Tigermedia - Poetry of Psychological Resistance at Auschwitz: The Words of Krystyna Zywulska
Poetry of Psychological Resistance at Auschwitz: The Words of Krystyna Zywulska
Date: October 21st, 2020
Duration:
1h:9m:17s
This lecture took place on October 21, 2020 and was part of the 2020-21 KHC/NEH Colloquium entitled “Internment & Resistance: Confronting Mass Detention and Dehumanization.” This colloquium is aligned with the KHC’s original exhibition, "The Concentration Camps: Inside the Nazi System of Incarceration and Genocide" - http://khc.qcc.cuny.edu/camps/ - and is one of two events about Krystyna Zywulska: https://youtu.be/T7s8qLGN9NM
In this event, Dr. Barbara Milewski, Associate Professor of Music at Swartmore College, presents her research on the remarkable life and resistance poetry of Krystyna Zywulska, a Polish political prisoner at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland from 1943 until her escape in 1945. While imprisoned at Auschwitz, Zywulska wrote dozens of poems and songs, which were shared among camp prisoners, and which use a multi-layered approach of satire, stark realism, and optimism to paint a vivid picture of life in Auschwitz. Zywulska’s poetry helped to provide some solace of the heart to camp prisoners, played a role in her survival, and shines a light on the complex world of oppressors, the oppressed, and artistic instruments of psychological resistance, testimony, and hope.
This event was co-sponsored by the Queensborough Performing Arts Center (QPAC) and presented in partnership with the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, Cincinnati. For more information about the KHC at Queensborough Community College, please visit http://khc.qcc.cuny.edu