Title

The Crematory (The Place of the Revolt of 1943)

Authors

Object ID

2014.1.342

Object Name

Postcard, Picture

Date

1-1-1943

Files

Description

Front: Photo of nine figures in front of the Crematory. Captions in English, Russian and French. Back: Blank space for address. Typed caption reading "Series 1: The Concentration Camp, Oswiecim' [Auschwitz].

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

This real-photo postcard commemorates - in Russian, French and English - a prisoner mutiny at the Auschwitz crematorium in 1943 against SS and prison guards. There were several such revolts -typically unsuccessful and with massive reprisals once the revolts were contained and the offenders captured or killed. The mutiny referred to probably refers to the 1943 transport from Bergen-Belsen. After the selection, these Jews were sent to the gas chambers. One woman seized the pistol of an SS guard and shot him and wounded another SS man. One died, the other was disabled. The mutiny was suppressed and the rest of the women were summarily killed.

The following year the Sonderkommando uprising occurred. One of the crematoria was set on fire, the SS guards were attacked, and a number of prisoners tried to escape. They were captured and killed. 250 died in this mutiny, and the four women who supplied the Sonderkommando were publicly hanged.

Dimensions

8.25 x 5.75"

Keywords

Auschwitz, Crematory, Revolt

Subcollection

Concentration

Recommended Citation

"The Crematory (The Place of the Revolt of 1943)" (1943). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2014.1.342.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/599