F05_P09: Concentration Camp Auschwitz, Crematorium
1943 March 22, Front side - Post card from Auschwitz concentration camp depicting the crematory.
Black-and-white post card depicting the crematory at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. In the photograph are nine individuals standing from the center to the left. More people are pictured to the right side. The photo was taken during Winter in Poland and there is snow on the ground where the people are standing. Every person in the image is wearing a winter coat. The crematory is pictured in the background as an elongated building with two chimneys towards the right. There is a tree line in the furthest point of the image. Printed at the bottom of the post card is "The Crematory (The Place of the Revolt of 1943)" in English, Russian, Polish, and French using black ink.
Name/Title
F05_P09: Concentration Camp Auschwitz, CrematoriumEntry/Object ID
2007.5.9.aScope and Content
1943 March 22, post card from Auschwitz concentration camp depicting the crematory.Context
Just as in Germany and Austria previously, Nazi rule required concentration camps in Poland. Nazi leaders chose the peaceful agrarian village of Oświęcim, located along an important railroad line, as the location for the Auschwitz concentration camp. Auschwitz became synonymous with mass murder, the place where an estimated 1.6 million people were put to death in the Holocaust from 1941 to 1945. Its infamous commandant, Rudolf Höß (Hoess), arrived to establish the facility on April 29, 1940, and the first transport of prisoners, consisting of 708 Poles and 20 Jews from Tarnów, arrived May 30. Auschwitz opened officially on June 14, 1940, and was liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945. A February 28, 1941, formular envelope mailed by prisoner number 205 (first transport) to Tarnów. Boxed red censor mark on the back. An unmailed post card published by the Auschwitz Museum after the war shows crematorium IV on March 22, 1943 just after its completion. The inscription references a revolt in 1943 but current records only show a revolt by a small group of women on October 23, 1943 in the undressing room of crematorium II. A larger well documented revolt took place October 7, 1944 by Sonderkommando using gunpowder smuggled in by women to successfully blow up crematorium IV. The organizers were rounded up and were the last group publicly hanged at Auschwitz.Collection
Nazi Scourge I: Primary ExhibitionCategory
Post Card
Philatelic Material