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

       List of Illustrations

       Series Editor’s Preface

       Preface

       Acknowledgments

       Abbreviations

       Guide to Pronunciation

       INTRODUCTION

       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”

       EPILOGUE

       Poland and Auschwitz in the 1980s

       Notes

       Bibliography

       Index

      Illustrations

      MAPS

       Map