PROF. ZBIGNIEW KĄCZKOWSKI
Zbigniew Kączkowski was born in Krakow. He was arrested in Warsaw for his resistance activities and, together with his mother, who was a physician, he was sent to Auschwitz in 1943. Doctor Kączkowska died in Auschwitz in 1944. Professor Zbigniew Kączkowski made an attempt to escape from Auschwitz - he ran away from the camp - but his escape failed, because he was rearrested and deported back to the Auschwitz camp. He was imprisoned in the bunker of the death block, Block 11. Professor Kączkowski was evacuated from the Auschwitz camp, then imprisoned in Buchenwald and later in Ravensbrück. He was liberated towards the end of April 1945.
"I am 96 years old, and as Ludwik Solski said - at this age, I have the right to forget. I do not remember exactly when it was. I came here for the first time with my wife, whom I showed my escape route from the camp, something that strongly stuck in my memory. About the escape, apprehension, and how I got out of it alive.
"It’s not the first time I am talking about this today. I have four children and seven grandchildren - each of them wants to be here with me and I have toured the place with each of them. One of my first memories is the meeting with the Museum guides - it was one of my first public accounts. However, I do not avoid telling stories. I am not a poet - I am a civil engineer by education, but to a lesser extent kept my feet firmly fixed on the ground. I was not very emotional during those visits.
"There is, perhaps, a difference between Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II, where the Holocaust and destruction of an entire nation in gas chambers were conducted on an industrial scale. I was in the camp and only knew of what happened there from other people’s accounts. I stayed in Birkenau for some time and was horribly impressed by the constantly fuming crematoria and the smell of burnt bodies. It was horrible and frightening. But I only knew what was going on there from other people’s accounts."