Historical Department. Tasks and Organization

The Historical Department of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum was founded in the 1950s to study the history of Auschwitz concentration camp.

Through 1963, the work of the Department centered around author Danuta Czech's Chronicle of Events in Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, which was published in installments in the Zeszyty Oświęcimskie (Auschwitz Review) from 1958 to 1963. A basic compendium of knowledge about the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp, the revised and expanded version was published as a book under the title Kalendarz wydarzeń w KL Auschwitz, also published in German as Kalendarium der Ereignisse im Konzentrationslager Auschwitz-Birkenau 1939-1945 (Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1989) and in English as Auschwitz Chronicle 1939-1945 (New York, 1990).

Studies of some 30 sub-camps, the branches of Auschwitz concentration camp, were published in Zeszyty Oświęcimskie from 1963 to 1979.

From 1980 to 1995, the Department's research work focused on a joint study of the history of the camp, which appeared in 1995 as Auschwitz 1940-1945. Węzłowe zagadnienia z dziejów obozu, Oświęcim 1995. It was published in German as Auschwitz 1940-1945. Studien zur Geschichte des Konzentrations- und Vernichtungslagers Auschwitz (Oświęcim, 1999) and in English as Auschwitz 1940-1945: Central Issues in the History of the Camp (Oświęcim, 2000). The five volumes contain articles that, in the words of the reviewer Czeslaw Luczak, Ph.D., are "a proverbial mine of information on the subject of the Auschwitz camp." The work represents a summary of the research carried out so far by the staff of the Historical Department and others.

Other works representing fundamental contributions to research on Auschwitz concentration camp include:

Zatrudnienie więźniów KL Auschwitz. Organizacja pracy i metody eksploatacji siły roboczej (The Employment of Auschwitz Concentration Camp Prisoners: The Organization of Labor and Methods of Exploiting the Workers). Oświęcim 1981, 484 pp., author Franciszek Piper (in German: Arbeitseinsatz der Häftlinge aus dem KL Auschwitz, Oświęcim 1995) (Reviews: "Jeńcy wojenni w niewoli Wehrmachtu", Łambinowicki Rocznik Muzealny no. 6 (1983) pp. 86-89. Przegląd Lekarski 1984, pp. 38, 53);
Ilu ludzi zginęło w KL Auschwitz. Liczba ofiar w świetle źródeł i badań 1945-1990 (How Many People Died in Auschwitz Concentration Camp: The Number of Victims in the Light of the Sources and Research, 1945-1990). Oświęcim, 1992. 221 pp., author Franciszek Piper (in German: Die Zahl der Opfer von Auschwitz. Aufgrund der Quellen und der Erträge der 1945 bis 1990, Oświęcim 1993) (Reviews: Zygmunt Małkowski, Zeszyty Majdanka vol. XV, (1993) p. 248);
Ewakuacja, likwidacja i wyzwolenie KL Auschwitz (The Evacuation, Liquidation, and Liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp), Oświęcim, 1982, 367 pp., author Andrzej Strzelecki (in German: Endphase des KL Auschwitz. Evakuierung, Liquidierung unf Befreiung des Lagers. Oświęcim 1995);
Auschwitz. Nazistowski obóz Śmierci (Auschwitz: Nazi Death Camp). Oświęcim 1993, 336 pp. (published in French - 1994, Italian - 1995, English - 1996 and German - 1997). A collection of articles by various authors, making up an accessible introduction to the history of the camp.

Numerous works by members of the Historical Department staff have been published in the USA, Israel, Germany, France, and the Czech Republic. Members of the staff of the Historical Department and of other research departments co-authored ten chapters of Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp (Bloomington and Indianapolis, first edition 1994, second edition 1998), 638 pp., published by Indiana University Press and the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., which is the most extensive history of Auschwitz published in the West.

The guidelines for research being followed at present include the issue of the extermination of prisoners under various criteria of identity, including citizenship, ethnic background, category within the concentration camp system, and religious denomination. Research is also underway on the structure and functioning of parts of the camp administration that have not yet been studied.

The following issues are being investigated:

The deportation and extermination of Poles in Auschwitz (Franciszek Piper, Ph.D.);
The deportation and extermination of Polish Jews in Auschwitz(Andrzej Strzelecki, Ph.D.);
The fate of women in Auschwitz(Irena Strzelecka, M.A.);
The fate of various groups of children in Auschwitz (Helena Kubica, M.A.);
Księga Pamięci. Transporty Polaków z Warszawy do KL Auschwitz (The Memorial Book: Transports of Poles to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, 1940-1945 - published October 2000, various authors)
Księga Pamięci. Transporty Polaków z dystryktu krakowskiego do KL Auschwitz (The Memorial Book: Transports of Poles from the Cracow District to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp - various authors);
The Camp "Interest Zone": its establishment, territorial growth, and functions (Piotr Setkiewicz, Ph.D.);
The deportation and extermination of the inhabitants of Great Poland in Auschwitz concentration camp (Adam Cyra, Ph.D.);
Jehovah's Witnesses in Auschwitz concentration camp (Teresa Wontor-Cichy, M.A.);
Christian clergy in Auschwitz concentration camp (Teresa Wontor-Cichy, M.A.).

The Organization of the Department

The Historical Department employs four staff members with Ph.D.s, three with master's degrees, and two auxiliary personnel. The staff cooperate with other Museum departments in matters concerning exhibitions (scenarios for the exhibitions), archives (collecting sources, transcribing and recording accounts by eyewitnesses), education (lectures during seminars for teachers and in the postgraduate course) and publications (reviews of works submitted for publication and developing projects for new publications).

See also selected publications by Museum research staff.