Crime without Punishment Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- The German Policy of Extermination and Germanization of Polish Children during World War II
- A Crime without Punishment: The Extermination of Polish Children during the Period of German Occupation from 1939 to 1945
- Polish Children and Youth in Auschwitz
- Suffering of Children in Auschwitz – Biological and Mental Extermination
- When There Were No More Tears Left to Cry: The Tragic Fate of the Polish Children Displaced from the Zamość Region in 1942–1943
- Children of the Zamość Region in the Majdanek Camp (in Selected Archive Files and Personal Accounts)
- The German Camp for Juvenile Poles in Łódź at Przemysłowa Street
- The Role of Gaukinderheim Kalisch in Germanization during World War II
- The Germanization of Polish Children and Youth in Gdańsk Pomerania and the Role of the Stutthof Concentration Camp
- Children’s Experiences in the German Displacement and Forced Labor Camp in Potulice and Smukała – Memories of Female Prisoners
- The Fate of the Children of Białystok under Soviet and German Totalitarianism during World War II
- Extermination of Juvenile Scouts in the Lands of Poland during the German Occupation of 1939–1945
- The Fate of Polish Children in Allied-occupied Germany in the Years 1945–1950
- The Returns of Polish Children from German Lands and Scouting Activity at the Transitional Center in Munich. The Polish West State Banner Established by Władysław Śmiałek and Its Role in Simplifying the Fate of Polish War Orphans
Children’s Experiences in the German Displacement and Forced Labor Camp in Potulice and Smukała – Memories of Female Prisoners
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- The German Policy of Extermination and Germanization of Polish Children during World War II
- A Crime without Punishment: The Extermination of Polish Children during the Period of German Occupation from 1939 to 1945
- Polish Children and Youth in Auschwitz
- Suffering of Children in Auschwitz – Biological and Mental Extermination
- When There Were No More Tears Left to Cry: The Tragic Fate of the Polish Children Displaced from the Zamość Region in 1942–1943
- Children of the Zamość Region in the Majdanek Camp (in Selected Archive Files and Personal Accounts)
- The German Camp for Juvenile Poles in Łódź at Przemysłowa Street
- The Role of Gaukinderheim Kalisch in Germanization during World War II
- The Germanization of Polish Children and Youth in Gdańsk Pomerania and the Role of the Stutthof Concentration Camp
- Children’s Experiences in the German Displacement and Forced Labor Camp in Potulice and Smukała – Memories of Female Prisoners
- The Fate of the Children of Białystok under Soviet and German Totalitarianism during World War II
- Extermination of Juvenile Scouts in the Lands of Poland during the German Occupation of 1939–1945
- The Fate of Polish Children in Allied-occupied Germany in the Years 1945–1950
- The Returns of Polish Children from German Lands and Scouting Activity at the Transitional Center in Munich. The Polish West State Banner Established by Władysław Śmiałek and Its Role in Simplifying the Fate of Polish War Orphans
Summary
Memories of my childhood years
Bring back to me fear,
hunger and escape from death…
(Wspomnienia więźniów obozowych, 1989, U. Gacka, p. 275)Abstract: World War II is a period which is often described but at the same time is so difficult to be described. “Unimaginable”, “impossible” or “indescribable” are the very words so often used to refer to the tragic events of that time. “The memory of concentration camp experiences is a symbolic space including not only the memory of crimes and sacrifices of millions, but also the memory of their strength, their resistance, their fight and hope for freedom” (Gilad, Theiss, 2018, p. 121). The present paper aims to describe shared and individual experiences of children kept in a concentration camp from an adult perspective. The analysis includes memories of 44 prisoners, a manuscript of one prisoner's memoirs and an interview. It presents dramatic human fate through the experiences of prisoners of the concentration camps in Potulice and Smukała. Owing to the assumed research approach within the category of social or collective memory, specifically the history and memory of a family, the study provides knowledge about individual prisoners and their families (Gilad, Theiss, 2018, p. 123). The paper consists of three main sections analyzing the concentration camp in Potulice from a historical perspective, the shared experiences of prisoners, and a history of one family.
Keywords: concentration camp experiences, the German concentration camp in Potulice and Smukała, World War II
Introduction
Although World War II has been a popular research area for years, some of its aspects still provide a wide field for detailed exploration, not only particular events but also the fate of the people involved. The traumatic experience of the war for the next generations has become “≪only≫ a tragic but at the same time unimaginable moment in time” (Kaźmierska, 1999, p. 11). It makes the subject of the experiences of WWII witnesses still a fascinating and inspiring research area.
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- Crime without PunishmentThe Extermination and Suffering of Polish Children during the German Occupation 1939–1945, pp. 179 - 196Publisher: Jagiellonian University PressPrint publication year: 2022