Podcasts · History

On Auschwitz

Auschwitz Memorial

92 episodes

The official podcast of the Auschwitz Memorial. The history of Auschwitz is exceptionally complex. It combined two functions: a concentration camp and an extermination center. Nazi Germany persecuted various groups of people there, and the camp complex continually expanded and transformed itself. In the podcast "On Auschwitz," we discuss the details of the history of the camp as well as our contemporary memory of this important and special place.

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Episodes page 1 of 2

  1. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 10. Hope

    · 29 min

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  2. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 9. Suicide

    · 17 min

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  3. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 8. Fear

    · 20 min

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  4. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 7. Laugh and Joy

    · 9:01

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  5. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 6. Births

    · 16 min

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  6. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 5. Friendship

    · 36 min

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  7. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 4. Emotions and Numbness

    · 25 min

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  8. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 3. Inner Life

    · 27 min

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  9. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 2. Death

    · 27 min

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  10. “Auschwitz. A Monograph of the Human”. Part 1. Loneliness

    · 20 min

    The book ‘Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human’ is the first of its kind in the world to try to depict human emotions within the reality of Auschwitz camp. Its author, Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywiński, draws on…

  11. Doctor Jan Nowak’s Auschwitz Letters Donated to the Museum – An Interview with the Donor

    · 9:52

    A collection of letters and documents related to Jan Nowak, a physician from Kraków who, as a prisoner of German Nazi concentration camps, worked in camp hospitals and helped other prisoners, has been donated to the…

  12. "On Auschwitz" (76): The First Thirty Prisoner Functionaries of Auschwitz

    · 29 min

    A special group of prisoners in the Auschwitz camp were prisoner functionaries, responsible, among other things, for maintaining discipline among prisoners, keeping order in the blocks, and supervising the work being…

  13. "On Auschwitz" (75): The Leisure Time of SS-Men from the KL Auschwitz Garrison in the Light of Documents from the Auschwitz Memorial Archives

    · 32 min

    Over the nearly five years of the operation of the Auschwitz camp, around 8,200 SS men and 200 SS female overseers served there. Dr Agnieszka Kita, Deputy Head of theAuschwitz Museum Archive, talks about what their…

  14. "On Auschwitz" (74): "Fairy Tales from Auschwitz" - unique witnesses to history

    · 35 min

    Among the unique artifacts held in the collections of the Auschwitz Memorial are fairy tales created while the camp was in operation. Crafted out of a heartfelt need, and in the hope of leaving behind a trace of their…

  15. "On Auschwitz" (73): Auschwitz functionary prisoners. Selected postwar fates

    · 20 min

    We discussed the group of functionary prisoners at Auschwitz in one of our previous podcasts. You can find it at: podcast.auschwitz.org. In this episode Dr. Wojciech Płosa, the head of the Auschwitz Museum Archives…

  16. "On Auschwitz (72): The first transports of women to KL Auschwitz

    · 38 min

    The Germans established the Auschwitz concentration camp in the spring of 1940 for man prisoners. The first women were deported to the camp in March 1942. In total, more than 130,000 women prisoners were registered…

  17. "On Auschwitz (71): Testimonies about expulsions of the local population in connection with the expansion of KL Auschwitz

    · 56 min

    Before the war, Oświęcim was a town inhabited mainly by Poles and Jews. During the Second World War it was annexed to Germany and the name of the town was changedto Auschwitz. At the end of 1939 the town had a…

  18. "On Auschwitz" (70): Deportations of Jews from Slovakia

    · 41 min

    Among the many groups of people deported to the German camp Auschwitz, Slovakian Jews occupied a special place. They were brought to the camp at a time when it was undergoing fundamental, organizational and functional…

  19. "On Auschwitz" (69): Contacts between SS garrison of KL Auschwitz and the local population of the Oświęcim area (1940-45)

    · 51 min

    How the demographic structure of the area around the camp changed and what contacts existed between the SS camp garrison members and the local civilian population is discussed by dr. Agnieszka Kita, deputy head of the…

  20. "On Auschwitz" (68): Evacuation marches in the accounts of Survivors and other witnesses

    · 28 min

    On 17 January 1945, the SS began evacuating the Auschwitz camp. Around 56,000 men and women, prisoners under the escort of armed SS men, marched out from various parts ofthe camp complex in the direction of Wodzisław…

  21. "On Auschwitz" (67): The SS Hygiene Institute

    · 34 min

    The Waffen-SS and Police Hygiene Institute at Auschwitz was established in the autumn of 1942. Its tasks included conducting hygienic and bacteriological tests for SS units, the German army, the police, and…

  22. "On Auschwitz" (66): Ideological Training of the SS Garrison of the Camp

    · 50 min

    What did ideological training for SS personnel at the Auschwitz camp look like, and how did the ideology of national socialism influence the functioning of this SS formation? These questions are addressed in the…

  23. "On Auschwitz" (65): The trial of Rudolf Höss and other SS garrison members of Auschwitz

    · 34 min

    Some 8,200 SS men and 200 women overseers served in the camp garrison of the German Nazi camp Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945. How were the perpetrators from Auschwitz, including the first commandant, Rudolf Höss, and…

  24. "On Auschwitz" (64): Block no. 11 in KL Auschwitz

    · 38 min

    Block 11 at Auschwitz I was isolated from the rest of the camp. It served as a prison, an execution site, and the quarters of the penal company. Dr. Adam Cyra from the Auschwitz Museum Research Centre talks about the…

  25. "On Auschwitz" (63): Punishments in KL Auschwitz

    · 47 min

    At Auschwitz a system of punishments was in place for prisoners who broke camp regulations. In addition to official penalties, SS garrison members and functionary prisoners also imposed so-called unofficial…

  26. "On Auschwitz" (62): Contemporary challenges of education at the Auschwitz Memorial

    · 23 min

    The International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, established as a result of the efforts of Auschwitz Survivors, has been operating at the Memorial since 2005. The Museum director Dr. Piotr…

  27. "On Auschwitz" (61): History of education at the Auschwitz Memorial

    · 34 min

    Education at the Auschwitz Memorial has been carried out since the Museum was established in 1947, and the first guides were Survivors who told visitors about the tragic history of the camp from their personal…

  28. "On Auschwitz" (60): Paragraph 175 prisoners in Auschwitz

    · 41 min · S1 E60

    Paragraph 175 of the German Penal Code criminalized homosexual contacts between men. One possible punishment was imprisonment in a concentration camp. Also at Auschwitz, there was a small group of men convicted of…

  29. “On Auschwitz”: First Transport of Poles to Auschwitz in the accounts of Survivors

    · 30 min

    On June 14, 1940, the Germans deported a group of 728 Poles from a prison in Tarnow to Auschwitz. Among them were soldiers of the September campaign, members ofunderground independence organizations, high school and…

  30. "On Auschwitz" (59): Block no. 10 in Auschwitz I and sterilization experiments

    · 46 min

    Block 10 at the Auschwitz I camp was the so-called experimental block. SS doctors conducted medical experiments there, including those focused on sterilization. Why was this particular block chosen for such…

  31. "On Auschwitz" (58): Day of a prisoner at Auschwitz

    · 18 min · S1 E58

    The Auschwitz camp did not have a homogeneous character and was constantly changing during its operation. Dr Jacek Lachendro of the Auschwitz Museum Research Centre talks about what everyday life was like for Auschwitz…

  32. "On Auschwitz" (57): Conservation at the Auschwitz Museum

    · 47 min · S1 E57

    The Auschwitz Memorial covers nearly 200 hectares of land and includes about 300 ruins and 155 buildings, but also a huge number of historical objects, primary traces of Victims of Auschwitz: shoes, suitcases, brushes,…

  33. "On Auschwitz" (56): Holocaust denial - strategies of lies and distortion

    · 58 min · S1 E56

    Holocaust denial is nothing more than a conspiracy theory built on lies and hatred. Although it resembles flat-Earth claims in its approach to facts, it is, in reality, a dangerous and vile vehicle for antisemitism and…

  34. "On Auschwitz" (55): The Evacuation and Liberation of Auschwitz in the Accounts of Witnesses

    · 37 min

    Some 7,500 prisoners of the German Nazi camp Auschwitz, including over 500 children, were liberated on January 27, 1945 by Red Army soldiers. Listen about the last days of the camp's operation and the moment of…

  35. "On Auschwitz" (54): Soviet prisoners of war at Auschwitz

    · 34 min · S1 E54

    Soviet prisoners of war are the fourth largest group of victims of the German Auschwitz camp, after Jews, Poles and Roma. A total of 11,964 prisoners of war were registered at the camp. In addition, according to…

  36. "On Auschwitz" (53): Registration documents of Auschwitz prisoners

    · 22 min · S1 E53

    Upon admission to the camp, prisoners underwent a registration process, during which various documents related to the individual were filled out. Dr. Wojciech Płosa, head of the Auschwitz Museum Archives, talks about…

  37. "On Auschwitz" (52): Doctor Josef Mengele and his experiments in the camp

    · 40 min · S1 E52

    Josef Mengele was a doctor of medicine and philosophy, an assistant to Prof. Otmar von Verschuer in the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene in Frankfurt, member of the Nazi Party and the SS. In…

  38. "On Auschwitz" (51): Illegal letters sent by Auschwitz prisoners

    · 19 min · S1 E51

    Prisoners of Auschwitz were able to send various types of illegal messages—both within the camp and outside the barbed wire fences. Some were short letters addressed to family members; others were messages and reports…

  39. "On Auschwitz" (50): Official correspondence of prisoners of Auschwitz

    · 25 min · S1 E50

    Nazi Germany deported some 1,3 million people to Auschwitz. Only a little above 400 thousand were registered in the camp as prisoners. Some could conduct correspondence with the outside world, however it had a unique…

  40. "On Auschwitz": Interview with Auschwitz Survivor Bogdan Bartnikowski on the 80th anniversary of his deportation to the camp.

    · 50 min

    Bogdan Bartnikowski was born in Warsaw in 1932. During the Warsaw Uprising, he and his mother were expelled from their home. The Germans initially sent them to a transit camp in Pruszków, and then deported them to…

  41. "On Auschwitz" (49): Deportations of Polish people from the uprising Warsaw to Auschwitz

    · 51 min · S1 E49

    In August and September 1944 - after the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising - almost 13,000 inhabitants of the occupied capital city and surrounding towns: men, women, the elderly, children, even infants, were deported to…

  42. "On Auschwitz" (48): Good examples of literature dedicated to the history of Auschwitz camp.

    · 54 min · S1 E48

    The first publications about Auschwitz were published during the war, while the camp was still in operation. The immediate postwar years also abounded in numerous publications by witnesses-Survivors of those events.…

  43. "On Auschwitz" (47): Functionary prisoners at Auschwitz

    · 49 min · S1 E47

    In the German concentration camps, including Auschwitz, there was a group of so-called ‘functionary’ prisoners, responsible for supervising other prisoners. They were mainly in charge of supervising the work units,…

  44. On Auschwitz (46): Tattooing numbers at Auschwitz

    · 53 min · S1 E46

    Auschwitz was the only German concentration camp where tattooing of numbers was applied to prisoners. Dr. Wanda Witek-Malicka of the Auschwitz Museum Research Center talks about why and when such a system was…

  45. "On Auschwitz" (45): The story of Witold Pilecki, co-founder of resistance in Auschwitz

    · 33 min · S1 E45

    Polish soldier, Witold Pilecki was imprisoned in Auschwitz on 22 September 1940. Pilecki undertook the mission to infiltrate the camp in order to create a conspiracy network there, organize communications, send…

  46. "The Zone of Interest" - discussion with the filmmakers

    · 33 min

    On 15 February 2024, the Polish premiere of the film 'The Zone of Interest,' directed and written by Jonathan Glazer, was held at the Auschwitz Museum. The film, depicting the family life of Auschwitz camp commandant…

  47. "On Auschwitz" (44): Women at Auschwitz

    · 45 min · S1 E44

    The Auschwitz camp was established in June 1940 for male prisoners. The first groups of women were incarcerated by the Germans more than a year and a half later - at the end of March 1942. Dr. Wanda Witek-Malicka and…

  48. "On Auschwitz" (43): the film Chronicle of liberation of Auschwitz

    · 33 min · S1 E43

    The Auschwitz camp was liberated on January 27, 1945, by soldiers of the Red Army. Well-known are the scenes captured by Soviet cameramen, which, although not showing the exact moment of liberation, are important…

  49. "On Auschwitz" (42): Death Marches from Auschwitz towards Wodzisław Śląski and Gliwice

    · 32 min · S1 E42

    On January 17, 1945, SS men began the evacuation of the Auschwitz camp. Approximately 56,000 prisoners – men and women marched, under armed escort, from different parts of the Auschwitz camp complex, towards Wodzisław…

  50. "On Auschwitz" (41): Art at Auschwitz

    · 36 min · S1 E41

    The Auschwitz Memorial and Museum is in possession of the largest collection of art related to the Auschwitz camp. This collection is unique on a world scale. The artworks created in conditions of extreme danger are an…

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