Wincenty Gawron’s portraits donated by his daughter
Wed Sep 14 2022
The Memorial Collections have been enriched with two portraits of Wincenty Gawron, an Auschwitz survivor and member of the camp resistance movement. They were donated by his daughter, Małgorzata Jabłońska. Their author is Mieczysław Kościelniak, another survivor and a friend of Gawron.
“The drawing, made in the camp, depicts Wincenty Gawron probably writing a letter to his family. The artist is bent over a piece of paper, smiling slightly.”
Agnieszka Sieradzka, Memorial Collections
The second drawing is a post-war copy of work done by Kościelniak in the camp. It depicts a scene of reading a letter by camp inmates: Wincenty Gawron and Alojzy Gołka. The copy is dated 1987 and bears a dedication on the drawing: ‘Friend Mietek To friend Wicek’.
“Probably at the friend’s request, Mieczyslaw Kościelniak made the second drawing, the original of which was created in the camp in 1941. It is one of several works by Kościelniak depicting prisoners reading letters. Both works are valuable acquisitions for our Collections, complementing the portraits of artist prisoners,” added Agnieszka Sieradzka.
Source: auschwitz.org (modified brightness and contrast of images)
Author
My name is Łukasz, I have been a guide at the Auschwitz Memorial since 2006. I was taught the history of the camp by my parents. They are also guides and we all live near the Museum.
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