ARBEITSKREIS FUER HEIMAT-, DENKMAL- UND GESCHICHTSPFLEGE ST.GEORGEN/GUSEN
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KZ Mauthausen-GUSEN Info-Page
Poetry in KZ Gusen
Konstanty Cwierk
Konstanty Cwierk was one of the leading Polish poets in KZ Gusen I
Concentration Camp. He was captured in 1940 and came via KZ Dachau Camp
to KZ Gusen. Between 1940 and 1944 he created an uncountable
number of poems in that concentration camp. Some of them are:
- 1942
- Marsz Gusenowcow (KZ Gusen March; music by Gracjan Guzinski)
- 1943
- Golgotha (Music by Gracjan Guzinski)
- 1944
- Chleb (Bread)
- 1944
- Modlitwa wiznia Gusen (KZ Gusen Prayer)
- 1944
- Modlitwa Heftlinga (Prisoers´ Prayer)
Some of his texts were set to music by his Polish comrade Gracjan Guzinski.
Unfortunaltey, Konstanty Cwierk did not survive KZ Gusen Camp. He died there
like thousands of his compatriots in 1944.
Other polish poets that were at KZ Gusen are:
- Mieczyslaw Cieniak
- Zbigniew Filarski
- Waclaw Gazinski
- Jozef Gruszczynski
- Bronislaw Kaminski
- Czeslaw Leski
- Stefan Niewada
- Bernard Nogaj
- S. Niefan
- Gustaw Przeczek
- Mieczyslaw Paszkiewicz
- Jerzy Piwinski
- Grzegorz Timofiejew
- Jan Tarasiewicz
- Wlodzimierz Wnuk
- Zdzislaw Jan Wroblewski
- Bogdan Zalewski
- Kazimierz Zurek
- Klemens Lebensart
Jean Cayrol de l´Academie Goncourt
Between February 1944 and April 1945 the world-famous author
Jean Cayrol created a large number of poetry at the KZ Gusen I camp.
In this period he was forced to work at the final inspection (Endkontrolle)
in one of the numerous "Steyr-Georgenmuehle" workshops of the
KZ Gusen I camp.
When he arrived in 1943 at KZ Gusen, he was one of the youngest
inmates from France and had to do hardest work along with the
construction of roads and railways. His life was saved by
Dr. Johannes Gruber
(the Saint of Gusen) that gave him of his "Gruber soup" in
the washroom of barrack No. 20 when Jean Cayrol wanted to die by
refusing any further food. By intervention of Dr. Gruber, Jean Cayrol
also was transferred to the more easier job at the final-inspection,
where he was able to write that literature during breaks.
Cayrol also wrote the text for "Chant d´ Espoire" that
was set to music by his comrad Remy Gillis in 1944 at KZ Gusen I Camp too.
A collection of Cayrol´s texts was published in 1997 in the booklet
mentioned below.
Information credit:
- Cayrol Jean de l´academie Goncourt, Alerte aux ombres 1944-1945 - poemes ecrits das un atelier d´une petite usine du camp Gusen-Mauthausen, Editions du Seuil, Paris 1997
- Stanislaw Koprowski, Archives Klub Mauthausen-Gusen, Warszawa
- Bret Werb, Musicologist, USHMM, Washington, D.C.
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Most recent updates of this page were made on
971008 by Rudolf A. HAUNSCHMIED