How is it relevant?

Although the Holocaust ended over 70 years ago with the liberation of the concentration camps by the allied forces, the lessons from this tragic event are still relevant today. Xenophobia still exists today, even after around 7 million people were killed, and the world agreed that this could never be allowed to happen again. For example, only two years ago in 2015, eight synagogues were attacked with messages such as “Death to Jews”. This example is only one of many that brings to light the concerning levels of anti-Semitism and hate crimes across Europe and the world. The atrocities of the Holocaust must not be forgotten, and many other genocides have occurred since then, such as in Rwanda in 1990 and Bosnia in 1995, thus showing that the world has not learnt from its past. From each story of an individual from the Holocaust, I hope to teach as many as I can about the atrocities of the event, and how the world must learn from this horrific event.

Reinhold Hanning

Reinhold Hanning, an SS officer who met Jewish prisoners as they arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau and escorted them to the gas chambers, is an example of the blinding of individuals that the Nazi regime was able to achieve. He joined the Hilter Youth at 14 and, at the outbreak of the Second World War, volunteered for the Waffen-SS, a volunteer army that worked alongside the regular army and uniformed police. In 1942, Reinhold Hanning was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau where he was one of the officers who met the prisoners when they were getting of the trains into the concentration camp. He was then transferred to Sachsenhausen in June 1944, and became a prisoner of war in May 1945, shortly after the liberation of Sachsenhausen. In 2013, Reinhold Hanning was investigated with the intention of proving him responsible for war crimes committed during the Holocaust. After three years of investigations he was convicted of 170,000 counts of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to 5 years in jail. However, Reinhold Hanning continually denied the charges, thus highlighting that he did not see what he was doing as a crime, but as a duty passed to him from the leader of his country.

Although Reinhold Hanning has been convicted and is seen as a war criminal, he is an essential part in learning about the Holocaust and the Nazi regime, as he represents the human involvement of the Nazi party, something which is forgotten in history, and which can lead to the repetition of this horrific event.

Krystyna Cyankiewicz – 6820

Born on 27th May 1917, Krystyna Cyankiewicz was still a student when she was apprehended by the Nazi regime and moved to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. On 27th April 1942, she arrived at Auschwitz, where she remained for nearly three years. The Nazi evacuation of the Auschwitz occurred between 17th and 21st January 1945, as the Nazi’s wanted to remove proof of the concentration and extermination camp before its discovery and liberation by allied troops. Originally, the evacuation columns were supposed to consist of healthy people that were strong enough to march many kilometres so that they were able to follow the railway tracks out of the camp. However, many ill people and children were also evacuated from the camp through the use of trains as a more efficient way of removing proof from Auschwitz-Birkenau. Krystyna Cyankiewicz was involved in the foot evacuation of Auschwitz, but was able to escape during the evacuation, and attempted to flee so that she did not have to follow the marching prisoners along the train tracks. It is unclear as to whether she was successful in fleeing from the marches, but she is listed as being liberated by the allied troops when they liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau on 27th January 1945.

Mikołaj Gordziejczky – 6017

Mikołaj Gordziejczky, born on 19th December 1910 in Białoruś, the modern day country of Belarus, worked as a teacher until his detainment during World War Two. On 14th October 1940 he arrived at Auschwitz, and was forced to do hard labour for the Nazi’s for a just under a year. In June 1941, Mikołaj Gordziejczky was transferred to the Euthanasia Centre in Sonnenstein, whose name translates from German as the “National Socialist Killing Insitution”, which was codenamed “Special Treatment 14f13, a programme that was abandoned by Hitler in September 1941. Sadly, Mikołaj Gordziejczky was murdered at the Euthanasia Centre in Sonnenstein on 29th July 1941, most likely due to him supporting the socialist movement in Białoruś.

Charles Alban - 45160

Born in Paris on 3rd November 1902, Charles Alban worked as a metal worker before the outbreak of war in 1939. Since 1934, Charles Alban had been associated with the Communist party, and was believed to be a strong supporter, something which greatly opposed the Nazi rule that was spreading across Europe. On 5th October 1940, he was arrested by French police under Nazi rule, and became a political deport from France to the Nazi controlled countries shortly after his arrest. As a political depot, Charles Albert was probably sent straight to Auschwitz-Birkenau where he was subject to hard labour throughout the day. After around a year and a half at Auschwitz, Charles Alban was murdered on 2nd August 1942, and remains an example of the Nazi party’s attempt to remove all opposition to their regime from across Europe.

Pictured - Charles Alban's photo taken on his arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau

Adolf & Alfred Adler - Z-2803 & Z-2804

 

Adolf and Alfred Adler, born in Dortmund, Germany on 12th May 1941, and 30th May 1942 respectively illustrate the ruthlessness of the Nazi regime and attempt to ‘ethnically cleanse’ the country. These two young boys were part of the Romani and Sinti ethnic minority who were targeted by the Nazi regime, and who were segregated in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The minority group was used as test subjects for the Nazi doctors in Auschwitz, and throughout the Second World War, they were investigated as something of an ‘oddity’ in society as they did not conform to the Nazi regime. Mengele, possibly the most well-known Nazi doctor at Auschwitz set up a kindergarten for the Romani children, whereby he was able to observe and experiment on the children in an environment that was somewhat familiar to them. It is unknown as to whether Adolf or Alfred Adler were subject to Mengele’s experiments, but for most of the Romani and Sinti prisoners at Auschwitz, this was the case. Sadly, Adolf Adler, when he was just under two years of age was murdered at Auschwitz on 23rd March 1943, and his brother Alfred Adler, less than a year old, was murdered the following day.

Iwan Akatowskij - R-3091

Iwan Akatowskij was born on 26th March 1915 in Romanowka, which would become part of the USSR when it was founded in 1922. At the start of WWII, the USSR enforced conscription for all men aged 18 to 51, and Iwan Akatowskij, aged 24, joined the Russian army. In June 1941, he was captured by the Nazis, and sent to Prisoner of War (POW) camps just inside the German controlled land until being deported to Auschwitz around a month later. Records show that Soviet Prisoners of War were recorded separately on the Russisches Kriegsgefangenlager, or the Soviet Prisoner of War records, were detained in a separate part of Auschwitz I, and forced to work longer and harder as part of the idea to defeat the enemy and break morale. Like many other Prisoners of War, Iwan Akatowskij was murdered at Auschwitz on New Year’s Eve, 1941. Although this was justified as a Prisoner of War killing, the death of Iwan Akatowskij demonstrates how the Nazi regime was indiscriminate in using people in Auschwitz to increase the Nazi’s power.