Casting of Auschwitz entrance arch

Identifier
irn14223
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

overall: Height: 16.000 inches (40.64 cm) | Width: 257.000 inches (652.78 cm) | Depth: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm)

Creator(s)

Archival History

The arch casting was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1991.

Acquisition

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection

Scope and Content

Casting of the archway over the main gate to Auschwitz concentration camp (Auschwitz I) in German-occupied Poland. Auschwitz I was established in April 1940, in an abandoned Polish army barracks and was continuously expanded by forced labor. The motto on the arch came from the title of a 19th-century novel by Lorenz Diefenbach, first deployed as propaganda during the German economic and unemployment crisis of the 1920s and 1930s. Under the Nazi regime, it was also displayed in several other concentration camps around Europe, and suggested that the purpose of the camps was to reform inmates, who could earn their freedom through work. In reality, the aim of the camps was to extract the maximum amount of work from the prisoners, regardless of the cost to their health or life, and to kill all Jewish inmates through overwork, starvation, and executions. The shape of the arch was drawn on the ground by Kurt Müller, the Kapo of the camp’s metal workshop, and then fashioned using pipes from a water-expansion project. Jan Liwacz, a Polish prisoner and master artistic blacksmith, designed and made the letters. The ‘B’ was welded in place upside-down, which some prisoners interpreted as an act of resistance, though it was more likely an accident. By August 1944, Auschwitz I contained around 16,000 prisoners, the majority of whom were Jewish. The gas chambers ceased operation in October 1944, and in January 1945, the Auschwitz camp system was evacuated ahead of the arrival of Soviet forces. The Soviet army liberated 6,000 ill and dying prisoners from Auschwitz I, II, and III on January 27, 1945.

Conditions Governing Access

No restrictions on access

Conditions Governing Reproduction

No restrictions on use

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Metal and fiberglass arch comprised of two long, parallel, tubular rods that curve upward from each end creating a rounded arch in the center. Attached between the rods, resembling the original welding, is a series of flat, black, uppercase, block letters forming three German words. The letter B in the first word is upside down. At each end is a hinged, c-shaped bracket, bolted to a black exhibition mount. The casting is painted in black and brown to resemble the original metal and subsequent rust from corrosion.

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.