During the Nuremberg trial, Seweryn Szmaglewska, author of the book "Dymy nad Birkenau", is summoned to testify before the International Tribunal. There were only two witnesses from Poland. She was the only one who was to present the truth about Auschwitz-Birkenau. To tell what is still untold today. In order to accuse the criminals who tried at all costs to prove their innocence and fight for justice in a place that no longer wanted to hold account of the past.
At last! I am about to testify before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. No, I am not afraid of the accused, I only feel a void in my mind, I remember everything and all this has the weight of specific events, but I am looking in vain for words, terms that I could use, convince the Tribunal of something, i.e. these clean, rested, well-shaved gentlemen whose main feature is balance and peace.
The Nuremberg trial - the burden of responsibility
Balanced judges and prosecutors agreed (at the request of our and Soviet lawyers) to hear two Polish witnesses. Rajsman and me. In fact, the indictment was closed and a sentence could be passed without our testimony, but the judges took into account the arguments of the Polish side and granted the request.
So there is a burden on our shoulders. Or there is nothing at rest. It will be soon. Just a few more minutes. We will be brought to justice powerless against those events etched forever in the cerebral cortex, just as we were then powerless against human violence.
The article is an excerpt from the book Innocents in Nuremberg Seweryna Szmaglewska, which has just been released by Wydawnictwo Prószyński i S-ka
Powerless against the inviolable forms of existence on a poorly developed planet, populated with creatures who do not accept the scenario they should pursue, powerless against Auschwitz, powerless against Hiroshima, against the cruelest forms of terror by wild people against savage people and against all forms of terror of deeply unhappy people against deeply unhappy people. Powerless against the rain.
Powerless against the thunder. Powerless against lightning. And against lightning. Powerless against the earthquake. Powerless against the typhoon. And to themselves.
Have revolutions - past and present - changed anything on earth?
I am surrounded by the din of lunch, but everyone is slowly coming back. They hurriedly finished their dinner in the court canteen, a definitely military and American meal, thrown with panache on the rectangular trays as they moved along the counter of the bar:terracotta-colored sauce here, brown roast next to it, then carrot, in another groove, lettuce, in the corner a drenched dessert chocolate; all this is separated by chefs in dazzling white hats, and the Court's employees are heading for them, eagerly or disgustingly inhaling the strong smell of fried bacon, hot tomatoes and spices.
Seweryna Szmaglewska (1916-1992) Polish writer, prose writer and author of the novel Black Feet for young people.
I put my meal down, emptying my lips. The internal contraction completely eliminated the feeling of hunger, the dishes made the impression of an advertising illustration in a magazine. A thought occurred that several months ago this portion would be a real treasure for a few starving people in the camp.
I smiled at the cook, whose eyebrows rose high on his forehead to the brim of the imposing cap, then returned to their place and converged menacingly over his nose. I left the dining room quickly.
I closed my eyes as I listened to the hard beats of my heart. Situations that I am about to talk about seem further than the galaxy.
I hear footsteps, more and more steps in the corridors, on all sides. End of the break. The door swung open in front of me, revealing a small room decorated with paneling and carvings in a dark wood. Pustawo. Only journalists are already in their seats ready to start writing.
We lost two places out of four
I'm afraid. The gift of heaven, the courage, is failing me completely this time. I would like to hold in both hands a little bit of the dirt that was scoured there, to draw superhuman strength from it, thanks to which perhaps I would be able to find answers to the court's questions. I have a difficult task, I am aware of it. Only two of the four Polish witnesses called to Nuremberg testify. First, Józef Cyrankiewicz was recalled from Prague by phone, from a forced stop after a forced landing. Too bad!
He, as a former prisoner of Oświęcim, could not only numerically increase the strength of our group. I rebelled. Couldn't state obligations wait a few more days? Do his associates realize how they weakened the group of Polish witnesses? He was warned before departure that he would only have the few hours necessary to testify and would have to return immediately.
Józef Cyrankiewicz, Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland 1947-1970
But who could have foreseen the complication of a snowstorm that turned the plane into a swaying cable car going over the precipice amid mountain wind blows? Could they not replace him there in Warsaw, instead of calling for him to come back?
And the second witness? An expert, what little, director of a historical institute, a man familiar with the problems of many Nazi camps? I only know the reality of Auschwitz-Birkenau, but he collected extensive materials, interviewed many sworn witnesses, and was interested in the influence of concentration camps on the human psyche. He was not a Nazi prisoner himself, so the International Military Tribunal disqualified him as a witness . You can't change anything anymore. We lost two places out of four.
Neither Rajsman nor I can make the slightest substitute for those two people whose absence I feel is a great harm.
The article is an excerpt from the book Innocents in Nuremberg Seweryna Szmaglewska, which has just been released on the market by the publishing house Prószyński i S-ka.
I waited in the witness room for a few days, away from the judges, defendants, and defense lawyers, so as not to find an opportunity to communicate with anyone, especially Rajsman, so as not to agree with him by accident what color the mud in Oświęcim and in Treblinka showed, what weight the smoke from the crematorium falling onto the camp grove, and the one that crawled on the roofs of the barracks and on the ground.
Perhaps we could still establish the matter of the temperature of the flames bursting from the chimney, because the leaves of the birches in Birkenau rolled up quickly, while I would not be able to say anything about the Treblinka pines . And that is the point of keeping a witness before testifying in Nuremberg.
Source:
- The article is an excerpt from the book Innocents in Nuremberg Seweryna Szmaglewska, which was published by the Prószyński i S-ka Publishing House.