»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …« 
SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 


»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death...« 
SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 



Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti in uresnicil biblijski pekel. Tu je zlocin dobil sloves obrti in na milijone duš premlel v pepel. Zdaj tu ostal je le še veter v travi in zemlja in nebo. In pod vecer se nad grobovi v zvezdnati daljavi prižgo milijoni luck za vecni mir. 
Lojze Krakar, Auschwitz, 1962 



Here is where death worked itself to death, Toiling hard to found a hell on earth. Here evil became its own shibboleth, And ground millions of souls to ashes’ worth. Naught remains here but the wind in the grass, The earth, and the sky. And as the day’s light Fades dark, above the graves in that starry glass Millions of wicks for eternal peace shine bright. 
Lojze Krakar, Auschwitz, 1962 



»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Na svetu ni kraja, kot je Auschwitz 


Auschwitz Is Unlike Any Other Place 
Holokavst je sistematicno unicevanje vseh za naciste rasno, versko,spolno ali zdravstveno nezaželenih ljudi. Za preganjanje in na koncutudi usmrtitev ni bilo potrebno njihovo aktivno nasprotovanjenacizmu, zadostovalo je samo to, da so bili to, kar so bili. Na svetu nikraja, ki bi bil bolj zaznamovan s holokavstom, kot je koncentracijskotaborišce Auschwitz: v casu delovanja, od maja 1940 do januarja 1945,je bilo tam ubitih okoli 1,1 milijona ljudi, od tega 960.000 Judov aliskoraj vsak šesti od šestih milijonov Judov, ki so bili ubiti v holokavstu.Prav zato je bil 27. januar, datum osvoboditve Auschwitza, izbran zamednarodni dan spomina na holokavst. Auschwitz je tudi taborišce,v katero je bilo odpeljanih okoli 2.300 ljudi iz Slovenije. Vecina je bilaSlovencev, ki so bili v to taborišce poslani kot politicni zaporniki. Todatja je bilo pripeljanih tudi okoli 350 Judov, vsaj 78 Romov in vsaj enjehovec z obmocja Slovenije. Za okoli 1.300 izmed njih je Auschwitzkraj smrti, kar pomeni, da je v tem kraju eno najvecjih pokopališcslovenskih žrtev druge svetovne vojne. Zato je 27. januar tudi slovenskidan spomina na žrtve holokavsta. 
Auschwitz II-Birkenau: the main entrance – the so-called Gate of Death, view from the camp not long after the liberation (photo: Stanislaw Mucha, kept by: APMAB). There were more than 400,000 registered inmates at Auschwitz, who were – as was customary in other Nazi concentration camps – assigned a camp number. One of the peculiarities of this particular camp, however, was that actually many more people than that (at least 900,000) arrived there, but were not given a camp number. They were killed immediately after arriving at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, for the most part without any formalities. 
The Holocaust was a systematic destruction of the people who the Nazisdeemed unwanted in terms of race, religious affiliation, sexual orientationor medical condition. It did not take active opposition to Nazism forthese people to be persecuted and ultimately also executed, being who they were was reason enough. There is no other place in the world moremarked by the Holocaust than the Auschwitz concentration camp. Duringits operation from May 1940 to January 1945, about 1.1 million peoplewere killed there – 960,000 of them were Jews, i.e. almost one in six of the six million Jewish people that were killed during the Holocaust era. Theday Auschwitz was liberated, 27 January, was thus declared InternationalHolocaust Remembrance Day. Among those who were taken to Auschwitzwere 2,300 people from Slovenia. For the most part these were Slovenianssent to Auschwitz as political prisoners; there were, however, also about350 Jews, at least 78 Romani and at least one Jehovah's Witness from the territory of Slovenia. For about 1,300 of them, Auschwitz was the placewhere their lives came to an end, which makes it one of the largest burialground of Slovenian World War II victims. For this reason, 27 January isalso the Slovenian Holocaust Remembrance Day. 





6 

An unknown prisoner, camp no. 43818: on arrival at Auschwitz, 30 June 1942 (kept by: APMAB). Due to the high mortality rate, Auschwitz was the only Nazi concentration camp where all registered prisoners were eventually tattooed on the left forearm. For the prisoners of general series, the tattooing was introduced in mid-1942, i.e. when the unknown inmate seen in the photo arrived in Auschwitz. Judging from the Pol:S marking and the camp number, he was a Slovenian sent there from Begunje prison for political reasons. His ultimate fate is unknown. All the registered prisoners were initially photographed on arrival at Auschwitz. A total of about 200,000 prisoners were photographed, of which about 40,000 photographs have been preserved, including more than 800 photographs of Slovenians. 


»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Nastanek koncentracijskega taborišca Auschwitz 

Establishment of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp 
Koncentracijsko taborišce Auschwitz v bližini poljskega mestaOswiecim (nemško Auschwitz) je bilo najvecje nacisticno delovno inunicevalno taborišce. Vendar táko ni bilo že ob ustanovitvi maja 1940,saj je bilo ustanovljeno kot delovno taborišce za Poljake. Ta prvotni delse je kasneje imenoval Auschwitz I ali maticno taborišce. V njem je biloprvotno okoli 10.000 taborišcnikov, poleti leta 1944 pa okoli 18.500. Tukaj je bil sedež poveljstva in vseh osrednjih organov postopomanastalega taborišcnega sistema, v katerem je bilo v poletnih mesecihleta 1944 okoli 135.000 taborišcnikov. Že od zacetka so v Auschwitzu racunali z veliko smrtnostjo in so takoj zgradili krematorij I z dnevnozmogljivostjo prvotno 100, kasneje pa 340 trupel. Auschwitz se jezacel spreminjati v unicevalno taborišce potem, ko so konec avgustain v zacetku septembra 1941 izvedli prva poskusna ubijanja s plinom Zyklon B. Ker so bili rezultati v skladu s pricakovanji, so za uporabotega plina v krematoriju I uredili plinsko celico z dnevno zmogljivostjo700–800 ljudi. 
Auschwitz I: aerial photo, 13 September 1944 (photo: USAAF, kept by: National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D. C.). Marked on the photo: the Penal Barracks, the Execution Wall and the house inhabited by the camp commandant, Rudolf Höss (1900, Baden-Baden–1947, Oswiecim) and his family (Commandant’s Quarters). Crematorium I, which was inactive when the photo was taken, is to the east of the Commandant’s Quarters and opposite the camp administration building (Admin). The main entrance with the Arbeit macht frei sign is in the northwest corner of the Kitchen building. 
The Auschwitz concentration camp near the Polish town of Oswiecim(German: Auschwitz) was the largest Nazi labour and exterminationcamp. This, however, had not been the case in May 1940, whenAuschwitz was established as a labour camp for Poles. This originalpart was later called Auschwitz I or the main camp. More than 10,000inmates were initially kept there and about 18,500 in the summerof 1944. The main camp included the headquarters of the campcommand and all the central units of the gradually formed campcomplex, where about 135,000 inmates were imprisoned during thesummer of 1944. From the very beginning, the Nazis counted on ahigh mortality rate and immediately built Crematorium I with adaily capacity of 100 bodies initially and 340 bodies at a later time.Auschwitz was gradually turned into an extermination camp afterthe first trial killings by means of Zyklon B gas were carried out in lateAugust and early September 1941. As the results were as expected, agas chamber with a daily capacity of 700–800 people was set up foruse at Crematorium I. 






Auschwitz I: a camp orchestra at the main entrance, 1941 (kept by: APMAB). Music was part of daily life in many Nazi concentration camps. At Auschwitz I, the orchestra played every morning when the inmates were leaving for work and in the evenings when they returned, and also often on work-free Sundays. Pictured in the background on the left are blocks 19, 20 and 21, which housed a prisoners' hospital. 
Auschwitz I: a camp orchestra at the main entrance, 1941 (kept by: APMAB). Pictured in the background on the right is the main gate with the Arbeit macht frei sign. Much like the ironic phrase, the camp orchestra was used to mislead the new arrivals and humiliate the existing inmates. The Auschwitz camp complex had up to six men's, a Romani and a women's orchestra. The latter two played near the Crematoriums (and gas chambers) II and III at Auschwitz II Birkenau. 




OF AUSCHWITZ 

Prvi Slovenci v Auschwitzu 

The First Slovenians at Auschwitz 
Auschwitz je postal najvecje nacisticno delovno taborišce zaradiAuschwitz became the largest Nazi labour camp because in Februaryodlocitve podjetja I. G. Farben februarja 1941, da bo pri bližnji vasi1941 company I. G. Farben, decided to build a vast industrial complex,Monowice (nemško Monowitz) zgradilo ogromen industrijskiBuna-Werke, near the nearby village of Monowice (German: Monowitz).kompleks Buna-Werke. Za odlocitev niso bili pomembni samo ugodnaThe reasons for this decision were not only a strategic transport positionprometna lega (ta je bila kasneje pomembna za transportiranje Judov(which later also proved important for transporting Jews from all over iz vse Evrope), obilje vode (reka Visla) in potrebnih surovin (rudnikiEurope), the abundance of water (the Vistula river) and the necessarypremoga in soli, kamnolomi apnenca) ter zaradi oddaljenosti od Velikeraw materials (coal and salt mines, limestone quarries). In addition, dueBritanije varnost pred bombardiranjem, temvec tudi nizka cena into the distance from the UK, it was considered to be safe from bombingobilica delovne sile, ki so jo predstavljali taborišcniki v Auschwitzu.and there was also low cost and plentiful labour, i.e. Auschwitz prisoners.Zato so v Auschwitz zaceli pošiljati tudi pripadnike drugih narodov.That is why the Nazis also started sending members of other nations toPrva skupina 22 Slovencev je tako prispela 28. septembra 1941 izAuschwitz; the first group of 22 Slovenians arrived on 28 September 1941zapora Begunje. Kaj je bil Auschwitz že v tej zgodnji fazi delovanja,from Begunje prison. What sort of place Auschwitz was even at this earlyjasno pokaže podatek, da je vecina izmed njih tam umrla že po nekajstage of operation is revealed by the fact that most of them died within amesecih. few months of arrival. 


Dušan Zimic (1919, Celje–1942, Auschwitz): a caricature by Zimic's fellow inmate and the famous Prekmurje-born caricaturist Ladislav Kondor (1901, Kupšinci–1963, Opatija), drawn at Begunje prison, 23–24 August 1941 (kept by: Bronka Jarc). A clerk from Maribor, who feared arrest and found refuge at the home of his relatives in Gorenjska. He was arrested as a suspicious foreigner and sent first to Begunje and then to Maribor. Although there was no evidence against him, he was deported from Maribor to Auschwitz. 
Pavel Lampe (1923, Crni Vrh–1942, Auschwitz), camp no. 21134: on arrival at Auschwitz, 28 September 1941 (kept by: APMAB). An 18-year-old worker from Stražišce near Kranj and a member of the resistance movement, sent to Auschwitz from Begunje in the first Slovenian transport. He spent six months at Auschwitz, which were characterised by hard labour, extremely poor diet and disastrous hygiene conditions. He died on 29 March 1942, two days after his 19th birthday. 

Ivan Ranzinger (1909, Vienna–1997, POD unknown), camp no. 23854: on arrival at Auschwitz, 6 December 1941 (kept by: APMAB). A glassmaker and pre-war communist from Hrastnik, imprisoned several times even in the First Yugoslavia, arrested immediately after the occupation and sent to Auschwitz from Maribor. After 15 months, he was transferred first to the Buchenwald concentration camp and then to a factory in Jena; he was still there on the day of liberation. In the new Yugoslavia, he was repeatedly imprisoned and convicted at one of the Dachau trials. He was rehabilitated in 1971. 

Dušan Zimic (1919, Celje–1942, Auschwitz), camp no. 24975: on arrival at Auschwitz, 21 December 1941 (kept by: APMAB). After almost five months in the camp, he fell ill with pneumonia and was transferred to a prisoners’ hospital, where he died on 12 May 1942. His body was cremated in Crematorium I later that day. On this day, 109 other inmates were cremated in Crematorium I after having died of ‘natural causes’, failed escape attempts or suicide, as well as 112 inmates who were executed earlier that day. 


»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Birkenau 

Birkenau 
Marca 1942 je v bližnji vasi Brzezinka (nemško Birkenau) zacelodelovati podružnicno taborišce Birkenau ali Auschwitz II – Birkenau.Bilo je bistveno vecje kot maticno taborišce. V njem je bilo poleti leta1944 okoli 70.000 taborišcnikov. V Birkenauu so od 26. marca 1942 naprej iz vse Evrope pošiljali cedalje številcnejše transporte Judov –takoodraslihkot otrok vseh starosti –, kijih je cedalje bolj ucinkovitoorganiziral Adolf Eichmann (1906, Solingen – 1962, Ramla). Jude sprvih transportov so brez izjeme takoj ubili. Kmalu pa so esesovskizdravniki takoj po prihodu transporta z Judi zaceli izvajati selekcijo – izbrali so za delo primerne, ki so bili sprejeti v taborišce, in tiste, ki nisobili primerni in so bili zato takoj ubiti v plinskih celicah. Za usmrtitevJudov, ki so jih izbrali pri selekciji ob prihodu, ali taborišcnikov katerekoli kategorije pri kasnejših selekcijah v taborišcu so od februarja 1942uporabljali dve improvizirani plinski celici pri taborišcu Birkenau zdnevno zmogljivostjo 800 in 1.200 ljudi. 
Auschwitz: aerial photo, 26 June 1944 (photo: RSAAF, kept by: National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D. C.). The photo clearly shows the size of the main parts of the camp: the Auschwitz I administrative headquarters, the largest camp and killing centre – Auschwitz II-Birkenau, and the largest labour camp – Auschwitz III-Monowitz by the Buna-Werke industrial complex. The bodies of those killed at Birkenau were first buried in mass graves, while later they were cremated out in the open. At some point, the bodies that had already been buried were later also cremated. The ashes were disposed of in the nearby Vistula and Sola rivers, as well as on nearby marshes. 
In March 1942, the Birkenau subcamp, i.e. Auschwitz II-Birkenau,started operating in the nearby village of Brzezinka (German: Birkenau).It was considerably larger than the main camp and approximately 70,000prisoners were kept there in the summer of 1944. From 26 March 1942onwards, transports with an increasingly large numbers of Jews – bothadults and children of all ages – were being sent to Birkenau from allover Europe. The transports were organised increasingly efficiently byAdolf Eichmann (1906, Solingen–1962, Ramla). The Jews from the firsttransports were killed immediately, without exception. Soon, however,the SS doctors started making a selection straight after the arrival ofthe Jewish transport – they selected individuals that were deemedfit for work and were admitted into the camp, and those who weredeemed unfit and therefore killed in the gas chambers immediately.From February 1942 onwards, two improvised gas chambers were usedat Birkenau for killing those Jews who had been chosen to die duringthe selection on arrival or for killing inmates of any category selectedduring subsequent camp selections. The two gas chambers had a dailycapacity of 800 and 1,200 people respectively. 






Auschwitz IG-Farben-Werkskomplex Monowitz-Dwory: a visit from the commander of the SS and the chief of the German police, Heinrich Himmler (1900, München–1945, Lüneburg), 18 July 1942 (kept by: APMAB). Pictured to the right of Himmler is the construction manager, engineer Max Faust (1891, Frankfurt am Main–1980, Ludwigshafen), and the camp commandant, Rudolf Höss. During the visit, Himmler was shown how the inmates were killed in the gas chamber. However, despite its extermination component, Auschwitz remained a labour camp until 
Auschwitz II-Birkenau: barracks in the BII sector immediately after construction, probably in March 1943 (kept by: APMAB). The main purpose of the labour camps was to use as many of the prisoners for slave labour at the lowest cost possible. Of course, the purpose of the camps was not to keep the prisoners alive, but to exterminate them through labour (German: Vernichtung durch Arbeit). Extremely poor living conditions were part of this system. 




»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Slovenke v Auschwitzu 

Slovenian Women in Auschwitz 
Zelo kmalu po 22. marcu 1933, ko so v prvo nacisticnokoncentracijsko taborišce Dachau prispeli prvi taborišcniki, je vtaborišcu Moringen zacel delovati tudi prvi oddelek za ženske.Taborišcnice tega oddelka je konec leta 1937 prevzelo prvo ženskokoncentracijsko taborišce Lichtenburg. Njegovo vlogo je leta 1939prevzelo novo taborišce Ravensbrück, ki je do konca druge svetovnevojne ostalo edino vecinsko žensko taborišce. Auschwitz je bil zaRavensbrückom prvo nacisticno koncentracijsko taborišce tudiza ženske. Prve taborišcnice so prispele v Auschwitz 26. marca1942, prvi Slovenki pa 6. junija 1942 iz Maribora. V tem casu sobile taborišcnice še v maticnem taborišcu, kmalu zatem pa sojih premestili v ženski del Birkenaua. Tam je do konca delovanjataborišca ostala glavnina taborišcnic. Ker so v druga taborišca zacelipošiljati ženske šele leta 1944, je okoli 1.500 slovenskih taborišcnicdve tretjini vseh slovenskih taborišcnikov v Auschwitzu. Za okoli850 izmed njih je Auschwitz tudi kraj smrti. 
Auschwitz I: women laying the foundations for a new building, 1942 or 1943 (photo: Dietrich Kamann, kept by: APMAB). Since about 50% of the ‘Jews fit for work’ that were transported from Hungary in 1944 were women, for whom not enough ‘real women's work’ was available, the camp administration asked Heinrich Himmler if women could be used in construction work. Himmler agreed to the idea and, in line with his vegetarianism, added: “In this case, make sure they have a healthy diet. It's important to eat raw vegetables. And don't forget to bring sufficient quantities of garlic from Hungary.” 
Shortly after 22 March 1933, when the first prisoners arrived inDachau – the first Nazi concentration camp – the first women'swing was set up at the Moringen concentration camp. In late 1937,prisoners from the women's wing were transferred to the Lichtenburgconcentration camp – the first concentration camp for female prisoners.In 1939, Lichtenburg's role was taken over by the newly establishedRavensbrück concentration camp, which remained the only majoritywomen's camp until the end of World War II. Auschwitz was thesecond Nazi concentration camp – after Ravensbrück – also used for female prisoners. The first women arrived in Auschwitz on 26 March1942 and the first two Slovenian women on 6 June 1942 from Maribor. At the time, female prisoners were still in the main camp, but theywere transferred to the Birkenau women's section soon after. Most of the women remained there throughout the camp's operation. Sinceit was not until 1944 that the Nazis started sending women to othercamps, some 1,500 Slovenian female prisoners made up two-thirds ofall Slovenian Auschwitz prisoners. Auschwitz was the place of deathfor around 850 of them. 





Štefka Štibler (1918, Selnica ob Dravi–1993, Ljubljana), camp no. 7602: on arrival at Auschwitz, 6 June 1942 (kept by: APMAB). An agronomy student in Belgrade and a pre-warcommunist from Šmartno pri Slovenj Gradcu. Owing to her education, she got a job in the camp administration and became a Yugoslav representative in the camp resistance movement. Her position allowed her to help a number of Slovenian female prisoners. She is one of the Slovenians that contributed the most important personal testimonies of life in Auschwitz. 

Pavla Blagotinšek, later Vrhovec (1925, Družmirje–1954, POD unknown), camp no. 7603: on arrival at Auschwitz, 6 June 1942 (kept by: APMAB). A sixteen-year-old member of theresistance movement from Škale near Velenje. Alongside
Štefka Štibler, she was one of the first two Slovenian womenin Auschwitz. The more experienced Štibler took care of her the entire time. She survived the war, but died of the 
consequences of camp imprisonment before she turned thirty. 


»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Transporti s Štajerske leta 1942 
Transports from 
Nacisticno nasilje na Štajerskem je bilo najhujše leta 1942. V tem letuso ustrelili najvec talcev: v mariborskih Sodnih zaporih in celjskem Starem piskru jih je bilo ubitih 866, 788 moških in 78 žensk, ali veckot polovica vseh štajerskih talcev. Sorodnike partizanov ali talcevsoaretirali.Aretacijesobilenajboljmnožicnevzacetkuavgusta,koso v prehodnem taborišcu v Okoliški (danes I.) osnovni šoli Celjezbrali 1.261 ljudi. Tiste, ki so bili stari nad 55 let, so poslali v delovnataborišca na Bavarskem. Mlajše od 18 let so odvzeli staršem in zato jihimenujemo ukradeni otroci. Vecino so poslali v mladinska taborišca naBavarskem, nekatere mlajše in rasno ustrezne pa predali organizacijiLebensborn za posvojitev v nemških družinah. Preostale so poslali vkoncentracijska taborišca, najvec v Auschwitz. 
Celje: Stari pisker, 22 July 1942 (kept by: MNZ Celje). A doctor and a police officer are checking if any of the hostages that had just been shot are showing signs of life. Top right: two prisoners who are about to prepare the space for the next group to be killed. Top left: two prisoners with a simple coffin for transportation to the Graz crematorium. One hundred hostages were shot that day: 84 men and 16 women. Farewell letters from 24 of them have been preserved. 


Štajerska 1942 
The Nazi violence in the Štajerska region was as its most extreme in1942. During that year, the largest number of hostages were shot dead:a total of 866 people – 788 men and 78 women, i.e. more than half ofall hostages from Štajerska – were killed in the Judicial Detentionin Maribor and the Stari pisker prison in Celje. The relatives of thePartisans or hostages were arrested. The largest mass arrests tookplace in early August, when 1,261 people were collected in the transitcamp at the Celje District (today's First) Primary School. People overthe age of 55 were sent to labour camps in Bavaria. Those under theage of 18 were taken away from their parents and are thus called‘stolen children’. While most were sent to youth camps in Bavaria,some younger ones and those labelled ‘racially valuable’ were referredto the Lebensborn organisation for adoption by German families. Therest were sent to concentration camps, mostly to Auschwitz. 





Elizabeta Šarh (1900, Šentjanž–1942, Auschwitz), camp no. 16502: on arrival at Auschwitz, 10 August 1942 (kept by: APMAB). A farmer’s wife from Lobnica near Ruše, the wifeof the national hero Alfonz Šarh, a soldier in the Pohorje Battalion, and the mother of eight ‘stolen children’. The three oldest sons escaped from the Frohnleiten children's camp near Graz and joined their father. The sons and the father lost their lives in the Pohorje Battalion's last battle at Osankarica on 8 January 1943. Elizabeta had died even before that, threemonths after arriving in Auschwitz. Other Šarh family members survived the war. 

Angela Hlacun (1915, Žlabor–1943, Auschwitz), camp no. 16225: on arrival at Auschwitz, 10 August 1942 (kept by: APMAB). A single mother from Nazarje, arrested on account of her hostage brother, along with her less-than-one-year-old daughter, elder brother and younger sister. Her brother and sister were selected and killed in a gas chamber shortly after arriving at the camp. Angela, by contrast, had a strong will to survive, but died after nine months. Those who survived remembered her for her unselfish help to fellow prisoners. 

Angela Hlacun (1915, Žlabor–1943, Auschwitz), camp no. 16225: a postal card sent to her sister Anica, Auschwitz, 27 September 1942 (kept by: MilenaŽeric). Aryan camp prisoners were 
allowed to write postal cards, but only in German and without mentioning the actual situation in the camp. Therefore, 
instead of explicitly mentioning her brother and sister's death, she referred to it indirectly (“I'd like to tell you that I personally am alive and well...”). Especially noticeable is the concern for her less-than-one-year-old daughter Milena, who was a ‘stolen child’. Milena survived the war. 



OF AUSCHWITZ 

Transporti s Štajerske leta 1942 
Transports from 
Leta 1942 je bilo v Auschwitz poslanih najvec slovenskih taborišcnikov:okoli 600 žensk in okoli 220 moških. Vec kot 90 % jih je bilo poslanihiz Celja, Maribora ali z Borla. Samo s transportom, ki je 9. avgusta1942 krenil iz Celja, je bilo pripeljanih 451 Slovencev, 333 žensk in118 moških. Ceprav slovenski taborišcniki niso bili na dnu taborišcnehierarhije, tam so bili nedvomno Judje, so bile možnosti za njihovo preživetje slabe. Ob že tako skrajnih življenjskih okolišcinah je pravv casu prihoda najvecje slovenske skupine v Auschwitz izbruhnilaepidemija tifusa, ki je nekajkrat zahtevala tudi vec kot 300 življenjdnevno. Veliko slovenskih taborišcnikov je bilo starejših in zato sobili zelo hitro selekcionirani ter poslanivplinskecelice.Še posebejtragicna je bila usoda žensk, ki so v taborišce prišle nosece. 

Štajerska 1942 
In 1942, the largest number of Slovenian people were deported toAuschwitz: about 600 women and about 220 men. More than 90% of them were sent there from Celje, Maribor or Borl. The transport thatleft Celje on 9 August 1942 alone brought 451 Slovenians: 333 womenand 118 men. Although Slovenian prisoners were not at the bottomof the camp hierarchy – this position was reserved for Jews – theirchances of survival were slim. They faced extreme living conditionsand, to make the matters even worse, a typhus epidemic broke outwhen the largest Slovenian group arrived in Auschwitz. Some daysthe epidemic claimed more than 300 lives. Many of the Slovenianprisoners were old and were therefore quickly selected and sent togas chambers. The fate of women who arrived at the camp pregnantwas particularly tragic. 



Celje: District Primary School, August 1942 (kept by: MNZ Celje). A member of the SS and a police officer are separating the children from their mothers. The mothers and the children are relatives of the Partisans or hostages. On 10 August 1942, 441 ‘stolen children’ were taken from here to the Frohnleiten children's camp. 


Anica Urisek, later Gruden (probably 1922, Šmartno ob Paki–1982 probably still alive), camp no. 13223: on arrival at Auschwitz, 31 July 1942 (kept by: APMAB). A pre-war member of the League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ); from Pesje, now part of Velenje. She was pregnant at the time of arrest, which saved her from being shot, not, however, from being transported to Auschwitz. Her mother was already there at the time, but died two months later. The mother's death resulted in the premature birth of Anica's son. Hence, a telling title of her personal testimony: My little son lived for three days only. Her brother and sister-in-law were killed in the Pohorje Battalion's last battle at Osankarica on 8 January 1943. 

Zora Strman, later Kodelja (1921, Trbovlje–2008, POD unknown), camp no. 16432: on arrival at Auschwitz, 10 August 1942 (kept by: APMAB). From a miner's family in Senovo. She was arrested while pregnant just before her wedding on account of her hostage brother, along with her father and mother. Her father died in the camp after a mere two weeks. She gave birth to a daughter, who was taken away from her after a week and she never saw her again. Zora and her mother survived the war. After the war, she married her fiancé, who had not been in the camp. 


Stanko Vabic (1921, Hrastnik–1942, Auschwitz), camp no. 57890: on arrival at Auschwitz, 10 August 1942 (kept by: APMAB). A worker from Hrastnik. He was arrested on account of his hostage sister together with his father, mother and brothers. The father was not sent to Auschwitz due to his age, while the youngest brother was also spared due to his young age. Shortly after arrival, Stanko fell ill with typhus. He was beaten in front of his older brother's eyes for not being able to work, and was then shot dead during an ‘escape attempt’. The guards were rewarded for shooting prisoners that attempted to escape. The mother died two months later. The older brother survived. 


»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Transporti iz Begunj v letih 1942–1944 


Transports from Begunje 1942–1944 
Zapor v Begunjah je bil celotno obdobje okupacije središce nacisticnegaThe Begunje prison remained the centre of Nazi violence in the Gorenjskanasilja na Gorenjskem. V zaporniške knjige je bilo od 20. maja 1941 do region throughout the occupation. From 20 May 1941 to 2 May 1945,
2. maja 1945vpisanih 11.477 zapornikov, 9.196 moških in2.281 žensk.11,477 prisoners, i.e. 9,196 men and 2,281 women, were listed in the prison849 jih je bilo usmrcenih v streljanjih talcev na Gorenjskem. Velikoregisters. Of these, 849 were killed in hostage executions in Gorenjska. zapornikov je bilo iz Begunj poslanih v koncentracijska taborišca, medMany prisoners were sent from Begunje to concentration camps, includingnjimi vsaj 73 moških in vsaj 84 žensk tudi v Auschwitz. V to taborišce jeat least 73 men and at least 84 women to Auschwitz. The first Slovenian bil prav iz Begunj 27. septembra 1941 poslan prvi slovenski transport 22transport to Auschwitz left from Begunje on 27 September 1941 carryingmoških. Istega leta sta mu sledila še dva manjša moška transporta. Drugi22 men. This was followed by two other smaller-scale transports of men inbegunjski zaporniki so v Auschwitz prispeli v manjših skupinah ali celo1941. Other prisoners from Begunje arrived in Auschwitz in small groupsposamicno v t. i. zbirnih transportih v letih 1942 in 1943 preko Celovca,or even individually as part of the so-called collective transports in 1942nekateri tudi preko koncentracijskih taborišc Dachau, Mauthausen aliand 1943 via Klagenfurt, and some also via the Dachau, Mauthausen orRavensbrück. Vecina poslanih iz Begunj v Auschwitz v letih 1942 in 1943Ravensbrück concentration camps. Most of those sent to Auschwitz fromso bile ženske. Begunje in 1942 and 1943 were women. 


Begunje: prison, a view towards the northeast, probably in 1942 (kept by: Gorenjski muzej). After the start of the occupation, the pre-war women's penitentiary became the centre of Nazi violence in the Gorenjska region. A police officer with a dog in the front, the Draga valley in the background; 172 hostages from Begunje prison were killed here and 161 of them buried. At least 157 people were sent to Auschwitz from Begunje prison. 


Franc Knez (1888, Dvor–1942, Auschwitz), camp no. 28649: on arrival at Auschwitz, 1 April 1942 (kept by: APMAB). A farmer from Dvor near Litija sent to Begunje along with his son to serve a sentence at the prison, and from there to Auschwitz via Klagenfurt. The reason he was sentenced is not known, however, judging from the colour of his triangular camp badge, he was certainly not a criminal. He died less than two months after arriving at the camp. 

Martin Knez (1922, Dvor–1942, Auschwitz), camp no. 28650: on arrival at Auschwitz, 1 April 1942 (kept by: APMAB). A worker from Dvor near Litija. He came to Auschwitz the same way and at the same time as his father. While photographing them both, albeit separately, the photographer failed to replace the Pole marking left there from the previously photographed prisoners from Poland. Nevertheless, it is clear that they are Slovenians as both of them have the letter S embroidered on the triangular camp badge. He died after two-and-a-half months in the camp. 

Franciška Pajer (1903, Polica–1982 probably still alive), camp no. 21343: on arrival at Auschwitz, 2 October 1942 (kept by: APMAB). An innkeeper from Hrušica near Jesenice, the wife of a hostage 
and the mother of a nine-year-old son, a ‘stolen child’. She was sent to Auschwitz from Begunje via Klagenfurt in a group of 11 Slovenian women. Her group had their hair cut on arrival, 
perhaps as an additional humiliation, which was actually not 
usual for Slovenian women in Auschwitz. With the help of anSS guard – a Slovenian from Štajerska – she was able to send a letter to her mother-in-law, inquiring about her son's fate. She is 
one of the two survivors from her group. 


»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Transporti s Štajerske v letih 1943 in 1944 


Transports from Štajerska 1943–1944 
Leta 1943 se je zmanjšal obseg nacisticnega nasilja na Štajerskem.Tega leta je bilo ustreljenih 55 talcev, najmanj v casu vojne, in mednjimi ni bilo nobene ženske. Tudi število poslanih v Auschwitz je bilomanjše kot leta 1942: vsaj 16 moških in vsaj 122 žensk. Zadnja vecjatransporta žensk sta bila v zacetku leta, preostale pa so pripeljaliv manjših skupinah ali celo posamicno v t. i. zbirnih transportih.Posledica zmanjšanega obsega nacisticnega nasilja leta 1943 je bila,da Toncke Cec, pomembne voditeljice odporniškega gibanja, nisoustrelili, temvec so jo poslali v Auschwitz. Leta 1944 je bilo s Štajerskev Auschwitz poslanih samo še okoli 10 ljudi, zadnji med njimi 2. maja1944. Izhodišce vseh štajerskih transportov v letih 1943 in 1944 invelikega dela tistih v letih 1941 in 1942 so bili Sodni zapori v Mariboru.Ti zapori torej niso samo kraj, kjer je bilo ubitih najvec talcev, pac patudi kraj, od koder je bilo v Auschwitz poslanih okoli 400 ljudi. 
Maribor: Judicial Detention and the Memorial to Hostages, 30 December 2019(photo: Domen Kodric). This was the centre of Nazi violence in the Štajerska region throughout the occupation. About 14,000 people passed through these prisons, 662 of whom were executed here and their names are inscribed on the memorial. The hostages' bodies were taken to the Graz crematorium. The ashes of some of them are stored in the memorial's urns. The Judicial Detention in Maribor is also the place from where many people were deported to various concentration camps, including about 400 people to Auschwitz. 
In 1943, the extent of Nazi violence in Štajerska decreased. A total of55 hostages were executed that year, i.e. less than in any other yearduring the war and there were no women among them. The numberof people sent to Auschwitz was also lower than in 1942: at least 16men and at least 122 women. The last two large-scale transports ofwomen took place in early 1943, while the rest were transported insmall groups or even individually as part of the so-called collectivetransports. A consequence of the reduced scale of Nazi violence in1943 was that Toncka Cec, an important resistance movement leader,was sent to Auschwitz instead of being executed. Only about tenpeople were sent to Auschwitz from Štajerska in 1944, the last of themon 2 May 1944. The starting points for all transports from Štajerska in1943 and 1944, as well as a major part of those in 1941 and 1942, wasthe Judicial Detention in Maribor. This makes it not only the placewhere the most hostages were killed, but also the place from whereabout 400 people were sent to Auschwitz. 






Toncka Cec (1896, Trbovlje–1943, Auschwitz), camp 
no. 41???: during a public humiliation in Celje, 15 November 1942 (kept by: MNZ Celje). A clerk and pre-war communist who had already been imprisoned several times during the time of the 
First Yugoslavia. After the start of the occupation, she was active in the areas of Zasavje, Celje and Kozjansko, where she was captured on 29 August 
1942. After two-and-a-half months of interrogations, she was subjected to a public humiliation in Celje together with 12 other captured and 12 dead Partisans. She was transferred first to Maribor and from there to Auschwitz in April 1943. Despite the help of her fellow inmates, she died on 2 November 1943. She was declared a national heroine in 1953. 

Magdalena Logar (1913, Solcava–1943, Auschwitz), camp no. 28804: on arrival at Auschwitz, 15 January 1943 (kept by: APMAB). In 1938, the five Logar sisters opened a hotel in the Logar Valley, which became a refuge for Partisans soon after the start of the resistance. In fact, the entire Logar family, including four brothers, cooperated with the Partisans and all of them ended up being arrested for it. The sisters were sent to Auschwitz via Celje and Maribor. Magdalena, the second youngest sister, died after three months in the camp. The others survived the war and rebuilt the burnt-down hotel, which has remained one of Logar Valley's landmarks to this day. 

Rozalija Klinec (1912, Medana–probably prior to 1982), camp no. 81287: on arrival at Auschwitz, 2 May 1944 (kept by: APMAB). She was from a family from the Primorska region which moved to Kamnica near Maribor on account of fascism. After the occupation, the family joined the resistance movement. They were arrested, her two brothers executed as hostages, the father died in Maribor's Judicial Detention, and the mother and Rozalija were sent as part of the last transport from Maribor to Auschwitz. The mother died after less than four months in Auschwitz, Rozalija survived. 


»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Transporti iz Ljubljanske pokrajine v letih 1943 in 1944 
Transports from the Province of Ljubljana 1943–1944 
Ob kapitulaciji Italije je obmocje Ljubljanske pokrajine prišlo pod nemškookupacijo in policijsko poveljstvo Erwina Rösenerja. Ta je isto funkcijood decembra 1941 opravljal na Štajerskem in Gorenjskem. Njegovo ime jepostalosinonim zanacisticno nasiljev tehpokrajinah,tudizato, kerjebilpodpisan na razglasih o streljanju talcev. Bistvena razlika v primerjavi zdogajanjem v omenjenih pokrajinah je bila kolaboracija dela prebivalstvaLjubljanske pokrajine najprej z italijanskim okupatorjem, od septembra1943 z imenom Slovensko domobranstvo pa z nemškim. Poosebljaljo je Leon Rupnik, župan Ljubljane v letih 1942–1943 in predsednikuprave Ljubljanske pokrajine v letih 1943–1945. Prav ta kolaboracija jeomogocila aretacije in odgon mnogih prebivalcev Ljubljanske pokrajinev koncentracijska taborišca, in to ne samo Slovencev, pac pa tudi Romovin Judov. Vsaj en transport 44 žensk je iz Ljubljane odpeljal v Auschwitz,kamor je prispel 11. decembra 1943. Pred njimi je 3. decembra 1943 prišla tjaskupina 77 nekdanjih italijanskih taborišcnikov iz Ljubljanske pokrajine.Leta 1944 je iz drugih koncentracijskih taborišc v Auschwitz prišlo še vsajnekaj deset Slovencev in vsaj en Rom iz Ljubljanske pokrajine. 
Ljubljana: the Slovenian Home Guard’s oath of allegiance, 20 April 1944, in front of the Bežigrad stadium (kept by: MNZ Ljubljana). From left to right in the front: the President of the Provincial Administration of the Province of Ljubljana, Leon Rupnik (1880, Lokve–1946, Ljubljana), the Higher SS and police leader in the Alpine region, Erwin Rösener (1902, Schwerte–1946, Ljubljana) and the Bishop of Ljubljana, Gregorij Rožman (1883, Dolincice–1959, Cleveland). Behind them: three Home Guard soldiers and three Home Guard police officers, two of whom are in uniform and one in plain clothes. It is assumed that the latter group were those who were responsible for arresting the people of Ljubljana, most likely including those who were sent to Auschwitz. 
Following Italy's capitulation, the Province of Ljubljana was occupiedby Germany and came under Erwin Rösener's police command. FromDecember 1941 onwards, Rösener also held the same position in Štajerskaand Gorenjska. His name became synonymous with Nazi violence in theseprovinces, partly due to the fact that his signature was on the hostageexecution announcements. What set the Province of Ljubljana apart fromthe other two provinces was that part of its population collaborated firstwith the Italian occupying forces, and also, from September 1943 onwards – under the name of the ‘Slovenian Home Guard’ – with the Germans. The collaboration was personified by Leon Rupnik, the mayor of Ljubljanafrom 1942 to 1943 and the President of the Provincial Administration of the Province of Ljubljana from 1943 to 1945. It was this collaboration thatmade possible the arrests and deportations of so many people from theProvince of Ljubljana to concentration camps: not only Slovenians, but alsothe Romani and Jews. At least one transport of 44 women left Ljubljanafor Auschwitz, arriving there on 11 December 1943. Before these women, agroup of 77 former Italian camp prisoners from the Province of Ljubljanaarrived in Auschwitz on 3 December 1943. In 1944, at least a few dozen Slovenians and at least one Romani from the Province of Ljubljana weretransferred to Auschwitz from other concentration camps. 






Stanko Henigman (1921, Dolenjske Toplice–2015, Novo mesto), camp no. 180758: personal card at the Mauthausen concentration camp (photo: Arolsen Archives) and in old age (kept by: Nada Bobnar). A shoemaker's assistant from Dolenjske Toplice, captured as a Partisan on 20 August 1942. He was sent to the Italian concentration camp on the island of Rab, and from there to Gonars and Renicci. Following Italy's capitulation, he was captured by the Germans and sent to a POW camp near Nuremberg, followed by the Flossenbürg concentration camp and Buchenwald, i.e. its most brutal subcamp, Dora. From Dora, he was transferred to the Lublin (Majdanek) concentration camp, and from there to Auschwitz. He spent nine-and-a-half months in Auschwitz until the evacuation on 17 January 1945, when he was sent first to the Groß-Rosen concentration camp and from there to Mauthausen. He was liberated in Mauthausen's subcamp, Ebensee. 



Marica Melik (1926, Crna vas–1946, Valdoltra), camp no. 70364: perhaps 1943 (kept by: MNZ Ljubljana). A seventeen-year-old A-student from the Poljane Grammar School, who wanted to become a doctor. Her plans were thwarted by a Home Guard 
arrest in her home village. On the morning after the arrest, 
members of the Home Guard killed her father and fourteen-year old brother in the nearby Kozler forest. She was taken to Ljubljana and placed on the women's transport bound for Auschwitz, which 
left Ljubljana on 1 December 1943. She lived to see the day of liberation, but weighed only 27 kilogrammes. She died at the age of 20 despite treatment. Her diary titled My Suffering Abroad has 
been preserved. 




»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Transport dolenjskih Romov leta 1943 

Transport of the Romani from Dolenjska 1943 
Od 26. februarja 1943 so v Birkenau pošiljali tudi transporte Romov.V Auschwitz je prispelo okoli 23.000 Romov, med njimi tudi skupina77 Romov iz okolice Novega mesta, ki so tja prispeli 2. decembra1943. Samo okoli 3.000 Romov je preživelo Auschwitz. Romov obprihodu v taborišce niso ostrigli, pustili so jim civilno obleko inosebne predmete. Vsi Romi so bili po družinah namešceni v barakahsektorja BIIe ali »Ciganskega taborišca«. Kot drugi taborišcniki sotudi Romi morali delati, vendar samo v taborišcu. Ob vecerih se jeiz romskega dela taborišca vedno slišala glasba, saj jim glasbil nisoodvzeli. Umrljivost romskih taborišcnikov je bila kljub nekaterimugodnostim zelo velika. Nekatere Rome so iz Auschwitza prestavili v druga koncentracijska taborišca, tako tudi pet dolenjskih Rominjv Ravensbrück in enega dolenjskega Roma v Buchenwald. V noci z
2. na 3. avgust 1944 so v plinskih celicah umorili zadnjih 2.897 Romov.V zgodovino Auschwitza se je ta dogodek zapisal kot »noc, ko so violine obmolknile« in je danes dan spomina na porajmos ali genocid nadRomi. Med žrtve porajmosa sodi tudi vseh 77 dolenjskih Romov, kiso bili v Auschwitzu. 
Dina Gottliebová, later Babbitt (1923, Brno–2009, Santa Cruz), camp no. 61016: portrait of a Romani woman in Auschwitz, 1944 (photo: PMAB). Painter Gottliebová, a Jewess from Czechoslovakia, was chosen by the infamous SS officer and physician in Auschwitz, Josef Mengele (1911, Günzburg–1979, Bertioga), to paint colour portraits of the Romani prisoners in Auschwitz. Mengele probably wanted such portraits for the sake of genetic research. Colour photographs did exist at the time, however, they were rare and also more expensive than the work of a camp prisoner. 
From 26 February 1943 onwards, transports to Birkenau included theRomani. About 23,000 Romani arrived in Auschwitz, but only about3,000 of them survived. Among the Romani prisoners of Auschwitz wasa group of 77 Romani from the Novo mesto area, who arrived at the campon 2 December 1943. On arrival, the Romani's hair was not cut, neither were their civilian clothes and personal belongings taken away fromthem. All the Romani families were kept together in the barracks of theBIIe sector in the so-called ‘Gypsy Family Camp’. Like the rest of theinmates, all the Romani had to work, but only inside the camp complex.Every evening, music could be heard from the Romani camp section astheir instruments were not taken away. Despite the benefits they enjoyed,the mortality of Romani prisoners was very high. Some of them weretransferred from Auschwitz to other concentration camps, including fiveRomani women and a Romani man from the Dolenjska region, who weresent to Ravensbrück and Buchenwald respectively. During the night of2 August 1944, the last 2,897 Romani were killed in the gas chambers.In the history of Auschwitz, this event is remembered as ‘the night that silenced the violins’ and 2 August is now a day of commemoration ofthe Romani genocide. All 77 Romani people from Dolenjska who wereimprisoned in Auschwitz became the victims of this genocide. 






An order for lab tests of Romani women prisoners that were used for medical experiments, 23 March 1944 (kept by: APMAB). A particularly dark chapter in Auschwitz's history are the medical experiments on the Romani. Four of those listed were Romani women from Dolenjska: Marjana Kovacic (1932, Podbocje), camp no. Z-9662, Mimi Brajdic (1937, Gotna vas), camp no. Z-9635,Kristina Brajdic (1927, Šmihel), camp no. Z-9650, and Agnes Brajdic (1889, Raka), camp no. Z-9648. The date of death is known only for the last of the four: she died three days later on 26 March 1944. The other three most likely died during ‘the night that silenced the violins’. 


Edvika Jurkovic (1925,Šentjernej–1944/45, POD unknown), camp no. Z-9622: personal card in the Buchenwald concentration camp (photo: Arolsen Archives). This is an actual personal card from Auschwitz that accompanied her during the transfer to Ravensbrück and then to Buchenwald. She was marked with a black triangle, which could otherwise also be used to identify a prisoner as a criminal. The most noticeable of the described physical characteristics is her malnourished body (‘Gestalt: unterschl.’). 



»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Transporti s Primorske leta 1944 

Transports from 
Takoj po kapitulaciji Italije je obmocje Primorske postalo del nemškeOperacijske cone Jadransko primorje, ustanovljene 10.septembra1943. Cona je zajemala obmocja italijanskih pokrajin s sedeži vVidmu, Gorici, Trstu, Pulju, na Reki in v Ljubljani. V vsej operacijskiconi, razen v Ljubljanski pokrajini, je policijsko upravo vodil OdiloGlobocnik. Pred prihodom v Trst so pod njegovo poveljstvo v Lublinuna Poljskem sodila taborišca smrti Belžec, Majdanek, Sobibor inTreblinka, ki so bila v letih 1942 in 1943 najvecja morišca holokavsta.Z njim je s Poljske prišel tudi del moštva teh taborišc. Ti ljudje nisosamo okrutno zatirali odporniškega gibanja, pac pa so tudi ustanovilikoncentracijsko taborišce Rižarna. Ceprav je to ime do danes ohranilozlovešci sloves, je bila vecina aretiranih primorskih Slovencev zaprtihv zaporu Coroneo v Trstu in v zaporu v Gorici. Od tod so mnogeposlali v koncentracijska taborišca. V Auschwitz so s Primorskepošiljali izkljucno ženske: okoli 450 Primork na vec transportih od
12. januarja do 5. novembra 1944. Vecina je bila po nekaj tednih alimesecih iz Auschwitza premešcena, zato je v tej skupini taborišcnicdelež preživelih višji kot pri preostalih skupinah. 

Odilo Globocnik (1904, Trieste–1945, Paternion): Higher SS and police leader of the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral in front of the Palazzo di Giustizia in Trieste, 20 April 1944 (kept by: MNZ Ljubljana). One of the vilest Nazis, whose father was a Slovenian. Under his command, probably about 2 million Jews and about 50,000 Romani were killed in Poland in 1942 and 1943. Behind the pictured building is the Coroneo prison, from where a large part of the approximately 450 Primorska female prisoners of Auschwitz were sent there. 


Primorska 1944 
Immediately after Italy's capitulation, the territory of the Primorskacame under the German Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral,established on 10 September 1943, which comprised the territories ofthe Italian provinces with seats in Udine, Gorizia, Trieste, Pula, Rijekaand Ljubljana. With the exception of the Province of Ljubljana, thepolice administration throughout the Operational Zone was under thedirect command of Odilo Globocnik. Prior to his arrival in Trieste, the death camps of Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka – these werethe Holocaust's major killing centres in 1942 and 1943 – were under hiscommand in Lublin, Poland. A part of the team from these camps camewith Globocnik from Poland. Not only did they brutally suppress theresistance movement, they also established the Risiera di San Sabbaconcentration camp. Although the camp's name has remained infamousto this day, most arrested Slovenians from the region were imprisonedin the Coroneo prison in Trieste and the prison in Gorizia. From there,many were sent to concentration camps. When it came to Auschwitz, allof the deportees from Primorska were women: about 450 women weresent there in several transports between 12 January and 5 November 1944.Given that after a few weeks or months most of them were transferred from Auschwitz elsewhere, the survival rate in this group of female campprisoners is higher than in other groups. 







Fanika Gomišcek (1926, Deskle–1944, 
Auschwitz), camp no. 70379: perhaps 1942 or 1943 (photo: Auschwitz - Birkenau, 1982). As a seventeen-year-old girl, she joined the Gradnik Brigade following Italy's capitulation. Women's participation in warfare – previously considered unusual – was one of the special features of the Yugoslav Partisans. She was captured after two months of fighting, and was taken to Ljubljana for questioning and torture. She was sent to Auschwitz in a transport of women from Ljubljana, arriving there on 11 December 1943. This makes her one of the first two women from the Primorska region in Auschwitz. She passed away after two months in the camp and was thus the first woman from Primorska to die at Auschwitz. 
Fanika Gomišcek (1926, Deskle – 1944, Auschwitz), taborišcna št. 70379: verjetno 1942 ali 1943 (fotografija: Auschwitz - Birkenau, 1982). Kot sedemnajstletno dekle je po kapitulaciji Italije vstopila v Gradnikovo brigado. Do takrat neobicajno sodelovanje žensk v vojskovanju je sicer ena izmed posebnosti jugoslovanske partizanske vojske. Po dveh mesecih bojevanja so jo ujeli ter odpeljali na zaslišanje in mucenje v Ljubljano. S transportom Ljubljancank je bila poslana v Auschwitz, kamor je prispela 
11. decembra 1943. Tako je postala ena izmed prvih dveh Primork v Auschwitzu. 
Po dveh mesecih je umrla in zato je tudi prva Primorka, ki je umrla v tem taborišcu. 
Marija Cefarin (1927, Deskle–1945, 


Merano), camp no. 82402: perhaps 1943 or 1944 (photo: Auschwitz - Birkenau, 1982). She was arrested in her home village on 
21 June 1944, three days before she turned 
17. On that day, 27 girls and 19 men were taken from Deskle to the prison in Gorizia. All the girls were sent to Auschwitz, most 
of them arriving on 1 July, and some on 14 July 1944. In the autumn, most of them were transferred to less strict labour camps, and some to Bergen-Belsen, where the pre-liberation conditions were even worse than in Auschwitz. Marija was one of those who never returned home. She did live to see the end of the war, but died on the way home due to the consequences of life in the camps. 



Ilka Bignami, née Devetak (1896, Tolmin–1944, Auschwitz), camp no. 
86987: bust (photo: Marko Grego, kept by: Tolminski muzej). An Italian general’s wife and a Partisan informer. She was arrested and sent to the Gorizia prison, and from there to Auschwitz, where she arrived on 17 August 1944. She could speak several languages and thus had no problems making contacts that were helpful to inmates. When she was with one of her contacts, she was late for the roll call and was punished by being made to kneel in the snow with her arms raised, laden with stones. She fell ill afterwards and died on 19 December 1944. 




»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Tovarna smrti 


The Death Factory 
Šele ko so bili v taborišcu Birkenau do poletja leta 1943 zgrajenikrematoriji (in plinske celice) II, III, IV in V z dnevno zmogljivostjo
4.416 ljudi in ko so do jeseni istega leta prenehala delovati unicevalnataborišca Belžec, Majdanek, Sobibor in Treblinka, je Auschwitz IIpostal cilj skoraj vseh transportov Judov, ki jih je organiziral AdolfEichmann. Zaradi pomena, ki ga je Birkenau sicer postopoma dobil za»dokoncno rešitev judovskega vprašanja«, je bilo od okoli 1,3 milijonaljudi, poslanih v Auschwitz, kar okoli 1,1 milijona (ali 85 %) Judov.Judje zato predstavljajo tudi ogromno vecino žrtev Auschwitza:
960.000 (ali 87 %) od skupnega števila 1,1 milijona žrtev. Ubijanjeje biloizvedeno tako,dajeBirkenau upraviceno dobil ime»tovarna smrti«. Ucinkovitost ubijanja Judov so ves cas izboljševali: zadnjikorak je bilo maja 1944 dokoncano podaljšanje železniških tirovskozi t. i. Vrata smrti do krematorijev (in plinskih celic) II in III. To jepomenilo, da so tisti Judje, ki so bili selekcionirani za smrt, od prihodado smrti živeli samo še eno ali dve uri. 
Auschwitz II-Birkenau: aerial photo, 23 August 1944 (photo: RSAAF, kept by: The National Collection of Aerial Photography, Edinburgh). A new ramp is visible in the centre of the right side of the photo; in May 1944, the rail tracks were finally extended through the so-called Gate of Death all the way to the Crematoria (and gas chambers) II and III. To the right of the ramp is the BI sector, while the BII sector is to the left of it in the central part of the photo. On the left side of the photo is the unfinished BIII sector known as ‘Mexico’. By the bottom left corner of the BII sector is a birch grove with Crematoria (and gas chambers) IV and V. On account of the massive scale of the killings, the bodies were also burnt out in the open next to crematorium V and the smoke of the cremated bodies is visible. To the right of Crematorium IV are storehouses for personal belongings seized from the prisoners called ‘Kanada’. 
It was not until the summer of 1943, when Crematoria (and gaschambers) II, III, IV and V with a daily capacity of 4,416 peoplewere built at Birkenau and when the Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor andTreblinka extermination camps ceased to operate by the autumnof that same year, that Auschwitz II became the finaldestination of almost all transports of Jews organised by Adolf Eichmann. Due tothe importance Birkenau gradually assumed in terms of the ‘FinalSolution to the Jewish Question’, about 1.1 million (or 85%) of a total ofabout 1.3 million people sent to Auschwitz were Jews. For this reason,Jews make up the vast majority of Auschwitz victims, i.e. 960,000(or 87%) of the total number of victims, which amounted to about
1.1 million. The killings were carried out in such a way that Birkenauwas aptly named ‘the Death Factory’. The effectiveness of the killingof Jews was constantly improved: the last step was the final extensionof the rail tracks in May 1944 through the so-called Gate of Death toCrematoria (and gas chambers) II and III. This meant that the Jewswho were selected to die only had another hour or two to live from the time they arrived. 






Auschwitz II-Birkenau: Crematorium (and gas chamber) III during construction, 1943 (kept by: APMAB). Crematoria II and III were identical. They each had a dressing room the victims were told they were going to take a shower – and a gas chamber, both of which were underground. An electric lift was used to lift the dead bodies up to the next floor. The Sonderkommando, i.e. the prisoners who worked in the crematorium, cut the hair of the women's dead bodies before they were cremated, examined the teeth of all adult bodies and extracted any gold teeth. The two crematoria ceased to operate in November 1944 and were blown up on 20 January 1945. 


Solahütte: a resort for the SS from Auschwitz, June or July 1944 (a photo album belonging to Karl-Friedrich Höcker, kept by: USHMM). The people in charge of the ‘Death Factory’ (row 1, from left to right): 1 – Karl-Friedrich Höcker (1911, Engershausen–2000, Lübbecke), adjutant to Auschwitz I's commandant, 3 – Rudolf Höss, Auschwitz commandant, 4 – Richard Baer (1911, Floß–1963, Frankfurt am Main), Auschwitz I commandant, 5 – Josef Kramer (1906, München–1945, Hameln), Auschwitz II Birkenau commandant, and 7 – Josef Mengele, chief physician at Auschwitz II Birkenau. 



»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Transporti prekmurskih Judov leta 1944 
Transports of Jews 

Najvecji obseg je »tovarna smrti« Auschwitz dobila zaradi nemškezasedbe Madžarske 19. marca 1944. V t. i. Ungarn Aktion, ki jo jevodil sam Adolf Eichmann, so od konca aprila do zacetka julija 1944odpeljali vec kot 430.000 Judov s takratne Madžarske v Auschwitz.Prekmurski Judje so bili med prvimi žrtvami te »akcije«. 19. aprila 1944je bila namrec sprejeta odlocitev, da aretirajo najprej Jude iz obmocijblizu jugoslovanskih partizanov in jim tako preprecijo, da bi se zateklik njim. 26. aprila 1944 so madžarski žandarji okoli 280 prekmurskihJudov – otroke, starke in starce ter ženske in kot najmanj številnemoške, saj je bila vecina že vpoklicana v delovne enote madžarskevojske – odpeljali v murskosoboško in lendavsko sinagogo. Naslednjidan so jih pripeljali v Cakovec in jih skupaj z medžimurskimi Judipredali esesovcem. Vse so 28. aprila 1944 odpeljali v Nagykanizso.Takoj so izbrali za delo sposobne in jih še istega dne popoldne z vlakomposlali na »delo v Nemcijo«. V Budimpešti so jim prikljucili še Jude izinternacijskega taborišca Kistarcsa. Kot prviizmed147transportov Ungarn Aktiona so 2. maja 1944 prispeli v Auschwitz. Ker so bili na tem transportu za delo sposobni, je bilo okoli dve tretjini prispelihsprejetih v taborišce. Preostale so takoj ubili v plinskih celicah. 
Auschwitz II-Birkenau: the ramp, probably on 27 May 1944, the arrival of a transport of Jews from Subcarpathian Ukraine (Auschwitz Album, kept by: Yad Vashem). Top left and in the middle: the barracks and brick buildings of the BIb sector, where the women's part of the camp was located at the time; top right: Crematorium (and gas chamber) II. All the new arrivals in the photo are clad in winter coats although it was late spring at the time. When they were arrested, they had no idea what lay in store for them, so they took their warmest clothes. Most people in the photo had only an hour, or maybe two, left to live. 

from Prekmurje 1944 
More prisoners than ever were kept at Auschwitz's ‘Death Factory’following the German occupation of Hungary on 19 March 1944. Betweenlate April and early July 1944, more than 430,000 Jews from the thenHungary were taken to Auschwitz during the so-called Ungarn Aktion, led by Adolf Eichmann himself. The Jews from Prekmurje were among thefirst victims of this campaign. In fact, on 19 April 1944, it was decided thatJews from areas close to the Yugoslav Partisans must be arrested first toprevent them from finding refuge with the Partisans. On 26 April 1944, theHungarian Gendarmerie took about 280 Jews from Prekmurje – children,women, elderly women and men, as well as younger men, although thelatter were outnumbered by all the others as most of them had already been enlisted in the Hungarian Army's work units – to the Murska Sobotaand Lendava synagogues. The next day they were taken to Cakovec andhanded over to the SS together with the Jews from Medimurje. On28 April 1944 they were all taken to Nagykanizsa. Those deemed fit forwork were immediately selected and were sent ‘to Germany to work’ bytrain later that afternoon. In Budapest, they were joined by Jews from theKistarcsa internment camp. They arrived at Auschwitz on 2 May 1944 asthe first of the 147 Ungarn Aktion transports. As the new arrivals on thistransport were fit for work, about two-thirds of them were admitted intothe camp. The rest were immediately killed in the gas chambers. 






Auschwitz II-Birkenau: the ramp, probably on 27 May 1944, the selection of Jews from Subcarpathian Ukraine (Auschwitz Album, kept by: Yad Vashem). To the right for the labour camp, to the left for the gas chamber – the woman with the baby was sent there. In the background: the so-called Gate of Death. Also visible are the Kanada Kommando inmates carrying luggage belonging to the new arrivals, who had to leave it all in the wagons. The Kanada Kommando inmates also had to assist with selection. Despite harsh punishment, they often took the risk, advising the new arrivals what to say during selection. Such advice 
saved the life of Tomislav Schwarz, a Jew from Prekmurje, known as Yoel Shachar in Israel (1931, Lendava–2018, Israel), camp no. A-3576. 
The family of Lajos/Ludvik Blau (1903, 
Lendava–1998, Murska Sobota), probably Lendava, prior to 1941 (kept by: Galerija-Muzej Lendava). Standing: brother Jeno/Evgen(1907, Lendava–1945, Ágfalva), wife Magda, née Preiss (1914, Lendava–1944, Auschwitz), Lajos and sister Margit, married name Nemes (1909, Lendava–1944, Auschwitz); sitting down: mother Malvina, née Dreisiger (1881, Páka–1944, Auschwitz), daughter Livija (1938, Zagreb–1944, Auschwitz) and father Henrik (1875, Petišovci–1944, Auschwitz). Lajos spent the war as a prisoner of war in Germany. All his relatives in the photo, except for his sister and brother, were killed at Auschwitz on 21 May 1944. His sister died there some time later. His brother died in a Hungarian Army work unit. 




»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Transporti prekmurskih Judov leta 1944 


Transports of Jews 

Vecina 26. aprila 1944 aretiranih prekmurskih Judov, predvsem otrociz materami in starejši ljudje, so ostali v Nagykanizsi. 18. maja 1944 jeod tam odšel drugi transport v Auschwitz. Prispel je 21. maja 1944. Tadan je bil najbolj grozljiv v vsem casu obstoja taborišca Auschwitz: sšestimi transporti iz Madžarske, eden od njih je bil drugi transport izNagykanizse, je prispelo vec kot 17.000 Judov, od katerih so jih okoli
13.000 takoj po selekciji usmrtili. Prekmurska Judinja Šarika Heimer(1925, Murska Sobota – verjetno 2002, Izrael), taborišcna št. 80860,se je teh dni spominjala: »… ogromni transporti ljudi, ki so jih dan za dnem vozili v taborišce. Vsak dan se je slišalo strahotno vpitje nedolžnihljudi. Bilo je strašno, nebo nad krematorijem pa je žarelo.« Verjetno jebil 21. maj 1944 tudi dan, ko je bilo v drugi svetovni vojni usmrcenihnajvec ljudi iz Slovenije. Sicer velja za najbolj krvav dan 2. oktober1942, ko je bilo v Mariboru ustreljenih 143 talcev. Okoli 25 Judov zobmocja Šalovcev in Motvarjevcev so pripeljali v Auschwitz v zacetkujulija 1944 preko Szombathelyja in Zalaegerszega. 
Auschwitz II-Birkenau: a birch grove in front of Crematorium (and gas chamber) IV, probably on 26 May 1944 (Auschwitz Album, kept by: Yad Vashem). There were so many transports of Jews during the Ungarn Aktion that those selected to die – such as those in the photo – sometimes had to wait a while to be executed. It is very likely that the Jews from Prekmurje who arrived in Auschwitz on 21 May 1944 on the second transport from Nagykanizsa waited at the same location as the people in the photo. In the background the barracks in the ‘Kanada’ sector are visible: storehouses for belongings seized from the inmates. 


from Prekmurje 1944 
Most of the Jews from Prekmurje arrested on 26 April 1944, in particularchildren with mothers and the elderly, stayed in Nagykanizsa. On 18 May1944, the second transport left Nagykanizsa for Auschwitz, arriving thereon 21 May 1944. This was the most horrifying day of the entire existenceof the Auschwitz concentration camp: more than 17,000 Jews arrivedon six transports from Hungary, one of them being the second transportfrom Nagykanizsa; about 13,000 of them were killed immediately afterselection. A Jewess from Prekmurje, Šarika Heimer (1925, MurskaSobota–probably 2002, Israel), camp no. 80860, remembered thosedays with the following words: “… massive transports of people arrived at the camp day after day. Every single day, you could hear the blood­curdling screaming of innocent people. It was horrible and the sky above the crematorium was lit aglow.” 21 May 1944 was probably also the daywhen the largest number of people from Slovenia were killed in a singleday during World War II. Apart from this day, 2 October 1942, when 143hostages were shot in Maribor, is considered the bloodiest day. About 25Jews from the area of Šalovci and Motvarjevci were brought to Auschwitzin early July 1944 via Szombathely and Zalaegerszeg. 






The family of Šarika Hahn, later Horvat (1928, Murska Sobota–2000, Murska Sobota), probably Murska Sobota, priorto 1941 (kept by: Irena Horvat Šavel). Standing: father Izidor (1893, Bodonci–1945, Chotýcany), camp no. 186793; sittingdown: Šarika, mother Irena, née Kemény (1902, Mošcanci–1944, Auschwitz), and brother Andrej (1932, Murska Sobota–1944, Auschwitz). The father arrived in Auschwitz on the first transport from Nagykanizsa. He died on the way to Mauthausen following the evacuation of Auschwitz. The mother and the brother were executed on 21 May 1944 in Auschwitz. Šarika survived selection. In June 1944, she was sent to the 
Geislingen an der Steige labour camp. She was liberated on 30 April 1945 in Seeshaupt. 
Auschwitz II-Birkenau: Jews from Subcarpathian Ukraine after completed registration in camp uniforms, 27 May 1944 (Auschwitz Album, kept by: Yad Vashem). Primo Levi (1919, Turin–1987, Turin), camp no. 174517, wrote the following: “Nothing belongs to us any more: they took our clothes, our shoes, even our hair; if we speak, they won't listen to us; and even if they did, they wouldn't understand us. And now they'll take our names away too; …” The Jews who survived the initial selection were not destined to live. Thus, only 26 Jews from Prekmurje – 23 women and three men – survived Auschwitz. 




»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Transporti drugih 

Transports of other 
Leta 1937 je na obmocju današnje Slovenije živelo 778 Judov. Malovec kot polovica, natancneje 417, jih je živelo na obmocju Prekmurja.Vec kot 300 prekmurskih Judov je bilo poslanih v Auschwitz in samo26, 23 žensk in trije moški, jih je vojno preživelo. V Auschwitz jebilo poslanih še vsaj 26 Judov iz Maribora, Ljubljane in s Ptuja. Odtehstapreživelasamoen moškiin enaženska. Vsajdvamariborska Juda, ki sta bila rojena na obmocju Neodvisne države Hrvaške, stase po zacetku okupacije vrnila v rojstna kraja in v Auschwitz so ju stransporti odpeljali od tam. Nekateri so v to taborišce prispeli v okviru transportov Ungarn Aktiona. Vec slovenskih Judov se je v casu predkapitulacijo Italije zateklo ali bilo konfiniranih v Italijo. Nekatere so pozacetku nemške okupacije poslali v Auschwitz s transporti italijanskihJudov, tudi preko Rižarne. 
Auschwitz II-Birkenau: a typed order for urine tests of twins, 7 June 1944 (kept by: APMAB). All the listed twins were Jews, including the Kohnstein twins from Maribor, Gizela (1927, Maribor–2014, Policka), camp no. 80913, and Milica (1927, Maribor–1946, Budapest), camp no. 80912. Signed by Josef Mengele. Experiments were performed on one of the twins – when it came to the Kohnstein twins this was Milica – not, however, on the other, who was used as a control sample. Milica did live to see the day of Auschwitz's liberation, but died soon after from the consequences of the experiments. Gizela was a witness in an investigation against Mengele in the 1970s, when he was still alive. 
slovenskih Judov 


Jews from Slovenia 
In 1937, a total of 778 Jews lived in the territory of present-daySlovenia. Over half of them (417) lived in the Prekmurje area andmore than 300 of these were sent to Auschwitz. Only 26 of them – 23women and three men – survived the war. At least 26 other Jews were sent to Auschwitz from Maribor, Ljubljana and Ptuj, of whom onlyone man and one woman survived. At least two Jews from Maribor, who were born in the Independent State of Croatia, returned totheir hometowns after the start of the occupation and were taken toAuschwitz by transport from there. Some Jews arrived at Auschwitzas part of the Ungarn Aktion transports. Prior to the capitulation of Italy, a number of Jews from Slovenia either took refuge in Italy orwere placed in confinement there. Following the German occupation,some were sent to Auschwitz on transports carrying Italian Jews,including via Risiera di San Sabba. 






Cousins Milan Singer (1931, Zagreb–1944, Auschwitz) and Oto Kohnstein, today Konstein (1929, Cakovec), camp no. A-3227, Maribor, 1935 (kept by: Oto Konstein). The cousins were brought to Auschwitz on 21 May 1944. The younger cousin, Milan, was killed later that day together with his mother Erna Singer, née Kohnstein (1904, Jihlava–1944, Auschwitz), grandmother Marija Singer, née Zeissler (1860, Szombathely–1944, Auschwitz), and aunts Pavla Kohnstein (1889, Okríšky–1944, Auschwitz) and Olga Kohnstein, née Singer (1895, Hodošan–1944, Auschwitz). The older cousin, Oto, survived Auschwitz and was at Bergen-Belsen at the time of liberation. 
Vera Moskovic (1919, Ljubljana–1944, Auschwitz), camp no. A-8482: prior to 1941 (photo: Ana Benedetic, Slovenski študenti in Univerza: 1941–1945, 1999). A student of pedagogy and Liberation Front activist from Ljubljana. In 1942 she was placed in confinement in Italy together with her father, Feliks (1878, Varaždin–1944, Auschwitz), and her brother, Julij (1924, Ljubljana–1944, Flossenbürg), camp no. A-15???. Following Italy's capitulation, they were all arrested and sent to the Fossoli camp and thence to Auschwitz, where they arrived on 30 June 1944. While she and her brother were selected for forced labour, the father was killed later that day. She spent the last month of her life in Birkenau in a hospital in barracks 22, sector BIb. On 30 October 1944, she was ‘transferred’, but actually sent to a gas chamber. On 1 or 2 November 1944, the Auschwitz gas chambers ceased operation. 




»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Zadnji transporti 

The Final 

Bolj ko se je slabšal nemški položaj na frontah, bolj se je povecevalapotreba po taborišcnikih in bolj se je slabšal njihov položaj. Premikitaborišcnikov iz enega taborišca v drugo so bili cedalje manj smiselni.To se je najprej pokazalo pri evakuaciji Majdanka pri Lublinu, prvegakoncentracijskega taborišca, ki ga je osvobodila kakšna zavezniškavojska, konkretno Sovjeti 22. julija 1944. Vanj je bilo v prvih mesecihleta 1944 poslanih vec deset Slovencev in Slovenk iz razlicnihkoncentracijskih taborišc. Zaradi hitrega približevanja Sovjetov soiz njega v vec transportih od aprila do julija 1944 prišli v Auschwitz.Zaradi številnih transportov iz vse Evrope je bil Auschwitz sicernajvecje delovno taborišce. Predvsem poleti 1944 je imel tudi presežkeza delo primernih taborišcnikov, ki so jih zato pošiljali v drugataborišca. Število transportov iz Auschwitza v druga taborišca se jejeseni 1944 še povecalo zaradi samo še 200 km oddaljene fronte. Kljubtemu je še 3. decembra 1944 iz Mauthausna prišel velik transporttaborišcnikov, med njimi tudi nekaj deset Slovencev kot zadnjihslovenskih taborišcnikov v Auschwitzu. 
Anton Papež (1909, Šmartno ob Paki–after 1945 unknown fate): personal card at the Mauthausen camp (photo: Arolsen Archives). A tailor from Maribor arrested as a Jehovah's Witness (labelled as Bifo Bibelforscher or Bible student) and sent to Dachau, where he arrived on 6 June 1942. He was transferred from Dachau to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and thence to Lublin (Majdanek). From there, he was sent to Auschwitz on the last transport, arriving on 28 July 1944. He was at Auschwitz for five-and-a-half months, until 17 January 1945 and the evacuation to Mauthausen, where he was at the time of liberation. 



Transports 
As Germany's position on the fronts deteriorated, this resultedin a growing need for camp prisoners and their situation becameincreasingly grave. Transferring prisoners from one camp to anothermade less and less sense. This was first revealed during the evacuationof the Majdanek camp in Lublin – the first concentration campliberated by the Allied powers, specifically by the Soviets on 22 July1944. During the first few months of 1944, dozens of Slovenians weresent there from various concentration camps. However, due to therapid approach of the Soviets, they were transferred to Auschwitz onseveral transports from April to July 1944. On account of the manytransports from all over Europe, Auschwitz was the largest labourcamp. In the summer of 1944 in particular, it had a surplus of inmateswho were fit for work and were therefore sent to other camps. The number of transports from Auschwitz to other camps increased inthe autumn of 1944 due to the distance to the front, which was now a mere 200 km away. Nevertheless, a large transport of new prisonersarrived from Mauthausen on 3 December 1944, including a few dozenSlovenians, who were the very last Slovenian Auschwitz prisoners. 



Jakob Osojnik (1925, Javorje–1945, Mauthausen), camp no. 199521: on arrival at Auschwitz, 20 September 1944 (kept by: APMAB). A farmer's son from Javorje near Crna na Koroškem. He was arrested together with his father Jakob Osojnik (1895, Javorje–1945, Mauthausen), camp no. 199520. They were sent to Dachau, arriving on 16 May 1944, and then transferred to Auschwitz. They were photographed on arrival, but the father's photo has not been preserved. The letter J (= Jugoslawe, 
i.e. Yugoslav) on a red triangle (= a political prisoner) is visible on the son's photo. They stayed in Auschwitz until the evacuation to the Groß-Rosen concentration camp on 17 January 1945. They were transferred to Mauthausen, where they arrived on 
15 February 1945. They both died here: the father four and the son 20 days after arrival. 
Arnošt Kohnstein (1888, Okríšky–1944, Stutthof), camp no. 186838: the questionnaire completed on arrival in Stutthof, 28 October 1944 (photo: Arolsen Archives). A leather factory owner from Maribor. Following the start of the occupation, he and his family found refuge with their relatives in Cakovec. He arrived in Auschwitz on 2 May 1944 on the first transport from Nagykanizsa and was then transferred to Stutthof. His answers: 
“… Wife's Name: Olga, née Singer; Race: Jew; Place of Residence: unknown (= she was actually killed in Auschwitz on 21 May 1944) ... Special Features: left forearm tattooed: ‘186838’…” The date of death is added in the top right corner: 16 December 1944. 




Ferdinand Šlamberger (1912, Pokoše–1945, POD unknown), camp no. 20????: prior to 1944 (kept by: Marinka Hasenbihel). A telephone supervisor from Gornja Radgona arrested for cooperation with the resistance movement. Hewas sent to the Šterntal (present-day Kidricevo) labour camp and from there to Dachau, where he arrived on 10 September 1944. Four days later, he was transferred to Mauthausen. On 3 December 1944, he was sent to Auschwitz on a transport of 1,120 prisoners. His family received his last letter on 12 January 1945. His ultimate fate is unknown. 




»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Osvoboditev Auschwitza 

The Liberation of Auschwitz 
12. januarja 1945 se je zacela dolgo pricakovana sovjetska ofenziva,zato so 17. januarja 1945 v vseh glavnih in podružnicnih taborišcih šezadnjic opravili zbore (t. i. apele) in našteli 67.012 taborišcnikov terzaceli evakuacijo. Vsi evakuirani taborišcniki so vsaj del poti prehodili,kar je bilo ob njihovi siceršnji oslabelosti, izjemno mrzlem vremenuin visokem snegu izjemno težko. Vsakogar, ki je zaradi onemoglosti zastal ali pa naredil kakršen koli disciplinski prekršek, so stražarjineusmiljeno ustrelili. Ni pretiravanje, da so ti pohodi dobili ime »maršismrti«. Okoli 7.500 taborišcnikov, ki so bili prešibki, da bi preživeli»marše smrti« v druga taborišca, stražarji pa jih pred odhodom še nisoubili, je ostalo. V desetih dneh do prihoda osvoboditeljev jih je velikoumrlo, nekatere pa so ustrelili esesovci, ki so odstranjevali dokaze ozlocinih. 27. januarja 1945 so v Auschwitz prišli sovjetski vojaki. Prvi,ki so vstopili v Birkenau, so bili obleceni v bela maskirna oblacila intaborišcnikom so se zdeli kot duhovi. Tudi sovjetskim vojakom so sezdeli prizori, ki so jih zagledali v taborišcu, povsem neresnicni. 


Jože Bradac (1900, Podhosta–1963, Ljubljana), camp no. 166153: leading Yugoslav prisoners home from Auschwitz I, March or April 1945 (photo: Auschwitz - Birkenau, 1982). A World War I veteran from Dolenjske Toplice, who lost both his legs in an accident in 1922. He was arrested as a Liberation Front activist and first taken to the Gonars concentration camp in Italy and then to Renicci. Following Italy's capitulation, he was captured by the Germans, who sent him to a POW camp near Nuremberg and from there to the Flossenbürg concentration camp. On 3 December 1943, he was transferred to Auschwitz, where, as a disabled person, he was saved from the gas chamber by his knowledge of German. 
The long-awaited Soviet offensive started on 12 January 1945. Asa result, on 17 January 1945 the daily roll calls took place in all themain camps and subcamps for the last time, counting a total of 67,012prisoners, and then the evacuation started. All the evacuated prisonershad to walk at least part of the way, which was extremely difficult dueto their weakened state, the bitterly cold weather and thick snow.Anyone who was unable to keep pace due to exhaustion or whocommitted a disciplinary offence was mercilessly shot dead by theguards. The marches were thus aptly named ‘death marches’. Some7,500 prisoners who were too weak to survive the death marches toother camps and who the guards failed to kill before leaving stayedbehind. During the ten days leading up to the arrival of the liberators,many prisoners died while some were shot dead by the SS who wereremoving evidence of the crimes committed inside the camps. Sovietsoldiers arrived at Auschwitz on 27 January 1945. The very first Sovietsoldiers to enter Birkenau were wearing white camouflage clothingand seemed like ghosts to the prisoners. The soldiers, meanwhile,found the scenes they saw in the camp totally surreal. 





Auschwitz II-Birkenau: the barracks, dead bodies and the survivors (film by: Elizaveta Svilova, 1945, from: The Liberation of Auschwitz, 2005). The two women in the photo taken shortly following the liberation are Jewish survivors, Bojana/Boriska Taus (1906, POB unknown–after 1945 unknown fate), camp no. 81215, from Novi Sad, who arrived on the transport from Backa Topola on 2 May 1944, and Katarina Beer (1937, Zvolen–after 1945 unknown fate), camp no. A-26857, from Slovakia, who arrived on the transport from Sered on 3 November 1944. The girl arrived in Auschwitz a mere day after the gas chambers stopped operating. 


The family of Erika Fürst (1931, Murska Sobota), camp no. A-15981, Murska Sobota, 1940 (kept by: Erika Fürst). Standing: father Edvard (1892, Bakovci–1944/45, POD unknown), campno. 186710, sister Šarika (1928, Murska Sobota–1948, Maribor), camp no. A-15980, and Erika; sitting: mother Terezija, née Hirschl (1901, Szombathely–1973, Murska Sobota), camp no. A-15979. The mother and the sister, who were both seriously ill at the time of evacuation, stayed at Birkenau. Erika fled from the ‘death march’, returned to Birkenau and cared for them for ten days until the arrival of the liberators, thus saving their lives. 



»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«: SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death ...«: SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ 
Ohranjanje spomina 

Remembrance 
Ohranjanje spomina na trpljenje v Auschwitzu se je zacelo že obosvoboditvi taborišca, ko je Poldka Kos zabeležila 57 preživelihJugoslovank in njihove taborišcne številke. Slovenski casopisi sozaradi procesov proti vojnim zlocincem v prvih letih po vojni omenjaliAuschwitz in druga taborišca, vsekakor pa v desetletjih po vojni tatematika ni imela takšnega pomena kot oboroženi odpor. Zato sospomini Jožice Veble-Hodnik (1914, Celje – 1982 verjetno še živa),taborišcna št. 34634, z naslovom Preživela sem taborišce smrti iz leta 1960 in zbirka dokumentov s pesmimi Lojzeta Krakarja (1926, Semic –1995, Ljubljana), ki je sicer preživel Dachau in Buchenwald, z naslovomOd tod so bežale še ptice iz leta 1962 prej izjema kot pravilo. Procesproti Adolfu Eichmannu leta 1961 v Jeruzalemu in trije procesi protiesesovcem iz Auschwitza v Frankfurtu ob Majni v letih 1963–1968 sotudi v slovenski javnosti obudili zanimanje za Auschwitz. Sad tegazanimanja je bila razstava predhodnika današnjega Muzeja novejše zgodovine Celje leta 1970. Na tej razstavi je bilo predstavljenih 800fotografij slovenskih taborišcnikov z željo, da se jih cim vec identificira.Žalob razstavini izšelkatalog. Temeljno, dozdajnepreseženodelo sta leta 1982 z zbornikom Auschwitz - Birkenau naredili MarijaKovac Zupancic in Linka Ksela. Avtor te razstave upa, da je uspešnonadaljeval delo omenjenih predhodnikov. 
Sonja Zabric, later Vršcaj (1925, Šepulje), camp no. 82396: with students of Slovenian grammar schools at Birkenau in the BI sector, near the barracks where she stayed in 1944, May 2015 (photo: Boris Hajdinjak). She was arrested as a Liberation Front activist and was brought from Trieste to Auschwitz on 1 July 1944. Despite her great age, the long-time chairwoman of the Slovenian Auschwitz Prisoner Committee still works with young people, sharing her memories. 
Endeavours to keep alive the memory of the suffering at Auschwitz began as soon as the camp was liberated, when Poldka Kos wrote down the namesof the 57 surviving Yugoslav women and their camp numbers. During thefirst few years after the war, Slovenian newspapers mentioned Auschwitzand other camps because of the war crimes trials. However, in the decadesthat followed the war, not as much importance was attached to this topic asto armed resistance. That is why Jožica Veble-Hodnik's (1914, Celje–1982probably still alive), camp no. 34634, 1960 memoirs titled I Survived the Death Camp, and the 1962 collection of documents with poems by Lojze Krakar(1926, Semic–1995, Ljubljana), a Dachau and Buchenwald survivor, titledEven the Birds Fled from Here, are the exception rather than the rule. The 1962trial against Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem and the three trials against the SSpersonnel who served at Auschwitz, held from 1963 to 1968 in Frankfurt amMain, also aroused the Slovenian public's interest in Auschwitz. The resultof this interest was an exhibition staged by the precursor of today's Museumof Recent History Celje in 1970. This exhibition featured 800 photographs ofSlovenian concentration camp prisoners with the aim of identifying as manyof them as possible. Unfortunately, no accompanying exhibition cataloguewas published. A fundamental work on this topic was authored by MarijaKovac Zupancic and Linka Ksela, who published a collection of personaltestimonies Auschwitz - Birkenauin 1982. The author of this exhibition hopeshe has successfully continued the work of his predecessors. 





Poldka Kos (1889, Idrija–1968, Golnik), camp no. 88927: the list of Yugoslav women that survived Auschwitz, written on a blank prisoner letter template immediately following liberation of the camp (photos: Auschwitz - Birkenau, 1982). A teacher, pre-war communist and underground member of the resistance movement during the war, arrested in Trieste. She arrived in Auschwitz on one of the last transports from Primorska on 2 October 1944. She published her memories of Auschwitz in an article. 


Linka Ksela (1924, Ruše–2005, Maribor), camp no. 66278: on arrival at Auschwitz, 23 October 1943 (kept by: APMAB). The only surviving Pohorje Battalion woman combatant. She was sent to Auschwitz from Maribor together with her elder sister, Zora Ksela (1920, Ruše–1944, Auschwitz), camp no. 66279. In 1982, she worked alongside the pre-war communist Marija Kovac Zupancic (1914, Radece–2010, Ljubljana), camp no. 65096, sent from Maribor to Auschwitz on 15 October 1943, on a collection of personal testimonies Auschwitz - Birkenau, which remains the most important work on Slovenian prisoners in Auschwitz. 
94 
96 
= 
–

98 
100 


»Tu se je smrt utrudila do smrti …«

»Here Is Where Death Worked Itself to Death...« 
SLOVENSKE ŽRTVE AUSCHWITZA 
SLOVENIAN VICTIMS OF AUSCHWITZ