Auschwitz, Poland, and the Politics of Commemoration, 1945–1979. Jonathan Huener
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Auschwitz, Poland, and the Politics of Commemoration, 1945–1979
Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American Studies Series
Series Editor: John J. Bukowczyk
Framing the Polish Home: Postwar Cultural Constructions of Hearth, Nation, and Self, edited by Bożena Shallcross
Traitors and True Poles: Narrating a Polish-American Identity, 1880–1939, by Karen Majewski
Auschwitz, Poland, and the Politics of Commemoration, 1945–1979, by Jonathan Huener
The Exile Mission: The Polish Political Diaspora and Polish-Americans, 1939–1956,* by Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann
SERIES ADVISORY BOARD
M. B. B. Biskupski, Central Connecticut State University
Robert E. Blobaum, West Virginia University
Anthony Bukoski, University of Wisconsin-Superior Bogdana Carpenter, University of Michigan
Mary Patrice Erdmans, Central Connecticut State University
Thomas S. Gladsky, Saint Mary’s College (ret.)
Padraic Kenney, University of Colorado at Boulder
John J. Kulczycki, University of Illinois at Chicago (ret.)
Ewa Morawska, University of Pennsylvania
Antony Polonsky, Brandeis University
Brian Porter, University of Michigan
James S. Pula, Utica College of Syracuse University
Thaddeus C. Radzilowski, Saint Mary’s College
Daniel Stone, University of Winnipeg
Adam Walaszek, Jagiellonian University
Theodore R. Weeks, Southern Illinois University
*forthcoming
Auschwitz, Poland, and the Politics of Commemoration, 1945–1979
Jonathan Huener
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701
© 2003 by Ohio University Press
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 5 4 3 2 1
Cover photograph: Birkenau, sector BII, from the tower of the camp’s main gate, May 1945. APMO Nr. Neg. 21 366/3.
All photographs reproduced by courtesy of the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oświęcim.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Huener, Jonathan.
Auschwitz, Poland, and the politics of commemoration, 1945–1979 / Jonathan Huener.
p. cm. — (Ohio University Press Polish and Polish-American series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8214-1506-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8214-1507-7 (paper : alk. paper)
1. Auschwitz (Concentration camp). 2. Oświęcim (Poland)—History. 3. Oświęcim (Poland)—Historiography. 4. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945)—Poland. 5. Holocaust memorials—Poland. 6. Memory—Political aspects—Poland. 7. Memory—Political aspects—Germany. I. Title. II. Series.
D805.5A96H84 2003
940.53'1853858—dc21
2003051083
ISBN 978-0-8214-4114-5 (e-book)
Publication of books in the Polish and Polish-American Studies Series has been made possible in part by the generous support of the following organizations:
Polish American Historical Association, Orchard Lake, Michigan
Stanislaus A. Blejwas Endowed Chair in Polish and Polish American Studies, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, Connecticut
St. Mary’s College, Orchard Lake, Michigan
The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America, Inc., New York, New York
Additional support for this book has been provided by the following:
The Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont
University of Vermont College of Art and Sciences Dean’s Fund for Faculty Development
University of Vermont Department of History Nelson Grant
Contents
The Stakes and Terms of Memory at Auschwitz
1. Poland and Auschwitz, 1945–1947
2. From Liberation to Memorialization: The Transformation of the Auschwitz Site, 1945–1947
3. Auschwitz as a Cold-War Theater, 1947–1954
4. The Restoration of a Commemorative Idiom, 1954 and Beyond
5. The Internationalization of the Auschwitz Site
6. The Power and Limits of a Commemorative Idiom: John Paul II at the “Golgotha of Our Age”
Poland and Auschwitz in the 1980s
Illustrations
MAPS