Overview
- Brief Narrative
- Casting of the archway over the main gate to Auschwitz concentration camp (Auschwitz I) in German-occupied Poland. Auschwitz I was established in April 1940, in an abandoned Polish army barracks and was continuously expanded by forced labor. The motto on the arch came from the title of a 19th-century novel by Lorenz Diefenbach, first deployed as propaganda during the German economic and unemployment crisis of the 1920s and 1930s. Under the Nazi regime, it was also displayed in several other concentration camps around Europe, and suggested that the purpose of the camps was to reform inmates, who could earn their freedom through work. In reality, the aim of the camps was to extract the maximum amount of work from the prisoners, regardless of the cost to their health or life, and to kill all Jewish inmates through overwork, starvation, and executions. The shape of the arch was drawn on the ground by Kurt Müller, the Kapo of the camp’s metal workshop, and then fashioned using pipes from a water-expansion project. Jan Liwacz, a Polish prisoner and master artistic blacksmith, designed and made the letters. The ‘B’ was welded in place upside-down, which some prisoners interpreted as an act of resistance, though it was more likely an accident. By August 1944, Auschwitz I contained around 16,000 prisoners, the majority of whom were Jewish. The gas chambers ceased operation in October 1944, and in January 1945, the Auschwitz camp system was evacuated ahead of the arrival of Soviet forces. The Soviet army liberated 6,000 ill and dying prisoners from Auschwitz I, II, and III on January 27, 1945.
- Date
-
manufacture:
after 1989 August 15-before 1991 March 18
- Geography
-
representation:
Auschwitz (Concentration camp);
Oświęcim (Poland)
manufacture: West Sussex (England)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
- Markings
- front, cast fiberglass letters : ARBEIT MACHT FREI [WORK SETS YOU FREE]
- Contributor
-
Manufacturer:
Edward Lawrence Associates (Export) Limited
Physical Details
- Language
- German
- Classification
-
Architectural Elements
- Category
-
Buildings and structures
- Object Type
-
Arches (lcsh)
- Genre/Form
- castings (object genre)
- Physical Description
- Metal and fiberglass arch comprised of two long, parallel, tubular rods that curve upward from each end creating a rounded arch in the center. Attached between the rods, resembling the original welding, is a series of flat, black, uppercase, block letters forming three German words. The letter B in the first word is upside down. At each end is a hinged, c-shaped bracket, bolted to a black exhibition mount. The casting is painted in black and brown to resemble the original metal and subsequent rust from corrosion.
- Dimensions
- overall: Height: 16.000 inches (40.64 cm) | Width: 257.000 inches (652.78 cm) | Depth: 4.000 inches (10.16 cm)
- Materials
- overall : metal, fiberglass, paint
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- No restrictions on access
- Conditions on Use
- No restrictions on use
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Forced labor--Poland. Kapos. Labor camps--Poland. Slogans. Signs and signboards--Germany--History. Arbeit macht frei.
- Geographic Name
- Oświęcim (Poland)
- Corporate Name
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The arch casting was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1991.
- Primary Number
- CA91.1.6
- Record last modified:
- 2022-07-28 18:23:51
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn14223
Also in Edward Lawrence Associates castings collection
The collection consists of fiberglass castings of a ghetto and cemetery walls, a dissecting table, a cobbled road, a doorway surround, a gateway arch, a gas chamber door, and a crematorium oven, stretcher, and poker, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum relating to the experiences of Jewish victims in the Warsaw, Łódź, and Krakow ghettos, Majdanek and Treblinka killing centers, and Mauthausen and Auschwitz concentration camps in Poland and Austria during the Holocaust.
Date: after 1989 August 15-before 1991 March 18
Casting of a brick wall from the closed Warsaw Jewish Ghetto
Object
Fiberglass casting of a segment of the brick wall surrounding the Warsaw ghetto, from the area at 51 Sienna Street, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. The casting was taken from one of three remaining sections of the ghetto wall, which the Jewish community was forced to pay for and was built in 1940, by the German firm of Schmidt & Munstermann. Prior to the war, Warsaw was a major center of Jewish life and culture, with a Jewish population over 350,000, making it the largest Jewish community in Europe. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, occupying Warsaw on September 29. German authorities ordered the creation of a Jewish council, which was headed by Adam Czerniaków. On October 12, 1940, German authorities in Warsaw decreed the establishment of a Jewish ghetto within a specified area of the city, and required over 400,000 Jews from Warsaw and nearby towns to relocate there. The ghetto was 1.3 square miles in area, and surrounded by a guarded, ten-foot-high wall, which was topped with barbed wire. It became a closed ghetto and was sealed off from the rest of the city in November 1940. Starvation and disease were rampant, and smuggling operations occurred over the walls, via the gates, and through bordering buildings. Between July 22 and September 12, 1942, approximately 265,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka killing center, and another 35,000 were killed inside the ghetto. On April 19, 1943, organized resistance groups within the ghetto fought back against the scheduled liquidation. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising lasted a month before the German military suppressed the resistance, razed the ghetto, and transported the remaining inhabitants to forced-labor camps and killing centers.
Casting of a cobblestone pathway at Treblinka killing center
Object
Fiberglass casting of a portion of the Czarna Droga (Black Road) at Treblinka concentration camp, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. The Czarna Droga was a cobblestone road, approximately two kilometers long, which connected Treblinka I (forced-labor camp) and Treblinka II (killing center) in German-occupied Poland. Some of the cobblestones contain Hebrew inscriptions that are most likely fragments of desecrated tombstones from a Jewish cemetery. Treblinka was established in November 1941, as a forced-labor camp for Jews under Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard). Operation Reinhard was a code name for the plan to kill the two million Jews who resided in specific areas of German-occupied Poland. Treblinka I had Jewish and non-Jewish inmates, most of whom worked in a nearby gravel pit. As part of Operation Reinhard, the SS constructed three new killing centers, one of which was Treblinka II, completed in July 1942. Upon arriving at the killing center, deportees had to surrender all valuables and possessions, and undress prior to entering what they believed to be showers, but were really gas chambers. A group of Jewish prisoners known as the Sonderkommando was forced to work in the killing center, sorting possessions, cleaning freight cars, and disposing of bodies. Initially, the bodies were buried in mass graves, but were later exhumed and burned. On August 2, 1943, Jewish inmates attempted to revolt and escape; though a small number did escape successfully, most were killed as a result. Between 870,000 and 925,000 Jews were killed at Treblinka II, which was dismantled in the fall of 1943. Treblinka I continued operations until July 1944, when Soviet troops moved into the area.
Casting of the doorway surround from the Łódź ghetto Hospital No.1
Object
Fiberglass casting of the entrance doorway surround of the Łódź ghetto Hospital No.1 (later the Helena Wolf Hospital), commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. On September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland, and occupied Łódź the following week, renaming it Litzmannstadt. In February 1940, the German authorities established the Łódź ghetto in the existing slum of Baluty, and forced 160,000 Jews to relocate into one and a half square miles. The ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire fencing, and sealed on April 30. The authorities forced the Jewish residents to labor in textile factories, and the police exhibited brutal behavior towards them, and stole their valuables and other possessions. Most of the ghetto lacked running water or a sewer system, and overcrowding and starvation were rampant. The ghetto had seven hospitals, seven pharmacies, four clinics, and two emergency rooms. Hospital No.1 was located at 36 Lagiewnicka Street. The building was constructed for the National Health Service during the interwar period, and housed the Kasa Chorych Miasta Łódźi (Łódź City Hospital). Chaim Mordechaj Rumkowski, chairman of the Jewish council in the ghetto, had an apartment in one of the wings. Beginning in December 1941, Jews were transported from the ghetto to Chelmno killing center, and another 600 people were killed inside of the ghetto. On the night of September 1, 1942, under the orders of German authorities, the Jewish Order Police began dragging patients from their beds into trucks waiting outside. Some escaped through hospital windows, but were later rounded up along with their family members. Afterwards, the building was repurposed to hold uniform tailoring workshops, and in August 1944, it began operating as a camp for the 600 Jews who remained in the ghetto until October, when they were sent for forced labor in Germany.
Casting of a wall made from fragments of Jewish headstones at the Remu Cemetery in Kraków
Object
Fiberglass casting of a portion of the wall along Szeroka Street at the Remu Cemetery (or Old Jewish Cemetery, Remuh Cemetery) in Kraków, Poland, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. The Remu cemetery was actively used for burials between 1551 and 1800, when Austrian authorities ordered all cemeteries in the city center to close. A new Jewish cemetery was opened the following year, and the Remu cemetery became known as the “old Jewish cemetery.” By the time German forces occupied Krakow on September 6, 1939, the Remu cemetery had fallen into disrepair and was poorly maintained. Over the course of World War II, the Germans destroyed what remained of the cemetery. As part of the German persecution of the city’s Jews, they implemented a forced labor program, established a Jewish ghetto in 1941, and began mass deportations to concentration camps in 1942. By the end of the Holocaust, less than 5,000 of the city’s and surrounding countryside’s former 70,000 Jews survived. As part of a restoration project in 1959, over 700 tombstones (some dating to the 16th century) were discovered buried under the ground surface. The intact stones were placed upright in rows, while the broken fragments were used to create a mosaic wall surrounding the cemetery. This wall is sometimes referred to as “Kraków’s Wailing Wall” or “Wall of Tears,” and serves as a memorial to the city’s destroyed Jewish community.
Casting of a long fire hook used with the crematorium ovens at Mauthausen concentration camp
Object
Painted fiberglass casting of a long fire hook from the crematorium at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria, and established a concentration camp roughly three miles from the town of Mauthausen the following August. It originally functioned as a forced-labor camp with a granite quarry. Additionally, in 1941, the camp began to carry out mass killings using gas and several other methods. The systematic killings necessitated the construction of a crematorium facility at the camp, and the dehumanization of prisoners’ deaths was compounded by the high-volume and industrialized body disposal methods. The fire hook was an aid used to unload bodies off the stretcher (for an example from the collection, see CA91.1.7) into the muffle, oven chamber, (for an example from the collection, see CA91.1.10). The prisoners loading the stretchers were ordered to stack the bodies in arrangements that allowed them to burn as efficiently and quickly as possible. The hook may have also been used to scrape out ash from where it collected at the bottom of the oven. The cremation tools at Mauthausen—and most of those used in crematoriums throughout Europe at the time—were supplied by the German-based engineering and manufacturing company, J.A. Topf & Sons. The metal components of Mauthausen’s furnace—including the fire hook—were shipped to Mauthausen at the end of September 1942. The last mass murder in the Mauthausen gas chamber occurred on April 28, 1945. The SS abandoned the camp on May 3 and US troops arrived within days.
Casting of crematorium stretcher used to load the ovens at Mauthausen concentration camp
Object
Painted fiberglass casting of a long, rectangular stretcher from the crematorium at Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria, and established a concentration camp roughly three miles from the town of Mauthausen the following August. It originally functioned as a forced-labor camp with a granite quarry. Additionally, in 1941, the camp began to carry out mass killings using gas and several other methods. The systematic killings necessitated the construction of a crematorium facility at the camp, and the dehumanization of prisoners’ deaths was compounded by the high-volume and industrialized body disposal methods. The stretcher (also called a corpse board) was loaded with corpses by forced-labor prisoners, who then lifted it and placed on a set of iron rollers. The prisoners loading the stretchers were ordered to stack the bodies in arrangements that allowed them to burn as efficiently and quickly as possible. The stretcher was then pushed to the back of the muffle, oven chamber, (for an example in the collection, see CA91.1.10), unloaded with the aid of a fire iron or fire hook (for an example in the collection, see CA91.1.8) and then withdrawn. After it was removed, the prisoners would cool the stretcher with a mix of water and soap, which would help the following load to slide off more easily. The stretcher and cremation tools at Mauthausen—and most of those used in crematoriums throughout Europe at the time—were supplied by the German-based engineering and manufacturing company, J.A. Topf & Sons. The metal components of Mauthausen’s furnace—including the stretcher—were shipped to Mauthausen at the end of September 1942. The last mass murder in the Mauthausen gas chamber occurred on April 28, 1945. The SS abandoned the camp on May 3 and US troops arrived within days.
Casting of a double-muffle oven from the crematorium at Mauthausen concentration camp
Object
Painted fiberglass casting of a brick and iron, double-muffle crematorium oven at Mauthausen concentration camp in German-occupied Austria, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria, and established a concentration camp roughly three miles from the town of Mauthausen the following August. It originally functioned as a forced-labor camp with a granite quarry. Additionally, in 1941, the camp began to carry out mass killings using gas and several other methods. The systematic killings necessitated the construction of a crematorium facility at the camp, and the dehumanization of prisoners’ deaths was compounded by the high-volume and industrialized body disposal methods. The prisoners loading the ovens were ordered to stack the bodies in arrangements that allowed them to burn as efficiently and quickly as possible. In a double-muffle oven, a single source of fire fueled two incineration chambers through gaps in the dividing wall. The rear of the furnaces had coke-fired hearths, and the sides had forced air vents with electric motors. This type of oven was more efficient, but necessitated mixing of ashes, which was illegal under German law. The ashes were removed from the small doors at the bottom of the front side, and six small rectangular hinged flaps on the sides and front functioned as secondary air intakes, helping to regulate and adjust airflow. The oven and cremation tools at Mauthausen—and most of those used in crematoriums throughout Europe at the time—were supplied by the German-based engineering and manufacturing company, J.A. Topf & Sons. The metal components of Mauthausen’s furnace—including the stretcher—were shipped to Mauthausen at the end of September 1942. The last mass murder in the Mauthausen gas chamber occurred on April 28, 1945. The SS abandoned the camp on May 3 and US troops arrived within days.
Double-sided casting of a gas chamber door from Majdanek concentration camp
Object
Fiberglass casting of a metal gas chamber door at Majdanek killing center, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. Construction on the gas chambers began in August 1942, and they were located just behind Barrack No. 41, which contained an undressing room and a main shower room. Off the main shower room were three smaller chambers, two of which were reconfigured for the use of Zyklon-B gas. In nearby Barrack No. 42 was another gas chamber, where Zyklon-B was used to delouse clothing. The construction of Majdanek, in German-occupied Poland, began in the fall of 1941, following SS chief Heinrich Himmler’s July 1941 order to establish a concentration camp in Lublin to provide forced labor for SS projects. From spring 1942 to February 1943, Majdanek was used as a forced-labor camp and storage facility for stolen personal items under Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard). Operation Reinhard was a code name for the plan to kill the two million Jews who resided in specific areas of German-occupied Poland. Majdanek also served as a killing site, after the gas chambers were completed in October 1942. In response to Jewish resistance and uprisings at other ghettos and camps, SS and police units shot 18,000 Jewish prisoners and forced laborers outside of Majdanek on November 3, 1943. This was the largest single-day, single-location killing, known as “Aktion Erntefest" (Operation Harvest Festival) of the Holocaust. Majdanek continued operations until spring 1944, when the camp was evacuated ahead of the arrival of Soviet troops in July 1944. Majdanek was the first major camp to be liberated, but Germany continued to occupy Poland until January 1945.
Casting of a concrete and metal dissecting table from the crematorium building at Majdanek concentration camp
Object
Fiberglass casting of a dissection table at Majdanek killing center, commissioned by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for installation in the museum’s permanent exhibition. The dissection table was located in a separate room within the crematorium building, and was used to extract gold dental fillings and other valuables from victims after their bodies were removed from the gas chambers. The construction of Majdanek, in German-occupied Poland, began in the fall of 1941, following SS chief Heinrich Himmler’s July 1941 order to establish a concentration camp in Lublin to provide forced labor for SS projects. From spring 1942 to February 1943, Majdanek was used as a forced-labor camp and storage facility for stolen personal items under Operation Reinhard (Aktion Reinhard). Operation Reinhard was a code name for the plan to kill the two million Jews who resided in specific areas of German-occupied Poland. Majdanek also served as a killing site, after the installation of gas chambers was completed in October 1942. In response to Jewish resistance and uprisings at other ghettos and camps, SS and police units shot 18,000 Jewish prisoners and forced laborers outside of Majdanek on November 3, 1943. This was the largest single-day, single-location killing, known as “Aktion Erntefest" (Operation Harvest Festival) of the Holocaust. Majdanek continued operations until spring 1944, when the camp was evacuated ahead of the arrival of Soviet troops in July 1944. Majdanek was the first major camp to be liberated, but Germany continued to occupy Poland until January 1945.
