Peter Maria Schäfer (*1961),

photographer and filmmaker, had already once honored

Holocaust survivor Tadeusz Szymanski (1917–2002)

with his journalistic work in form of a film. Now he

is dedicating a book to him with a series of impres-

sive photographs that he has taken since the mid-

1980s at the former extermination camp Auschwitz,

as well as in the town’s Judengasse. Tadeusz

Szymanski, who was severely ill at the time of

his admission to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1941 and

therefore already selected, did survive because

they wanted to study the pathogenesis of typhus

on him as a living »subject of research«.

In 1945,

on a transport to Buchenwald shortly before the

arrival of the Soviet Army, he managed to flee

during a stopover on Czech territory. As early as

1946, Szymanski together with other former

prisoners, was involved in the preservation of

the camp complex in Auschwitz and the local

establishment of a memorial. At the Museum

Auschwitz-Birkenau, he mainly looked after visitors

during the 1950’s, fought for the establishment

of an international youth educational center and,

until his retirement in 1977, directed the collections

of the camp’s museum. Tadeusz Szymanski, who

is considered a pioneer of Polish reconciliation

with Germany, was awarded the Theodor-Heuss-

Medal in 1986.