WALDEMAR NOWAKOWSKI
Born
November 10, 1917 in Białogrodek, Poland; died January 30, 1984 in Kraków
Background
Nowakowski studied
at Warsaw Polytechnic University.
Arrest and Deportation to Auschwitz
He was arrested
by the Gestapo in May
1940 and interned in the Pawiak prison where he received a death sentence that
was subsequently commuted to a "life sentence."
July 1940, he was deported to Auschwitz, where he was assigned prisoner
number 2805 and designated a political prisoner.
Work Assignments at Auschwitz
1940-43 Nowakowski
worked in the stables, where he was caught smuggling food for fellow prisoners
and sentenced to serve two months in a penal labor detail.
Art Produced at Auschwitz
Nowakowski created
artworks throughout the duration of his Auschwitz imprisonment. These include oil and tempera paintings on
the Auschwitz barracks and infirmary walls, drawings on censored letters, and
300 watercolors in postcard formats. In
addition, he constructed a puppet theater in the prisoner infirmary for men,
sector BIIf in Birkenau,
at Christmas time of 1943. With his friend the noted Polish author Tadeusz
Borowski Nowakowski organized skits, readings and cabaret performances, making
decorations and stage sets from packing materials, wrapping paper, rags, and
cartons. When later asked why he created art at Auschwitz, Nowakowski
answered: "I involved myself with art in order to survive."
Deportation to Sachsenhausen
Fall of 1944, Nowakowski
was transported to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was assigned
to railroad construction detail.
Liberation and After
He was liberated
on May 3, 1945 and returned to Poland in September 1945. Following the war, he studied at the Kraków
Academy of Fine Arts and worked as a teacher and graphic artist.
Bibliography:
Archives of
the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim.
Goldmann,
Sybille and Myrah Adams Rösing. Kunst zum Überleben: Gezeichnet in
Jaworska,
Janina. Nie wszystek umrę... Warsaw, 1975.
Aleksander
Kulisiewicz papers, archives of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington,
DC.
Milton, Sybil and Janet Blatter. Art of the Holocaust. New York, 1981.