Alice Herz-Sommer – ‘I know about the bad, but I look at the good thing.’

In the above video, we hear an unusual perspective on the Holocaust from Alice Hertz-Sommer. Within this video, she talks about life in the Holocaust and how she felt being in Auschwitz; 109 year old Alice is a very optimistic survivor who has a positive philosophy on life, and believes that her survival of the Holocaust is due to music.

Lutosławski (2007: p178) suggests that ‘Music can be perceived in various ways by different people’ which may allow us to understand that it is Alice’s optimistic personality which allowed her to encompass her attitude towards music as staying positive for the sake of her 5 and a half year old son.

This is allowing us to see a mass power division between the Nazi’s and those who are in Auschwitz through the use of trapping victims inside, yet Alice here is showing strength in not feeling ‘trapped’ which Zelizer (2001: p123) suggests that ‘Reality could be an object of desire.’ In this context, we are almost unable to imagine Alice’s position to be one of desire.

We are able to relate this to Foucault’s (1977: p27) relation of power and knowledge, in that we are able to see that Alice has the knowledge of music which was able to impress those in power. Due to the fact that Alice had the knowledge of music then, we are able to link her power status as high on the same level as the German Nazi’s as she had something which they wanted and could not provide for themselves. This also allows us to see in a sense her as the breadwinner for her son, as it was down to her musical talent and ability to pull through in order to feed both Alice and her son.

References

Foucault, M (1977). DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH The Birth of the Prison. USA: Penguin Books. p27.

Lutosławski, W (2007). Lutosławski on Music. Michigan: Scarecrow Press. p178.

Zelizer, B (2001). Visual Culture and the Holocaust. London: The Athlone Press Ltd. p123.

The Ghetto Still Remains

We are all aware of the holocaust, whether it be from school, documentaries or family etc. Many of us hold the same viewpoint and some even hold an extremist view on Germany as a whole. It is worth noting how the country has changed now, and understanding that the Holocaust has been a noted section of the past.

Jews were often forced to live in areas called ghettos, which allows us to see a distinction of power from the Nazi’s to the Jews. Foucault (1977: p27) has stated in relation to this that ‘Power and knowledge directly imply one another.’This gives us insight into understanding that the Nazi’s believed that the choices they were making were right because they had the knowledge behind them of why this was the right thing to do. Hitler lead the Nazi’s into beginning a ‘pure’ Germany, which is allowing us to grow our knowledge of how the Holocaust began.

Above is a picture of the Krakow ghetto, which the German authorities took occupation of March 3, 1941 as a compulsory dwelling place for the city’s Jews. This certain ghetto was emptied in order to make room for 17,000 jews, and the other 65,000 jews were relocated to smaller towns and villages in Poland. (Strzala: 2008) This ghetto was strategically placed near a factory which the Jews were forced into labour work and was also located near the Plaszow concentration camp. This Krakow ghetto consisted of 15 streets, which was overcrowded by Nazi watchers enforcing their power upon the inhabited Jews here.

‘Over two years of its existence several thousand residents of the Jewish ghetto in Krakow were either killed or died of hunger. Then the Nazis emptied Krakow’s ghetto systematically in three waves.’ (Strzala: 2008) We are able to understand that these ghettos were inhuman from Sterling’s (2005: p55) statement that ‘The Jewish council had very limited resources to feed and care for the inhabitants of the ghetto’. We can believe that those who survived living in the ghettos were strong and fought with hope for survival. Burke (1958: p43) suggests that ‘The passions which belong to self-preservation, turn on pain and danger’ which is giving us a knowledge of how human kind as a whole values life, and it takes us back to Trotter’s (2003) idea of the Herd instinct whereby groups stick together, such as the Jews giving each other motivation and strength of positive reinforcement of survival.

Edmund Burke: A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful, 1958 (1757): 39-40

Foucault, M (1977). DISCIPLINE AND PUNISH The Birth of the Prison. USA: Penguin Books. p27.

Sterling, E (2005). Life In The Ghettos During The Holocaust. New York: Syracuse University Press. p55.

Strzala, M. (2008). Jewish Ghetto in Krakow . Available: http://www.krakow-info.com/ghetto.htm. Last accessed 28th Jan 2014.

Trotter, W (2003). Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War. USA: Beard Books.

The Liberation of Auschwitz

Today, 27^th January 2014, marks the 69^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

“Soldiers of the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates of Auschwitz Concentration Camp on January 27, 1945. The prisoners greeted them as authentic liberators. It was a paradox of history that soldiers formally representing Stalinist totalitarianism brought freedom to the prisoners of Nazi totalitarianism.”

In November 1944, Himmler ordered the end of the gassing operations across the concentration camps. Come mid-January 1945, Soviet forces began evacuating the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps. It is estimated that up to 60,000 prisoners were forced to march from the camp to Wodzislaw in the western part of Upper Silesia. Those who struggled to keep up due to illness, starvation and exposure to the weather were executed – as a result a further 15,000 died during these marches, now named the ‘death marches’.

—Bart Stern

So I was hiding out in the heap of dead bodies because in the last week when the crematoria didn’t function at all, the bodies were just building up higher and higher. So there I was at nighttime, in the daytime I was roaming around in the camp, and this is where I actually survived, January 27, I was one of the very first, Birkenau was one of the very first camps being liberated. This was my, my survival chance.

Towards the end of the month, on January 27^th 1945, Soviet forces returned to Auschwitz and liberated more than 7000 remaining prisoners, many already close to death.The SS were ordered to destroy evidence of the mass murder that had taken place, including written records, buildings and mass graves. Left behind at the camp were 370,000 men’s suits, 837,000 women’s garments and 7.7 tonnes of human hair.

The Rise of Auschwitz

Auschwitz is the most well known concentration camp of the Second World War. It’s important to have an understanding of the background to the Holocaust, and especially to Auschwitz which we will be visiting.

During Nazi rule, concentration camps such as Auschwitz were a fundamental factor in the regime that the Nazi’s had in place.

Hitler was selected as chancellor in 1933, and not long after his appointment, the SA, SS and local authorities began to set up concentration camps within which those opposing their strict regimes would be detained. Soon enough, camps had been set up all over Germany, but as the years passed, many were filtered out and only a handful of concentration camps remained. By 1939, the system which controlled the camps began to expand once more as opponents to their rule began to also increase.

Germany began World War 2 in September 1939, and the prospect of larger groups of prisoners and more territory to be claimed inspired the Nazi’s to expand their camps towards the East. The camps soon became sites for mass murder by the SS, where opposing forces could be killed. With this, came the construction of Auschwitz in Poland.

The town of Oswiecim in Poland was first identified as a site for the construction of a concentration camp in 1940, and Auschwitz was soon created. It’s original use was as a scare-tactic to the Polish, in aim of preventing action against the German rule, and to simply imprison those who did oppose. When the camp opened, prisoners were sent in from the Sachsenhausen camp in Germany to act as workers, amongst 300 Jews taken from Oswiecim and forced into serving for the camp.

In 1941 it was commanded that the camp should expand to hold many thousands more inmates. This led to a new camp being constructed a little way from the main camp (Auschwitz 1), and is now known as Birkenau or Auschwitz 2. The aim was to be able to detain greater number of prisoners, and with this came the need for greater security. Huge amounts of barbed wire were placed round the camps to keep inmates in, along with the patrol of the SS for further deterrence. By 1942, the purpose of Auschwitz was to see through the mass destruction of European Jews.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau camps are thought to have seen the murder of up to 4 million people, mostly Jews.

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

All Booked!

Now we have booked our trip, we are definitely going to Krakow!
We will leave London on the 20th February and return on the 26th.
To start with, I think we’re all feeling pretty nervous about going, now the excitement has gone and the reality of why we are visiting Krakow has hit.

So, a quick short of what we intend to do over in Krakow; 

• Our main goal of this field trip is to find a new way to picture the holocaust.
• We will visit Auschwitz, with a full tour of the place. Whilst we are here, myself and Ellen will be taking photos, wide angle and detailed macro of parts that we feel could be viewed as interesting – we are going to have to be very sensitive about this.
• We will be looking at Guy Debord’s theory of the Derive and following this in our own interpreted way. For example, we plan to try following a map of a different city (from a different country) around Krakow, in the hope that this will lead us to parts of the city which the government may not want us to see.

These are just 2 starting points of what we plan to do whilst we are over there. We will add to these in more detail nearer our time of departure.

Initial thoughts and ideas.

When given the location of Krakow, Poland, I for one was extremely thrilled at the thought of travelling to a country with so much history, especially surrounding the second World War. In fact, so much history that it is hard to know where to begin.

Today, four members met a discussed where to begin. Firstly, we decided that we needed to come up with a rough date in mind in which to travel to Krakow. So far I think the 20th February 2014 is the preliminary date, however we are yet to meet with our other two members so nothing can be confirmed. Ellen and Jo have both been looking at flight prices and unfortunately they are not coming up cheap! So as a group we are definitely going to have to think and search hard for the right deals. Accommodation however is looking promising, as their are hostels for around £7-£11 a night in our currency.

Now I for one am not that informed about the history of the city itself or the culture, other than what I learnt in history at school surrounding the concentration camps in the areas, so this trip is going to be some what of a challenge, but one that we are all very excited to undertake.