"Does one deserve special credit for devoting all one's strength to doing what one does for love of it? I think not." (Countess) Karolina Lanckoronoska (1898-2002)
According to the history books, the Second World War started on 1st September, 1939, as Hitler's war machine threatened to destroy the Polish entity. For Countess Karolina and people of Lwow (Lvov or Lviv) the war started three weeks later. On 22nd September, the Russian army took control of the region. This was part of the secret Soviet-Nazi pact signed a month earlier.
Despite the Red Army occupation, life in the initial stages wasn't too bad for Karolina. Her position as a university faculty greatly helped her. She did face some problems in the professional work with attempts to make her university more Ukrainian based; (the name of her institution was changed from Jan Kazimierz University to Ukrainian University of Lwow in honor of Ivan Franko); also true to the soviet style there were attempts to make the curriculum more practical oriented; and this didn't go very well with the Countess whose specialty was Renaissance Art. Still, overall she felt secured. But, things changed for the worse in just couple of months following the taking over of the city by NKVD (Soviet secret Police) from the army. Then in Jan 1940, she took the bold decision to join the underground resistance, ZWZ. A number of meetings were held in her university compartment, and she was determined to continue on with her fight in her beloved city, but following a betrayal by a man codenamed ‘kornel', a number of the ZWZ members were killed. Fortunately she was informed just in time so that she managed to take shelter in her friend's place. This was the first of many occasions when she survived at the very last moment; still her life looked in great danger at Lwow. Her aristocratic background combined with her ZWZ activities made her a top target of the NKYD. So, on the 1st week of May , on a spring night, she , with her false papers, acting as the brother of another fugitive (seriously wanted by the NKYD), started for German occupied Krakow, crossing the river san. The writer describes the final stages of the exodus of her own and her companions; ‘At last!' Many of them, overcome by the immense weariness, fell asleep at once. Others stood watching in the warm spring darkness as the lights beyond the River San and gentle contours of the hills behind slowly vanished from sight-along with the eastern region of their birth'.
The timing of her departure from Lwow was also quite interesting, because it was in May 1940, that the map of Western Europe would change drastically. Back in the autumn of 1939, the people of Lwow were obviously upset about the sudden Russian intrusion to their city; yet most people of the central and South European cities since the middle of 19th century had become accustomed to brief changes in their national status. Most people (including Karolina) had a firm belief that the combined force of the English and French would be too much for the Nazis in the west, and then with pressure from Poland's western allies, Russia would leave the Polish territory. Some had even hoped for some reward for the Poles for the bravery of their army in Warsaw. Yet, on 1st June 1940, the German occupied city of Krakow was ‘celebrating' German victory over the French. Suddenly, to Countess Karolina (and many other Poles) it became apparent that their predicament had become considerably worse. Their small country had become embroiled in a very big power struggle. Some of the people from Lwow would never return to their hometown. (The fate of post war Lwow was decided at Tehran, in the autumn of 1943). For Countess Karolina, her departure from Lwow to Krakow was the beginning of a long journey; a journey that would eventually take her to Ravensbruck, in the north Eastern Germany.
Although the title of the book mentions the name Ravensbruck; (the full title of her book is ‘Michelangelo in Ravensbruck: One Woman's war against the Nazis), she didn't come to Ravensbruck straightaway, she would be there from Jan 1943 until her release in the spring of 1945. Before that she would be continuously moving from one place to another, would be back to Lwow, would be summoned to Berlin, before being sent for imprisonment at the women's camp. In her book she vividly recalls the risks, the tortures, the threats, the pains, but above all the hopes, that remained constant companion of her during this remarkable period in her life. And of course the story ends with her 2 and half years at Ravensbruck.
Immediately after coming to Krakow she was contacted by the local ZWZ, but she didn't assume any major responsibility there; instead she was more involved with her official Red Cross activities (she had some nursing experiences during the WWI). Specially, during the winter period, thousands of Poles form Western Poland (then incorporated into the 3rd Reich), were deported to Krakow; the Countess as a Red Cross activist had to arrange for their shelter and foods. Then there was again a leak in ZWZ in April, 1941, and despite her relative inactiveness with the movement, her life at Krakow seemed threatened. So, she quickly decided to join the RGO (the main council for relief0, as an administrator, in charge of the Polish prisoners, a job which involved constant travelling to different cities in the German occupied Poland; thus she got an opportunity to visit the capital Warsaw; there she was appalled to see the destruction caused by the German invasion; but at the same time impressed by the determination and resoluteness of the people there. Her domain of work became larger within months following the German attack on Russia; as Eastern Poland; including Lwow, came under the German occupation.
Her first return to Lwow took place towards the end 1941; it was a happy return as she met some of her former colleagues who have somehow managed to avoid being sent to central Asia by the Bolsheviks; but there was the disturbing news of the arrest of 25 professors and lecturers immediately after the German occupation. There had been no news of them since, and most people in Lwow believed that unlike most of their peers, they had been taken in the western direction. After returning to her work base in Krakow, the countess did her best to find any information about these learned men, but only in vain. Yet, she would finally get her information in accidental circumstances.
In March, 1942, she was appointed the RGO Commission's Manager for the Stanislawow region, in South Eastern Poland. Earlier, during her visit there in January, during a bitterly cold East European winter, she had observed that the prisoners there were in worst conditions in comparison to other prisons. Despite, her great persistence, and the bitter weather, she only managed to get permission to provide the prisoners with minimal amount of clothing and food. The main obstacle seemed to be a certain Mr. Kruger,.a notorious SS officer. The people of the city lived (and in some cases died) amidst great fear of him; here also immediately after the German occupation a number of University and school level teachers had disappeared.
Initially, Kruger didn't object to the Countess taking her new position with RGO, and gave her the necessary permissions, but within just couple of months, he had her arrested. He accused her of using her organization to promote anti German activities in disguise. He informed her that she would soon be sent to Ravensbruck ; and then in a state of drunken madness; he not only confessed (or rather boasted) of the killing of 250 teachers in Stanislawow, but also of the 25 professors at Lwow (he was in Lwow before coming to Stanislawow). So, suddenly the countess had her answers.
At that stage, Kruger was sure that she would be killed immediately after going to Ravesnbruck; yet other developments were taking place. Her friends at Rome had contacted the Italian Royal family, and there was a request sent to Himmler regarding her safety. This changed the scenario, and instead of Ravensbruck, she was sent to a prison in Lwow. There he met Kutschmann, who was earlier Kruger's assistant at Lwow; at his suggestion, she wrote a 14 page report on her conversations with Kruger; this report reached Himmler. She was briefly summoned to Berlin as a witness; but she failed to convince the higher SS officers. By this time, Kruger, had denied any involvement in any killing in Eastern Poland; and obviously he denied having told the countess anything about these killing. The countess spent her Christmas in a Berlin prison and then on 9th January, 1943, she came to Ravensbruck, the concentration camp for the women and the children.
The camp in the north eastern part of Germany had a cosmopolitan look about it; there were Poles, French, Czechs, Greeks, Soviets, German, Ukrainians and others. Also there were constant changes within the camp. Following Stalingrad, the status of the Soviets increased immensely within the camp; after Stauffenberg, the number of German prisoners increased rapidly. Initially, the Countess, always a vivacious person, felt quite happy to live in such international community. But, her problems came from another direction; very soon she found out that contrary to her beliefs the political prisoners, (like her), were very much a minority in the camp. The majority were non political prisoners, like thieves, prostitutes, gypsies, mid wives etc. Also, there was a strong group of German Jehovah's witness activities; they were jailed because of their denial on religious ground to join the military service. Nevertheless they enjoyed special privileges within the camp Less lucky were the group of ‘Rabbits.; young Polish girls who were used within the camp for the purpose of surgical experiments; some perished very quickly after the experiment; the surviving ones would remain crippled for life.
In a sense, the countess was a bit lucky here; she came to Ravensbruck at a time when the worst was over there. As she found out from the old prisoners, earlier, during the time of Muskillier, Koegel and Mandel, mass killing was a routine affair. At the time of Karolina's arrival, these men had moved to Austerlitz, making the fullest use of their ‘skills' there. Still, there were occasional mass murders going on at Ravensbruck at the time. Most of the time, it took place at the nearby forest. From the camp, the prisoners would watch the smoke from the chimney, and the density of the smoke would give them an idea about the numbers killed.
The 'Michelangelo' lectures came mostly in the final year of her captivity. By this time, the situation of the war had changed drastically, and women in the camp had information about this, from different sources. They knew that their time at Ravensbruck would soon be over; one way or the other. The Countess herself knew that her own position was becoming worse, as Italy's role as a major axis power continued to dwindle, the weight of the request from the royal family continued to diminish rapidly. In this scenario came her lectures on Art and culture, given to the small groups. In her own words, " The denser the smoke that billowed from the crematorium, the closer and the more immediately each of us looked death in our eye, the greater grew our need for spiritual sustenance, our intellectual craving.' Once occasionally she had to give 3 lectures a day for 3 different groups. Her listeners came from different nationality and different backgrounds. Michelangelo of course was her specialty, her doctoral thesis was titled ‘Studies relating to Michelangelo's Last Judgment and its artistic descendants'. But, here at Ravensbruck she didn't confine herself to the Renaissance genius alone, there were lectures on Rembrandt, or Gothic art as well. The timing of this lecture was quite interesting. The third Reich might have lost the war already, but still, Hitler, the Nazis and SS were trying desperately to eradicate, once and for all, the free sprit of humanity from the world, the very free sprit for which Michelangelo and the whole Renaissance stood for.
As the Easter week of 1945 approached, the demand for her lectures increased immensely, after all it was the last Easter for many. On the first few days of April, the inmates noticed that the gas oven had been removed, and instead there was a ‘bus', very well known to the prisoners who were at Lublin before; and where the hundreds of passengers would take their seats to start together their journey towards the unknown. The countess was lucky. On 5
th April, she was released, along with 299 French women in a prisoner exchange program. Her name was included in the list mainly at the insistence of the Red Cross chief, Professor Burckhardt. And it was he who received her at Switzerland. Of course, there was no way for her to return to communist Poland; there was no scope for aristocratic intellectual like her in the ‘new' Poland; and her beloved Lwow was soon to become part of USSR; (she had learned about this at Ravensbruck, after Yalta; but in reality the fate of Lwow was more or less decided at Tehran, in the autumn of 1943). So, instead, she went to Rome; in her words; ‘I was no longer a prisoner, but had become an exile'.
So, this is the story of Countess Karolina Lanckoronoska's war against evil; the story that started on a autumn night in a small but charming city of Lwow, ended at the eternal city. The book is her personal memoirs of those dreadful war days; of course, numerous other books of similar types had appeared over the years. Often the authors suffered great deal more than the Countess; in some cases, the writer didn't survive the war. In comparison to these, Karolina's experiences might seem rather mundane. Still, the book catches the readers mind for her simple writing style, she doesn't try make any event seem over dramatic; the use of emotional language is rare, in fact the only emotional descriptions appear at the time when she was feed from her captivity at Ravensbruck. There is no complains about her oppressors as well; her only focus was to describe the events going on around her, the poor treatment that her fellow countrymen got from their more powerful, more barbarian neighbors, at both east and in the west. Some readers may complain that her views were perhaps a bit too ‘Polish'; indeed, this acquisition is partly true. But, at the same time we should remember, that during those dreadful days, she had seen her friends and colleagues disappear overnight, at Stalinskawow she had seen the prisoners deprived of minimal food or clothing, and at Ravensbruck, she had seen the rabbits, the dense smoke from the chimneys, prisoners die at the sickbay without any attendance. Her great love for Poland helped her survive these horrors, and at times if her feelings were a bit too chauvinistic, then in my opinion, it was fully justified.
The best thing of the book, from my view point is that, despite all the horror and the tyranny that went around; the writer always showed a great belief in ultimate triumph of good over the evil. She was constantly searching for the goods while surrounded by evil. While there were massacres around her, she still didn't ignore the spring sunshine, or the cool breeze coming as a god's gift. There was a desire in her, even in her captive days, to devote herself completely in studying great literature or art history. During all her harrowing experiences, she never lost her dignity; although at times she was pessimistic about her own future; she never had doubts in her mind that free Europe would definitely reemerge one day. She was like a young kid, who spends bitterly cold winter nights, dreaming of the first rays of spring sunshine. That's why above all this is a book of life.
I may be wrong, but I though her writing expressed an influence of Dostoevski. Like the Countess, the great writer himself escaped from death at the last moment; early in his youth, he was sentenced to death for his involvement in underground activities; but at the very last moment the verdict was changed to long imprisonment. Dostoevski never forgot that experience; later in his career; though he earned great fame as a writer, his extreme addiction to gambling, meant that his life was full of harrowing and miserable experiences; yet no stage did he lose his love and faith in life. In his view, even a life of suffering can be a wonderful experience. Late in his career, in ‘Brothers Karamazov' he spoke, through the lips of Father Zossima, the never to be forgotten words; "Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light'. I saw similar sprits in Karolina's writing; and it was this very sprit that eventual ly helped the world survive its worst nightmare, albeit at a terrible cost.
I first read this book, in Singapore (in fact I bought it from the Mustafa Center, there), in January 2011. At the time, I was giving company to my parents there, as my dad was fighting a losing battle against Blood Cancer. (He eventually died peacefully, at Dhaka, on the final day of Feb. of that year). I would read the book during the long warm afternoons; as my parents would take a well deserved rest, I would go through the pages, sitting beside the window. Occasionally, I would look at the afternoon traffic at the Se-Rangoon Road from my 11 th floor window. The city itself was preparing for the spring festival, which was on the 1st week of Feb. (Although it appeared to me that it is spring 12 months round at Singapore). The happiness outside was in direct contrast to the gloominess surrounding our family at the time. Perhaps, my melancholy mood at the time made me like the book even more. I rushed through the pages after pages, I followed the writer in her journeys, escaping from Lwow, travelling to Northern and Eastern Poland as RGO officer, travelling to Berlin, and then spending two and a half years at Ravensbruck. At times, I felt I was with her; while reading her description of standing in a station at Stalinskawow, waiting for a west bound transport, in freezing cold (it was minus 27Â degrees); I just couldn't but take a look outside, where the mid afternoon sun shining ever brightly made the lovely city even more beautiful than normal. The writer wrote this book as she passed the hardest days of her life; as I passed a difficult stage of my life, her book was a wonderful companion for me.
Epilogue (1): Karolina Lanckoronoska was born in 11th August 1898, in Lower Austria; and lived the whole of the 20th century. Although she had her education in Vienna, her real ‘home' was her summer residence in Rozdel, Galicia. Thus at a very early age, she developed her love for the nation of Poland. During her long lifetime, she saw Poland reemerge (after WWI) as a free nation in the map of Europe, then just two decades latter divided between two giants, then get united in 1941 (albeit under German control), gain independence only to fall under Soviet influence; but finally towards the end of the century Poland emerged again as a truly free democratic nation. Although, following her release from Ravensbruck, she had to live in Rome, her love for Poland never diminished to the slightest. In 1994, she presented as a gift, a valuable collection of paintings, inherited from her father, to the palaces at Krakow and Warsaw. She died, peacefully, at Rome, on August 25, 2002. Perhaps, her only regret was that despite her frantic efforts, which went on long after the end of the war, she could not establish (officially), Kruger's role in the killing of Lwow professors.
(2) Around 100,000 women and children died at Ravensbruck. Very few of them were actively involved with politics, some even didn't understand politics. They were just victims of a large tragic real life drama. Some of the children died, experiencing during their short life time, only the darkest side of human nature. More recently, at Savar near Dhaka, on a warm summer morning of this year, hundreds of garments workers (mostly female) died in a tragic accident at their work place, caused by the lack of responsibility on the part of some insane money-hungry employers. Most of the victims were very young, some had young children, many were the only bread earner in their family. Many hopes, many ambitions had died with them.
I would like to dedicate this article to the memories of the women and children who went to Ravensbruck, but didn't return; and also the victims of the Savar tragedy, near to my home.
According to the history books, the Second World War started on 1st September, 1939, as Hitler's war machine threatened to destroy the Polish entity. For Countess Karolina and people of Lwow (Lvov or Lviv) the war started three weeks later. On 22nd September, the Russian army took control of the region. This was part of the secret Soviet-Nazi pact signed a month earlier.
Despite the Red Army occupation, life in the initial stages wasn't too bad for Karolina. Her position as a university faculty greatly helped her. She did face some problems in the professional work with attempts to make her university more Ukrainian based; (the name of her institution was changed from Jan Kazimierz University to Ukrainian University of Lwow in honor of Ivan Franko); also true to the soviet style there were attempts to make the curriculum more practical oriented; and this didn't go very well with the Countess whose specialty was Renaissance Art. Still, overall she felt secured. But, things changed for the worse in just couple of months following the taking over of the city by NKVD (Soviet secret Police) from the army. Then in Jan 1940, she took the bold decision to join the underground resistance, ZWZ. A number of meetings were held in her university compartment, and she was determined to continue on with her fight in her beloved city, but following a betrayal by a man codenamed ‘kornel', a number of the ZWZ members were killed. Fortunately she was informed just in time so that she managed to take shelter in her friend's place. This was the first of many occasions when she survived at the very last moment; still her life looked in great danger at Lwow. Her aristocratic background combined with her ZWZ activities made her a top target of the NKYD. So, on the 1st week of May , on a spring night, she , with her false papers, acting as the brother of another fugitive (seriously wanted by the NKYD), started for German occupied Krakow, crossing the river san. The writer describes the final stages of the exodus of her own and her companions; ‘At last!' Many of them, overcome by the immense weariness, fell asleep at once. Others stood watching in the warm spring darkness as the lights beyond the River San and gentle contours of the hills behind slowly vanished from sight-along with the eastern region of their birth'.
The timing of her departure from Lwow was also quite interesting, because it was in May 1940, that the map of Western Europe would change drastically. Back in the autumn of 1939, the people of Lwow were obviously upset about the sudden Russian intrusion to their city; yet most people of the central and South European cities since the middle of 19th century had become accustomed to brief changes in their national status. Most people (including Karolina) had a firm belief that the combined force of the English and French would be too much for the Nazis in the west, and then with pressure from Poland's western allies, Russia would leave the Polish territory. Some had even hoped for some reward for the Poles for the bravery of their army in Warsaw. Yet, on 1st June 1940, the German occupied city of Krakow was ‘celebrating' German victory over the French. Suddenly, to Countess Karolina (and many other Poles) it became apparent that their predicament had become considerably worse. Their small country had become embroiled in a very big power struggle. Some of the people from Lwow would never return to their hometown. (The fate of post war Lwow was decided at Tehran, in the autumn of 1943). For Countess Karolina, her departure from Lwow to Krakow was the beginning of a long journey; a journey that would eventually take her to Ravensbruck, in the north Eastern Germany.
Although the title of the book mentions the name Ravensbruck; (the full title of her book is ‘Michelangelo in Ravensbruck: One Woman's war against the Nazis), she didn't come to Ravensbruck straightaway, she would be there from Jan 1943 until her release in the spring of 1945. Before that she would be continuously moving from one place to another, would be back to Lwow, would be summoned to Berlin, before being sent for imprisonment at the women's camp. In her book she vividly recalls the risks, the tortures, the threats, the pains, but above all the hopes, that remained constant companion of her during this remarkable period in her life. And of course the story ends with her 2 and half years at Ravensbruck.
Immediately after coming to Krakow she was contacted by the local ZWZ, but she didn't assume any major responsibility there; instead she was more involved with her official Red Cross activities (she had some nursing experiences during the WWI). Specially, during the winter period, thousands of Poles form Western Poland (then incorporated into the 3rd Reich), were deported to Krakow; the Countess as a Red Cross activist had to arrange for their shelter and foods. Then there was again a leak in ZWZ in April, 1941, and despite her relative inactiveness with the movement, her life at Krakow seemed threatened. So, she quickly decided to join the RGO (the main council for relief0, as an administrator, in charge of the Polish prisoners, a job which involved constant travelling to different cities in the German occupied Poland; thus she got an opportunity to visit the capital Warsaw; there she was appalled to see the destruction caused by the German invasion; but at the same time impressed by the determination and resoluteness of the people there. Her domain of work became larger within months following the German attack on Russia; as Eastern Poland; including Lwow, came under the German occupation.
Her first return to Lwow took place towards the end 1941; it was a happy return as she met some of her former colleagues who have somehow managed to avoid being sent to central Asia by the Bolsheviks; but there was the disturbing news of the arrest of 25 professors and lecturers immediately after the German occupation. There had been no news of them since, and most people in Lwow believed that unlike most of their peers, they had been taken in the western direction. After returning to her work base in Krakow, the countess did her best to find any information about these learned men, but only in vain. Yet, she would finally get her information in accidental circumstances.
In March, 1942, she was appointed the RGO Commission's Manager for the Stanislawow region, in South Eastern Poland. Earlier, during her visit there in January, during a bitterly cold East European winter, she had observed that the prisoners there were in worst conditions in comparison to other prisons. Despite, her great persistence, and the bitter weather, she only managed to get permission to provide the prisoners with minimal amount of clothing and food. The main obstacle seemed to be a certain Mr. Kruger,.a notorious SS officer. The people of the city lived (and in some cases died) amidst great fear of him; here also immediately after the German occupation a number of University and school level teachers had disappeared.
Initially, Kruger didn't object to the Countess taking her new position with RGO, and gave her the necessary permissions, but within just couple of months, he had her arrested. He accused her of using her organization to promote anti German activities in disguise. He informed her that she would soon be sent to Ravensbruck ; and then in a state of drunken madness; he not only confessed (or rather boasted) of the killing of 250 teachers in Stanislawow, but also of the 25 professors at Lwow (he was in Lwow before coming to Stanislawow). So, suddenly the countess had her answers.
At that stage, Kruger was sure that she would be killed immediately after going to Ravesnbruck; yet other developments were taking place. Her friends at Rome had contacted the Italian Royal family, and there was a request sent to Himmler regarding her safety. This changed the scenario, and instead of Ravensbruck, she was sent to a prison in Lwow. There he met Kutschmann, who was earlier Kruger's assistant at Lwow; at his suggestion, she wrote a 14 page report on her conversations with Kruger; this report reached Himmler. She was briefly summoned to Berlin as a witness; but she failed to convince the higher SS officers. By this time, Kruger, had denied any involvement in any killing in Eastern Poland; and obviously he denied having told the countess anything about these killing. The countess spent her Christmas in a Berlin prison and then on 9th January, 1943, she came to Ravensbruck, the concentration camp for the women and the children.
The camp in the north eastern part of Germany had a cosmopolitan look about it; there were Poles, French, Czechs, Greeks, Soviets, German, Ukrainians and others. Also there were constant changes within the camp. Following Stalingrad, the status of the Soviets increased immensely within the camp; after Stauffenberg, the number of German prisoners increased rapidly. Initially, the Countess, always a vivacious person, felt quite happy to live in such international community. But, her problems came from another direction; very soon she found out that contrary to her beliefs the political prisoners, (like her), were very much a minority in the camp. The majority were non political prisoners, like thieves, prostitutes, gypsies, mid wives etc. Also, there was a strong group of German Jehovah's witness activities; they were jailed because of their denial on religious ground to join the military service. Nevertheless they enjoyed special privileges within the camp Less lucky were the group of ‘Rabbits.; young Polish girls who were used within the camp for the purpose of surgical experiments; some perished very quickly after the experiment; the surviving ones would remain crippled for life.
In a sense, the countess was a bit lucky here; she came to Ravensbruck at a time when the worst was over there. As she found out from the old prisoners, earlier, during the time of Muskillier, Koegel and Mandel, mass killing was a routine affair. At the time of Karolina's arrival, these men had moved to Austerlitz, making the fullest use of their ‘skills' there. Still, there were occasional mass murders going on at Ravensbruck at the time. Most of the time, it took place at the nearby forest. From the camp, the prisoners would watch the smoke from the chimney, and the density of the smoke would give them an idea about the numbers killed.
The 'Michelangelo' lectures came mostly in the final year of her captivity. By this time, the situation of the war had changed drastically, and women in the camp had information about this, from different sources. They knew that their time at Ravensbruck would soon be over; one way or the other. The Countess herself knew that her own position was becoming worse, as Italy's role as a major axis power continued to dwindle, the weight of the request from the royal family continued to diminish rapidly. In this scenario came her lectures on Art and culture, given to the small groups. In her own words, " The denser the smoke that billowed from the crematorium, the closer and the more immediately each of us looked death in our eye, the greater grew our need for spiritual sustenance, our intellectual craving.' Once occasionally she had to give 3 lectures a day for 3 different groups. Her listeners came from different nationality and different backgrounds. Michelangelo of course was her specialty, her doctoral thesis was titled ‘Studies relating to Michelangelo's Last Judgment and its artistic descendants'. But, here at Ravensbruck she didn't confine herself to the Renaissance genius alone, there were lectures on Rembrandt, or Gothic art as well. The timing of this lecture was quite interesting. The third Reich might have lost the war already, but still, Hitler, the Nazis and SS were trying desperately to eradicate, once and for all, the free sprit of humanity from the world, the very free sprit for which Michelangelo and the whole Renaissance stood for.
As the Easter week of 1945 approached, the demand for her lectures increased immensely, after all it was the last Easter for many. On the first few days of April, the inmates noticed that the gas oven had been removed, and instead there was a ‘bus', very well known to the prisoners who were at Lublin before; and where the hundreds of passengers would take their seats to start together their journey towards the unknown. The countess was lucky. On 5
th April, she was released, along with 299 French women in a prisoner exchange program. Her name was included in the list mainly at the insistence of the Red Cross chief, Professor Burckhardt. And it was he who received her at Switzerland. Of course, there was no way for her to return to communist Poland; there was no scope for aristocratic intellectual like her in the ‘new' Poland; and her beloved Lwow was soon to become part of USSR; (she had learned about this at Ravensbruck, after Yalta; but in reality the fate of Lwow was more or less decided at Tehran, in the autumn of 1943). So, instead, she went to Rome; in her words; ‘I was no longer a prisoner, but had become an exile'.
So, this is the story of Countess Karolina Lanckoronoska's war against evil; the story that started on a autumn night in a small but charming city of Lwow, ended at the eternal city. The book is her personal memoirs of those dreadful war days; of course, numerous other books of similar types had appeared over the years. Often the authors suffered great deal more than the Countess; in some cases, the writer didn't survive the war. In comparison to these, Karolina's experiences might seem rather mundane. Still, the book catches the readers mind for her simple writing style, she doesn't try make any event seem over dramatic; the use of emotional language is rare, in fact the only emotional descriptions appear at the time when she was feed from her captivity at Ravensbruck. There is no complains about her oppressors as well; her only focus was to describe the events going on around her, the poor treatment that her fellow countrymen got from their more powerful, more barbarian neighbors, at both east and in the west. Some readers may complain that her views were perhaps a bit too ‘Polish'; indeed, this acquisition is partly true. But, at the same time we should remember, that during those dreadful days, she had seen her friends and colleagues disappear overnight, at Stalinskawow she had seen the prisoners deprived of minimal food or clothing, and at Ravensbruck, she had seen the rabbits, the dense smoke from the chimneys, prisoners die at the sickbay without any attendance. Her great love for Poland helped her survive these horrors, and at times if her feelings were a bit too chauvinistic, then in my opinion, it was fully justified.
The best thing of the book, from my view point is that, despite all the horror and the tyranny that went around; the writer always showed a great belief in ultimate triumph of good over the evil. She was constantly searching for the goods while surrounded by evil. While there were massacres around her, she still didn't ignore the spring sunshine, or the cool breeze coming as a god's gift. There was a desire in her, even in her captive days, to devote herself completely in studying great literature or art history. During all her harrowing experiences, she never lost her dignity; although at times she was pessimistic about her own future; she never had doubts in her mind that free Europe would definitely reemerge one day. She was like a young kid, who spends bitterly cold winter nights, dreaming of the first rays of spring sunshine. That's why above all this is a book of life.
I may be wrong, but I though her writing expressed an influence of Dostoevski. Like the Countess, the great writer himself escaped from death at the last moment; early in his youth, he was sentenced to death for his involvement in underground activities; but at the very last moment the verdict was changed to long imprisonment. Dostoevski never forgot that experience; later in his career; though he earned great fame as a writer, his extreme addiction to gambling, meant that his life was full of harrowing and miserable experiences; yet no stage did he lose his love and faith in life. In his view, even a life of suffering can be a wonderful experience. Late in his career, in ‘Brothers Karamazov' he spoke, through the lips of Father Zossima, the never to be forgotten words; "Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light'. I saw similar sprits in Karolina's writing; and it was this very sprit that eventual ly helped the world survive its worst nightmare, albeit at a terrible cost.
I first read this book, in Singapore (in fact I bought it from the Mustafa Center, there), in January 2011. At the time, I was giving company to my parents there, as my dad was fighting a losing battle against Blood Cancer. (He eventually died peacefully, at Dhaka, on the final day of Feb. of that year). I would read the book during the long warm afternoons; as my parents would take a well deserved rest, I would go through the pages, sitting beside the window. Occasionally, I would look at the afternoon traffic at the Se-Rangoon Road from my 11 th floor window. The city itself was preparing for the spring festival, which was on the 1st week of Feb. (Although it appeared to me that it is spring 12 months round at Singapore). The happiness outside was in direct contrast to the gloominess surrounding our family at the time. Perhaps, my melancholy mood at the time made me like the book even more. I rushed through the pages after pages, I followed the writer in her journeys, escaping from Lwow, travelling to Northern and Eastern Poland as RGO officer, travelling to Berlin, and then spending two and a half years at Ravensbruck. At times, I felt I was with her; while reading her description of standing in a station at Stalinskawow, waiting for a west bound transport, in freezing cold (it was minus 27Â degrees); I just couldn't but take a look outside, where the mid afternoon sun shining ever brightly made the lovely city even more beautiful than normal. The writer wrote this book as she passed the hardest days of her life; as I passed a difficult stage of my life, her book was a wonderful companion for me.
Epilogue (1): Karolina Lanckoronoska was born in 11th August 1898, in Lower Austria; and lived the whole of the 20th century. Although she had her education in Vienna, her real ‘home' was her summer residence in Rozdel, Galicia. Thus at a very early age, she developed her love for the nation of Poland. During her long lifetime, she saw Poland reemerge (after WWI) as a free nation in the map of Europe, then just two decades latter divided between two giants, then get united in 1941 (albeit under German control), gain independence only to fall under Soviet influence; but finally towards the end of the century Poland emerged again as a truly free democratic nation. Although, following her release from Ravensbruck, she had to live in Rome, her love for Poland never diminished to the slightest. In 1994, she presented as a gift, a valuable collection of paintings, inherited from her father, to the palaces at Krakow and Warsaw. She died, peacefully, at Rome, on August 25, 2002. Perhaps, her only regret was that despite her frantic efforts, which went on long after the end of the war, she could not establish (officially), Kruger's role in the killing of Lwow professors.
(2) Around 100,000 women and children died at Ravensbruck. Very few of them were actively involved with politics, some even didn't understand politics. They were just victims of a large tragic real life drama. Some of the children died, experiencing during their short life time, only the darkest side of human nature. More recently, at Savar near Dhaka, on a warm summer morning of this year, hundreds of garments workers (mostly female) died in a tragic accident at their work place, caused by the lack of responsibility on the part of some insane money-hungry employers. Most of the victims were very young, some had young children, many were the only bread earner in their family. Many hopes, many ambitions had died with them.
I would like to dedicate this article to the memories of the women and children who went to Ravensbruck, but didn't return; and also the victims of the Savar tragedy, near to my home.
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