Object numberM1991/035:005
DescriptionThis series of photographs show bodies of some of the victims of a death march being exhumed for the purpose of proper reburial. This photograph of the reamains of a concentration camp prisoner in a wooden coffin. The caption written by the donor on back says 'The remains of the body of a concentration camp prisoner shot by the Nazis and exhumed from the temporary grave No. 23."
George Goiny-Grabowski recounts his experiences in concentration camps, and the circumstances surrounding the making of the 1946 picture archive—80 photographs showing the exhumation of the bodies of concentration camp prisoners shot by the Nazis in lower Bavaria/West Germany, in April 1945, donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum in 1991.
He was arrested by the Gestapo in Warsaw on 11 November 1942 and transported to “Pawiak” prison inside the Warsaw Ghetto. On 29 April 1943 he was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, tattooed (No: 199254) and identified as a political prisoner. Three months later he was working as a motor-mechanic and because he spoke German and could type, he became the “scribe” (Schreiber) in the working group (Arbeitskommando) of the Motorpool (Fahrbereitschaft), after the previous scribe was hanged.
In 1944, with the Soviet advance into Poland, the Germans evacuated the camp and blew-up installations. George and 14 other prisoners were sent to different camps: he went to Flossenberg/Oberpfalz. The camp was overcrowded. Prisoners emaciated and barely alive. Because US forces were advancing, they were marched towards Dachau. They were liberated in the village of Poesing. On the death marches, thousands of physically and mentally exhausted prisoners were shot, and their bodies left if they could not keep up.
After the war, two former prisoners, Dr. Tadeusz Wolanski and his assistant Herr Schober, established a cemetery at Wetterfeld: 500 former prisoners were buried. While living in Falkenstein/Opf, George noticed many crosses by the roadside and found that there had been death marches in this area as well. The Minister for concentration camp affairs in Munich, Dr. Auerbach, gave him authority to investigate this situation. Forty-seven additional graves were located, the bodies exhumed, placed into coffins, numbered, photographed, identified where possible; recognised from the markings on the Jewish or Soviet prisoner’s uniform, and buried in a clearing in the forest near Rettenbach.
George emigrated to Australia in 1949 and brought with him all the documentation associated with this project.
George Goiny-Grabowski recounts his experiences in concentration camps, and the circumstances surrounding the making of the 1946 picture archive—80 photographs showing the exhumation of the bodies of concentration camp prisoners shot by the Nazis in lower Bavaria/West Germany, in April 1945, donated to the Sydney Jewish Museum in 1991.
He was arrested by the Gestapo in Warsaw on 11 November 1942 and transported to “Pawiak” prison inside the Warsaw Ghetto. On 29 April 1943 he was transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, tattooed (No: 199254) and identified as a political prisoner. Three months later he was working as a motor-mechanic and because he spoke German and could type, he became the “scribe” (Schreiber) in the working group (Arbeitskommando) of the Motorpool (Fahrbereitschaft), after the previous scribe was hanged.
In 1944, with the Soviet advance into Poland, the Germans evacuated the camp and blew-up installations. George and 14 other prisoners were sent to different camps: he went to Flossenberg/Oberpfalz. The camp was overcrowded. Prisoners emaciated and barely alive. Because US forces were advancing, they were marched towards Dachau. They were liberated in the village of Poesing. On the death marches, thousands of physically and mentally exhausted prisoners were shot, and their bodies left if they could not keep up.
After the war, two former prisoners, Dr. Tadeusz Wolanski and his assistant Herr Schober, established a cemetery at Wetterfeld: 500 former prisoners were buried. While living in Falkenstein/Opf, George noticed many crosses by the roadside and found that there had been death marches in this area as well. The Minister for concentration camp affairs in Munich, Dr. Auerbach, gave him authority to investigate this situation. Forty-seven additional graves were located, the bodies exhumed, placed into coffins, numbered, photographed, identified where possible; recognised from the markings on the Jewish or Soviet prisoner’s uniform, and buried in a clearing in the forest near Rettenbach.
George emigrated to Australia in 1949 and brought with him all the documentation associated with this project.
Production placeGermany
Production date 1946
Subjectliberation, death marches, non-Jewish victims, graves
Object namephotographs
Materialphotographic emulsion, paper, paper
Dimensions
- width: 177.00 mm
height: 126.00 mm
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by George Goiny-Grabowski