Smoke over Birkenau (Polish: Dymy nad Birkenau) is a 1945 autobiographical book by Polish writer Seweryna Szmaglewska, based on her experiences as an inmate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War II. It was one of the first works on this topic, and it became highly influential in shaping the public's knowledege of this topic. Due to its literary and factual values, it was considered an outstanding achievement of camp literature.
| Author | Seweryna Szmaglewska |
|---|---|
| Language | Polish |
| Subject | Autobiography, Holocaust |
| Genre | Autobiographical novel |
| Publisher | Czytelnik Publishing House |
Publication date | December 1945 |
| Publication place | Poland |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 302 pages (first edition) |
| OCLC | 474661282 |
Translations
editThe book received numerous editions in Polish.[1][2]: 203 The book was translated and published in English already in 1945.[3] It was also translated to several other languages, including Czech (1947[4]), Ukrainian (1990[5]), Spanish (2006[6]) and German (2020[7]). As of 2009, the book had at least 18 editions in Polish, and has been translated into at least 10 languages.[8]
Background
edit
Seweryna Szmaglewska was an inmate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War II in the years 1942–1945. She began her work on the book shortly after she was liberated, describing her reasons as her duty to her fellow inmates, many of whom perished in the camp, and the need to educate the world about Nazi crimes, which she felt Germans would try to hide, given her experience of the powerful Nazi propaganda before and during the war. The book was completed by the summer of 1945 and was published in December that year in Poland by the Czytelnik Publishing House and in United States by Henry Holt and Company.[8][3]
Reception
editThe book is Szaglewska's first book, and it is also her best known work on the international level.[2]: 203 [8] The book was one of the first[note 1] literary accounts of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, and is considered an important early contribution to related literature and historiography.[2]: 204 [8][9] It "quickly became one of the most widely read accounts of life and death in Auschwitz"[10]: 167 and has been argued to be the most influential literary work about that camp, significantly shaping public awareness in this context.[8] It also constituted an important piece of evidence at the Nuremberg trials.[9][11]: 196 By 1947 there were over 30 reviews and analysis of the book in Polish and international press and scholarly works.[8] Her work has been praised by critics and historians such as August Grodzicki, Piotr Kuncewicz and Alvin Hirsch Rosenfeld.[8] Arkadiusz Morawiec called the book "one of the most significant (as a fact-collecting, intellectual, and artistic) achievement in the domain of Nazi concentration camp literature".[8] Sławomir Buryła referred to it as a "classic" of that genre.[12]
Due to its literary and factual values, it was considered an outstanding achievement of camp literature.[2]: 203–204 [8] It has been described as "one of the most evocative accounts of the grueling work done by women prisoners... as well differing camp lives of non-Jews and Jews".[2]: 203–204 It has been compared to Charlotte Delbo's Auschwitz and After and Days and Memory.[2]: 203
The book has been a compulsory reading in Polish schools (in the years 1946–49 and again since 1994).[8][13]
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ "Formats and Editions". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
- ^ a b c d e f Sundquist, Eric J. (2018-06-25). Writing in Witness: A Holocaust Reader. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-7031-3.
- ^ a b "Smoke over Birkenau | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
- ^ "Dýmy nad Birkenau | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
- ^ "Bila troi︠a︡nda : Dymy nad Birkenau : povisti | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
- ^ "Una mujer en Birkenau | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
- ^ "Die Frauen von Birkenau | WorldCat.org". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Morawiec, Arkadiusz (2009). "Realizm w służbie (nieosiągalnego) obiektywizmu. "Dymy nad Birkenau" Seweryny Szmaglewskiej". Pamiętnik Literacki. Czasopismo kwartalne poświęcone historii i krytyce literatury polskiej (in Polish) (1): 121–143. ISSN 0031-0514.
- ^ a b Haltof, Marek (2018). "Return to Auschwitz". Return to Auschwitz: The Making of the Holocaust Classic. Wanda Jakubowska's The Last Stage and the Politics of Commemoration. Northwestern University Press. pp. 47–74. doi:10.2307/j.ctv3znz28.8. ISBN 978-0-8101-3608-3. JSTOR j.ctv3znz28.8. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Finder, Gabriel N.; Aleksiun, Natalia; Polonsky, Antony (2007-11-29). Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 20: Making Holocaust Memory. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-80034-534-8.
- ^ Meyer, Alwin (2022-01-11). Never Forget Your Name: The Children of Auschwitz. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-5095-4552-0.
- ^ Buryła, Sławomir (2009). "Monografia po latach". Teksty Drugie (in Polish) (5): 100–105. ISSN 0867-0633.
- ^ Bryl, Andrzej (2021). Zbrodnie przeciwko ludzkości w doktrynie i orzecznictwie międzynarodowych trybunałów karnych (in Polish). Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar. p. 144. ISBN 978-83-66849-05-1.