NEW EXHIBITS
IN THE STUTTHOF MUSEUM COLLECTION
Three metal crosses have recently been added to our museum's collection. They were made illegally by Jan Wąsicki, who risked his life to create them in secret at the Stutthof concentration camp.
Stutthof Memorial
Who was the author who risked his life to create them? How did he end up at the Stutthof concentration camp? What happened to him there? These are some questions we can ask ourselves while viewing these extraordinary exhibits.
The archives and recollections of his closest relatives provide us with information. Jan Wąsicki was from the small town of Skępe near Lipno. He was a shoemaker by trade. In June 1943, he was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned at the Stutthof concentration camp. The reason was his membership in the underground (Polish Armed Organisation). The Germans even recorded in their documentation that, as a "stubborn and fanatical Pole", Jan Wąsicki should stay in the camp to avoid the risk of harming the Third Reich. He was given the number 24426 at KL Stutthof.
He remained in the camp until January 1945. When the Germans ordered the evacuation of the prisoners, Wąsicki participated in the death march. According to his family members, shortly after leaving the camp, an SS man hit him in the hand with a rifle butt. This caused an open fracture of the limb. The injury could not be treated under the circumstances of the evacuation. Mr Jan's health continued to deteriorate. He eventually died, abandoned on the evacuation route. Thus, he shared the fate of thousands of Death March participants whose resting places remain unknown.
The witness of Jan Wąsicki's last moments was his companion from the time of his underground activity, also a fellow prisoner of Stutthof - Władysław Drabiński. After the war, he informed Jan Wąsicki's widow of the tragic fate of her husband and also gave her the crosses he had made in the camp. Jan was supposed to carry them with him.
The Stutthof Museum would like to thank Jan Wąsicki's granddaughter, Dorota Sobolewska, for her remembrance and extremely valuable gift to the Museum's collection.
The Stutthof Museum would like to thank Jan Wąsicki's granddaughter, Dorota Sobolewska, for her remembrance and extremely valuable gift to the Museum's collection.
Wygrawerowane na ramionach krzyżyków dziecięcych litery „PO” prawdopodobnie oznaczają skrót zwrotu „Pamięć Ojca”.