Number 432

               “NUMBER: 432”

On the fourth day in Oswiecim, Poland we got the opportunity to visit the Labyrinths of Marian Kolodziej, a Holocaust survivor who left his testimony behind through his drawings. He was one of the many first prisoners that were transported to Auschwitz. He later became identified as prisoner number 432. With his art interest, he was able to create his own world “mentally” in order to find strength for his survival. Many of his drawings in the Labyrinths illustrated the suffering of all the prisoners in the camps, including Jewish, and Polish-Catholics.

 Fifty years after liberation, Marian Kolodziej openly expressed himself through his drawings after suffering a stroke.  He used his creativity to tell the story of his past and his experience in the Shoah. During his time in the concentration camp, he was selected to do various jobs. One of them in particular was working in the crematorium, where he was in charge of transporting all of the dead bodies from the gas chamber to the crematorium. One day he stumbled across his beloved childhood best friend lying in front of him the crematorium. He elucidated this exact image, of where he showed respect by not putting him in a tray with all of the other bodies. Instead he carried his friend from the crematorium, to the gas chamber.

While walking through the Labyrinths, I observed all of the different drawings that represented the prisoners suffering and struggles in order to survive. The Jewish people were the target group to be exterminated. Upon arrival at the camps, the prisoners were then divided into two groups. The group to the right were sent directly to the gas chambers, and the group to the left where given striped uniforms and assigned to work.  All families where divided, and each prisoner that was not sent to the gas chamber was now identified by a number that was tattooed to their forearm.

  

During the stay in the camps, food was limited to all prisoners. Their daily consumption consisted of a loaf of bread and many times a small portion of soup. Prisoners where assigned to work an enormous amount of hours, and later became very weak, and died. In one of his drawings, he demonstrated Jewish-people, and their appearance upon arrival on the top, and how they later became ashes towards the bottom. This drawing implied how they started to lose their dignity, faith and identity.

            

Not only did he illustrate the way Jews where affected, he also demonstrated the suffering of many Polish-Catholics. Father Kobe, being a great example. He was a Polish-Catholic priest, a prisoner that was left in a cell to starve to death, after exchanging fates with another polish-man to be sent to starve to death. He drew his faith from that man as if it was a cloak. He demonstrated his courage, and dignity to his people. As a Roman-Catholic priest he influenced many prisoners in the camp using his faith including non- Polish- Catholics. Father Kobe’s faith allowed him to survive ten days of starvation, but he was never the less later killed by a lethal injection.

      This drawing describes that no matter where life will take him he will carry the weight of the knowledge of the holocaust forever. After telling his testimony through his images, he became a legend himself. His main purpose for the Labyrinths was to honor his friends and all of the people that suffered during the Holocaust.

By: Isabel Marin