Each panel of the exhibition has a cavity with the portrait of the character. In front of it, fragments of their accounts have been engraved on black glass.
“I was seventeen years old. We were taken to Buna, Monowitz, a working sub camp of Auschwitz. My brother became ill and was sent to the notorious camp hospital. I was also ill and placed in the hospital. There was a selection soon thereafter. My brother was taken to be killed. I use that selection day when he was removed from his bed, as his yahrzeit, commemorative death date. At night, in the barracks, we were 8 people in one bed. When one moved, everyone had to moge ion the same direction to keep covered. Like this we davened (prayed). No prayer book. Nothing. In the cold" - Yitzchok Baruch Schachter, a Polish Jew.
“I was seventeen years old when I met Tadeusz Paolone-Lisowski in Birkenau. The last time I saw him, he asked me: “do you believe in God? Because, as you know many people think that if something like Auschwitz is possible...”. He didn't finish. I remember my mother's words at that moment: "if there is eveil in the world, it comes from Satan, not God.". Tadeusz said: "on the pages of the account book is a small metal object for you, a medallion. Take it as a souvenir of me. May it protect you. Look after it, and if God lets you, take it to freedom.” - a Polish woman, Zofia Posmysz, a Christian.
“I was four years old. I remember sleeping on my mother's knees. I sensed bread crumbs under my cheek. I felt safe. My father was brutally punished for giving a Jewish woman a potato. She prayed for him." - Peter Hollenreiner, a Roma prisoner from Germany, a Christian.
“I was fifteen years old. I prayed to God in the selection line to keep my parents alive. I velieved I could not survive withouth them. Upn entry, men and women were separated, the young and old too. I ran quickly to be with my mother. She pushed my back firmly. Her last words were: “take care of your sister, so she will survive. Marry a religious man. God will save you, and you will tell the world what happened to us”. My mother said I had the courage to survive Auschwitz and must do so. Those words kept me alive." - Esther Peterseil, a Jewish woman from Poland.
'The project asks an often thought of question, but never so purposefully explored in visual and discursive terms: How did a largely religious population maintain their sense of identity and culture in a Deathworld, called Auschwitz? This place was structured to disarm any form of dignity and resistance. My work is a visual testament to the absolute endurance of human courage. With each person I had the privilege to meet, I felt their resilience, their hope and their joy for life,” said the photographer, Caryl Englander.
The exhibition “Through the lens of faith” is on display at the entrance to the Auschwitz Memorial until 30 September 2020.