KL Płaszów: The Earth Holds the Souls
Growing up in a Jewish community in Upstate New York didn't prepare me for being Jewish in Krakow, Poland. My series, “KL Płaszów: The Earth Holds the Souls” is a documentation of the concentration camp during my visit in 2017. The experience helped me to understand the travesties and tragedies of World War II, and profoundly connected me to my heritage as I walked in the shadows of death and sadness.
The project focuses on land infused with a painful and sacred history, in particular, KL Płaszów, the Ghetto and seven Synagogues that still remain. I was surprised that places so connected to death and torture, are now eerily beautiful and serene. Struck by the dichotomy of land that holds so much pain, with land that provides comfort and solace, this work helped me to understand that it is not only people who survive and move forward, but the natural world is also able to transform, shedding previous incarnations and growing into a form of serenity.
The Third Reich defeated the Polish Army in two weeks and swiftly moved the Jewish people out of their homes and into the Ghetto. Just ten minutes from the center of Krakow were two Jewish cemeteries that the Third Reich turned into the labor camp KL Plaszow, using Jewish and Polish laborers. In 2017 when I was there, only two buildings still stood - the "Grey House," which sits at the main intersection off SS-Strasse and Bergstrasse, whose basement saw horrific torture, and the "Red House," home to the Butcher of Plaszow, Amon Goeth. It is important to know that these horrible houses where atrocities occurred are not museums but are homes that are occupied by people that may or may not know the history that lives in their walls. As I walked through the camp, which is now a park surrounded by new housing developments with little signs of the past, I could not help but feel the spirits still present: in the grass, trees, and the soil that has absorbed so much suffering.
KL Płaszów - The German Nazi Labor and Concentration Camp (1942 - 1945)
The top photograph was taken from inside an apartment within the ghetto. The interior of the apartment seemed to be unchanged from its past where multiple families would have been sharing a small space. The Third Reich erected a wall around the ghetto which is easily reminiscent of tombstones.
The photograph underneath is of Plac Nowy, a former Jewish market known to be the heart of the Jewish community in Kazimierz. Before the war, inside the rotunda was a kosher slaughterhouse and meat stalls surrounded it.
The Płaszów concentration camp was constructed on the grounds of two former Jewish cemeteries. In this photograph we can see the remnants of one of the sites.
Here we see one of two original tombstones from the cemeteries that Płaszów concentration camp was built upon.
The top photograph is of Amon Goth, known as the ruthless butcher of Płaszów. The bottom photograph of a local woman walking her dog, was where the tombstones would be amassed, moved into a cart by prisoners who were forced to push the cart up the hill as fast as they could, unload quickly and repeat as many times as they could.
Here we are seeing a bike rider casually passing by the renovated house of Amon Goth, which at the time was being put back on the market for rent. I do not believe that the dark history of the house is ever disclosed in the marketing, unless asked.
As I walked the ground of Płaszów, I came upon these distinct paths, which I can only imagine occurred due to the shear number of prisoners and selections forced upon them.
The top photograph was taken inside of an apartment within the ghetto. I was taken aback by the timelessness of the furniture and the aura of the space.
The bottom photograph was taken on the street on the exterior of the erected ghetto wall with the apartment peaking over the top. This was one of the location that was marked by a plaque referencing its history.
The Grey House was constructed in 1925 to house the management of the Jewish cemetery in Krakow and by the Chevra Kadisha Burial Society. When KL Płaszów was in operation, the Grey House was occupied by camp management and the basement was converted into a prison.
When I was there in 2017, the Grey House was used as an apartment block surrounded by rose bushed. I was called to photograph the barred rose-covered egress at the back of the Grey House as my guide was explaining the atrocities that were committed in the basement. The Grey House is now included in the Museum of KL Plaszow with exhibitions and witness accounts, which will enable visitors to engage in its deeply emotional history.
When I was visiting Płaszów in 2017, this was one of the only two major signage saying that any atrocities occurred on this land.
As I walked around the grounds, I felt that the trees were alive with the souls that perished in miserable circumstances.
Poppies were everywhere in June, 2017. Poppies are said to be a symbol of remembrance, death, peace and rebirth.
This tree stood alone in the center of the 200 acre plot of KL Płaszów. To me, the tree feels like a memorial candle to those who were buried in the Jewish cemeteries before the war, and for those who perished in the camp.
The day that I walked the ground of KL Płaszów there was a team of archeologists. I was introduced to the head person who shared a collection of historic photographs of the camp.
The photograph below is a fragment of a tombstone uncovered in their dig.
These there photographs were taken of the archeologic dig occurring on the camp grounds. I was given permission to document some of their findings, including spoons, bowls and other personal items.
In addition to all the Jewish souls who perished, I saw this memorial to non-Jews who also lost their lives in during the war. What is important to note about the bottom photograph is that the fake flowers placed at the base of the cross were marked with big Xs in order to prevent visitors from taking them.
In this photograph we see a couple resting on a bench with their back to the “Memorial to the Victims of Fascism in Krakow.” The visible white path is a horrendous reminder of the past. At the end of the war, as the Nazis were fleeing they took all the prisoners left in the camp and walked them on this path to an open area where they committed mass murder.
The Memorial was constructed in such a way that as the sun sets, the light rays illuminate the sculpture’s heart space.
