warsaw Ghetto to check for signs of Typhus (something the Nazi’s feared would spread beyond the Ghetto) (Yad Vashem 2014). During these visits, she wore a Star of David as a sign of her solidarity with Jewish people. Under the pretext of conducting inspections of typhus within the Ghetto, Sendler and her co-workers helped smuggle 2,500 Jewish babies and children out of the Ghetto in ambulances, trams or sometimes even disguised as packages. Sandler also helped provide them with fake identification documents and housing in Aryan sections of Warsaw, helping save them from the brutality of the Holocaust (Scislowska, 2008).

The Children were placed with Polish families outside of the Ghetto, or were given to the Warsaw orphanage: ‘Of the Sisters of the Family of Mary’ or in Roman Catholic Convents. Sendler worked closely with Zofia Kossak-Szcucka, a resistance fighter and writer and with Matylda Ghetter, Mother Provincial of: ‘The Franciscan Sisters of the Family of Mary’. Irena Sendler and her group of around 30 volunteers, managed to slip hundreds of infants, young children and teenagers safely out of the Ghetto. Sendler and her group made sure they buried all evidence linked to the hidden children in jars to keep track of their real/new identities and assured the children than once the war was over they would be returned to their Jewish families (Paldiel 2006).

In 1943 The Nazis eventually discovered Sendlers actions and she was arrested by the Gestapo. Whist arrested she was severely tortured and sentenced to death. Zegota saved Sendler however, by bribing her German guards on the way to her execution. She was listed on public bulletin boards as having been executed and for the remainder of the war she remained in hiding, but continued her work for Zegota. After the war she and her co-workers gave all of their records about the identies of the hidden Jewish children to Zegota in order to return them home. Almost all of their parents though had been killed at the Treblinka extermination camp or were missing (Yad Vashem 2014).

In 1965, Sendler was recognised by the State of Israel as Righteous among the Nations and was later awarded Poland’s highest honour for her wartime efforts. She appears on a silver 2008 Polish commemorative coin which honours some of the Polish Righteous among the Nations (Yad Vashem 2014).

References:

Auschwitz.dk (n.d). Irena Sendler – An Unsung Heroine. Available: http://www.auschwitz.dk/Sendler.htm. Last Accessed: 21/01/14

Paldiel, M (2006). Churches and the Holocaust: Unholy teaching, good Samaritans and reconciliation. New Jersey: KTAV Publishing House Inc.

Paulsson, G (2004). The Rescue of Jews by Non-Jews in Nazi Occupied Poland. Journal of Holocaust Education, Volume 7 (1&2).

Piotrowski, T (1998). Poland’s Holocaust. London: Globetrotter Books, Division of International Broadcasting Productions Ltd.

Scislowska, M (2008). Polish Holocaust hero dies at age 98. Available: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-05-12-1916156174_x.htm. Last Accessed: 21/01/14.

Slawinki, A (N.D). Those who helped Polish Jews during WWII. London; London Branch of the Polish Home Army Ex-Servicemen Association.

Yad Vashem (2014). Smuggling Children out the Ghetto – Irena Sendler. Available: http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/sendler.asp. Last Accessed: 21/01/14.

Media Representations of the Holocaust – Schindler’s List 1993

When creating a media artifact to represent and document a traumatic event such as the Holocaust, there are so many precautions that need to be taken. The accuracy and motive behind media portrayals need to be correct in order to reflect events of the tragedy in a way that wouldn’t offend those who were unfortunately subject to such brutality during WWII, or those related.

In 1993 Steven Spielberg released one of the most infamous films representing the events from 1939 – 1945, ‘Schindler’s List’, placing a specific focus on Oskar Schindler.
Schindler arrived in Krakow, Poland, in 1939 which was occupied by German forces at this point after the invasion the same year.
He took over a factory which had been taken from the Jewish in Zablocie, just outside of Krakow where he established his own enamel works. This establishment was the beginning of Schindler’s communications with Krakow’s Jewish population as he recruited workers in order to boost revenue.
It became apparent that after the liquidation of the Jewish Ghettos in Krakow that Schindler began to show compassion towards those undermined by the German forces. Spielberg represented this throughout the film by the infamous ‘girl in the red coat’.

 The young girl within the film carries significant connotations (Saussure, 1974) through both the colour red and the fact that it is the only part of the film that was in any colour at all.
The colour red is commonly used to signify pain, anger, turmoil etc, which is extremely commonplace given the narrative of the film and the nature of the events that occurred. The liquidation of the Jews from the ghetto was, although terror was already underway, a turning point during the Nazi rule as it signified the beginning of mass extermination as Jews were catagorised and sent to various extermination and labour camps, depending on ability.
What is more, the girl in the red coat also signifies the innocence within a world of corruption and violence, as she walks around appearing almost oblivious to the dead bodies that lay in the streets. The innocence that is commonly connoted by young children could arguably have been used to represent the innocence of the Jewish race that she presumably belonged to, as they were murdered on such a mass scale for unjust reasons.

Furthermore, throughout WWII Schindler managed to save approximately 1,100 Jewish people, the majority of which were from Krakow, who were originally enslaved in labour camps.

Schindler’s List (1993) represented the latter through shooting at locations that were the original places where these events took place, including numerous camps, Schindler’s first factory in Zablocie and his apartment. The only set that was constructed for filming was the Kraków-Plaszów concentration camp as it was deconstructed upon Soviet arrival in 1945, demonstrating a step away from normative Hollywood codes and conventions, as a real essence of documentary style portrayal was attempted in order to represent the Holocaust ethically.

Liam Neeson and Steven Spielberg on the set of Schindler’s List (1993)

It has been said however that there were elements of controversy over filming inside some of the camps. According to IMBD, Spielberg eventually received permission to film inside Auschwitz but ultimately refused out of respect.

From conducting in-depth research on Spielberg’s role in Schindler’s List (1993), it becomes apparent that the creation of this film wasn’t for profit. Spielberg claims to have not taken any pay for directing the film as it would be like ‘blood money’ (www.imdb.com), despite it making approximately $320 million through worldwide box office sales (www.boxofficemojo.com).

Part of the revenue that was made from the film has gone towards setting up the non-profit Shoah Foundation, creating by Spielberg in 1994. The foundation’s purpose is to record testimonies from survivors or witnesses of the Holocaust and genocide that occurred between 1939-1945. These testimonies and interviews are then used to educate others and inspire action against intolerance.

For more information about the Shoah Foundation please follow this link:  www.sfi.usc.edu/about

With regards to representing events such as the Holocaust, Lyotard (1982) discusses the event through the notion of the sublime. The concept of the sublime becomes presented when thoughts of limitlessness go beyond the aesthetic and cognitive reasoning of our minds. Lyotard (1982) places an emphasis on the Avant-Garde movement, demonstrating how the transformations away from normative art structures exemplify possibilities of a continuous development and ‘infinity’ of alternative forms of work.

With regards to representations of the Holocaust, Lyotard (1982) claims that ‘the Holocaust should remain in the forgotten, as an unpresentable fact, in order not to be forgotten’ as ‘familiarity with the Holocaust will deprive this “event” of its sublime formlessness and subsequently will reduce it to the level of consciousness or aesthesis’ (desiremachinecollective.in). However I feel this is arguable, as the sheer scale of such an event could never be, in my opinion, something that anyone could comprehend, regardless of how many portrayals are created.

Spielberg’s portrayal of the events that occurred surrounding Oskar Schindler is something we wish to look into further when arriving in Kraków, as we shall examine the memory of Schindler, his factory by Kraków and whether or not the local culture of the city has the same embedded memory as us with regards to Schindler’s actions. This will allow us to make an analysis on how accurate Spielberg’s media representation is through first-hand field research.

Anon. (N/A). Schindler’s List . Available: http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=schindlerslist.htm. Last accessed 19th January 2014

Anon. (Unknown). Notes on “Presenting the Unpresentable: The Sublime” A critical reading of Jean Francois Lyotard. Available: http://desiremachinecollective.in/WORKS/TEXT/sublime.htm. Last accessed 20th January 2014

De Saussure, F. (1974). Course In General Linguistics. London: Fontana.

http://www.imdb.com

Lyotard, J (1982) “Presenting the Unpresentable: The Sublime”. Artforum