On Auschwitz
Auschwitz Memorial
The official podcast of the Auschwitz Memorial. The history of Auschwitz is exceptionally complex. It combined two functions: a concentration camp and an extermination center. Nazi Germany persecuted various groups of people there, and the camp complex continually expanded and transformed itself. In the podcast "On Auschwitz," we discuss the details of the history of the camp as well as our contemporary memory of this important and special place.
We kindly ask you to support our mission and share our podcast in social media.
Online lessons: http://lesson.auschwitz.org
We kindly ask you to support our mission and share our podcast in social media.
Online lessons: http://lesson.auschwitz.org
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jul 8, 2021 • 40min
"On Auschwitz" (5): Criminal pseudo-medical experiments in Auschwitz
A particularly drastic example of betrayal of medical ethics is the participation of many German doctors in the criminal pseudo-medical experiments carried out on concentration camp prisoners. Paweł Sawicki spoke to Teresa Wontor-Cichy from the Memorial Research Centre about the experiments conducted in Auschwitz.
Jun 24, 2021 • 33min
"On Auschwitz" (4): Transformation of Auschwitz concentration camp into an extermination center
In planning the construction of Auschwitz, the Germans assumed that the camp would eventually hold some 30,000 prisoners. As late as the beginning of 1941, there were no indications that, over the next few months, both the plans for employment and the number of prisoners, as well as the function of the camp itself, would change dramatically. In this podcast we talk about the role played by the German chemical company IG Farbenindustrie in the expansion of the camp, why the Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz camps were established and why the expanding Auschwitz concentration camp also became an extermination camp for Jews in March 1942.
May 23, 2021 • 24min
"On Auschwitz" (3): What to read? Literature based on the history of the camp.
Recent years have seen an increased interest among writers in the subject of Auschwitz. Their books are set in the realities of the camp - with very mixed results. Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka talks to Wanda Witek-Malicka from the Research Center of the Memorial about whether it is worth reaching for these books and how to distinguish between valuable and less valuable literature.
May 20, 2021 • 25min
"On Auschwitz" (2): Medicine in Auschwitz
The Auschwitz camp complex had an extensive organizational structure, which also included a separate department responsible for protecting the health of both the SS garrison and - at least in theory - the prisoners of the camp. Paweł Sawicki talks about medicine in Auschwitz with Teresa Wontor-Cichy, a historian at the Research Center of the Auschwitz Memorial.
May 19, 2021 • 28min
"On Auschwitz" (1): The beginnings of Auschwitz
The German Nazi Auschwitz camp was established by the SS in the occupied city of Oświęcim, on the Polish territory annexed by the Third Reich at the beginning of World War II. Paweł Sawicki talks to Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz, head of the Museum Research Center, about the details of the decision-making process which led to the creation of the camp and about its first prisoners.
