A handmade album with poems and illustrations, letters and a portrait – such memorabilia of Walentyna Konopska found their way into the collections of the Auschwitz Museum. The gifts were given to the facility by the nephew of a former prisoner who died in the fall of 1945 and was a hero to other women in the camp. In the poems they thanked her for saving their lives.
Paweł Sawicki from the museum's press office announced on Thursday that Germany they arrested Konopska in 1942 for conspiracy activities. On July 30 of the same year, she was sent to Auschwitz. Thanks to her knowledge of German, she worked in the camp admissions office of the political department. She used it to help others. Among other things, she changed the questionnaires of female prisoners from Jewish to “Aryan”.
Thank you poems for saving my life
In December 1943, she received a birthday present. It was a small book with poems expressing gratitude for helping prisoners and hand-drawn drawings showing the reality of the camp. It was handmade by her camp friend Krystyna Żywulska, a Jewish woman and one of the leading Polish creators of satirical works.
An album with poems for Walentyna Konopska from other prisoners of the campAuschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
– This album is extremely valuable. Firstly, very few artistic works of prisoners made in the Birkenau women's camp or in Birkenau itself have been preserved. Secondly, it is one of the few illustrated albums made by prisoners behind the barbed wire of concentration camps in general, said Agnieszka Sieradzka, curator of the museum's collections.
An album with poems for Walentyna Konopska from other prisoners of the campAuschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
An album with poems for Walentyna Konopska from other prisoners of the campAuschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
Paweł Sawicki said that the book was donated by Roman Chmielewski, Walentyna Konopska's nephew. His mother, Danuta Chmielewska, cherished her sister's memory throughout her life and kept her mementos. – Together with the book, Walentyna Konopska's family gave her a portrait made in Birkenau by Janina Unkiewicz, who worked with Walentyna in the admissions office – he added.
Portrait of Walentyna KonopskaAuschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
The museum archive also included 23 letters and eleven postcards sent by Konopska from the camp. The correspondence covers the period from September 1942 to December 1944.
One of Walentyna Konopska's lettersAuschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
Death of Walentyna Konopska
– The message sent by Walentyna Konopska to her family just before being transported from the prison in Piotrków Trybunalski to KL Auschwitz is extremely interesting. It is dated July 29, 1942. The next day she was a prisoner of KL Auschwitz. We read in it: “Dear ones, God be with you. We are all leaving. Please be calm and of good cheer. I am asking for prayers. Once again, be calm. Wala,” said the head of the archive, Dr. Wojciech Płosa.
Walentyna Konopska remained in the camp until the evacuation in January 1945. She escaped from the Death March in Poręba near Pszczyna together with Danuta Mikusz. The camp conditions weakened her body greatly. She died in the fall of 1945 at the age of 26.
The Germans established the Auschwitz camp in 1940 to imprison Poles. Auschwitz II-Birkenau was established two years later. It became the site of the extermination of Jews. There was a network of sub-camps in the camp complex. In Auschwitz, the Germans killed at least 1.1 million people, mainly Jews from Poland and other European countries. Out of approximately 140-150 thousand Almost half of Poles of non-Jewish origin deported to the camp died. Roma, Soviet prisoners of war and people of other nationalities also died in Auschwitz.
Main photo source: Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum