Zdzisław Łukaszkiewicz

Judge Zdzisław Łukaszkiewicz was a member of the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland (Polish: Główna Komisja Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Polsce) upon the conclusion of World War II. The Commission has been replaced, upon the collapse of the Soviet-imposed communism in Poland, with the government-affiliated Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) serving similar purpose at present.[1][2] Łukaszkiewicz was the author of the first historical research into the Nazi German extermination camps including Majdanek and Treblinka, on the territory of occupied Poland during the genocidal Operation Reinhard of the Holocaust.

Plan of Treblinka drawn in 1945 by surveyor T. Trautsolt; with the rubber stamp of the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland (or District Court, illegible), and signed by Łukaszkiewicz. Simplified version (with already typed legend) was published in his book titled Obóz straceń w Treblince by PIW, Warsaw, 1946.

Holocaust research

Łukaszkiewicz conducted his research at the time when virtually nothing was known about the scale and the exact way in which these atrocities were committed. He published his first findings already in 1946 along with the results of legal and medical inquiries, sworn affidavits of land surveyor T. Trautsolt, Dr H. Wakulicz, the evidence collected by railway workers but most importantly, the testimonies of former prisoners of Treblinka extermination camp who managed to survive the revolt and took part in the Commission's forensic work. Łukaszkiewicz examined the selected graves exhumed at Treblinka I Arbeitslager. His estimate of the total number of the victims of gassing was based on the already proven record of 156 transports with an average of 5,000 prisoners each.[3][4] Many published results of his enquiries are still considered paramount to the understanding of the Final Solution, even though some specifics have also been revised by modern science.[5] Łukaszkiewicz is being quoted by the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust, the Britannica Polish edition, and the Polish Nowa Encyklopedia Powszechna PWN among others. Also, many professional historians including Wolfgang Scheffler and Czesław Rajca used his publications as the source of pertinent data.[4][6]

Challenges

Łukaszkiewicz was the first Polish researcher to study the 1943 massacre committed at the Majdanek concentration camp under the codename Operation Erntefest. The more substantial revisions to his early research (published in 1948) have been made only in the 1960s and 1970s, when the first testimonies of the Holocaust perpetrators appeared in German court documents during trials.[7]

Majdanek crematoria upon liberation, inside an already dismantled building

Although his research was further revised by Holocaust scholars, Łukaszkiewicz was the first Polish scientist to challenge the evidence for the prosecution submitted in 1946 by the Soviets at the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg.[8] The completely unrealistic estimate of 1.5 million people murdered at the Majdanek concentration camp was based on the theoretical capacity of Majdanek coke-fueled crematoria.[8] This number claimed by the Soviet-led Special Commission was lowered by Łukaszkiewicz by over one million victims based on his own evidence, down to 360,000 which – at that particular time – constituted a challenge requiring a substantial amount of personal integrity.[4][7]

Selected works

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Jerzy Halbersztadt (31 Dec 1995). "Main Crimes Commission in Poland". H-Net Humanities and Social Sciences Online. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  2. ↑ Dariusz Stola (2013). "Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance: A Ministry of Memory?" (PDF file, direct download 507 KB). Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland (Academia.edu): 5 in current document (or 50). Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  3. ↑ Compiled by Dr S.D. Stein (2 February 2000). "The Treblinka Extermination Camp" (Internet Archive). Source: German Crimes in Poland. Volume I. Published by the Central Commission for Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. Warsaw, 1946. HLSS Social Sciences. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Kopówka, Edward; Rytel-Andrianik, Paweł (2011), "Treblinka II – Obóz zagłady" [Monograph, chapt. 3: Treblinka II Death Camp] (PDF file, direct download 20.2 MB), Dam im imię na wieki [I will give them an everlasting name. Isaiah 56:5] (in Polish) (Drohiczyńskie Towarzystwo Naukowe [The Drohiczyn Scientific Society]), pp. 65–66, 114, ISBN 978-83-7257-496-1, retrieved 30 July 2014, with selected testimonies, bibliography, alphabetical indexes, photographs, English language summaries, and forewords by Holocaust scholars.
  5. ↑ Paweł P. Reszka, Gazeta Wyborcza Lublin (23 December 2005). "Majdanek Victims Enumerated. Changes in the history textbooks?". Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau w Oświęcimiu. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  6. ↑ "Majdanek" (PDF file, direct download). Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  7. 1 2 Wojciech Lenarczyk, Dariusz Libionka (2014). "Erntefest 3-4 listopada 1943 – Zapomniany epizod Zaglady" (PDF file, direct download 91.6 KB). Introduction. Majdanek Museum. pp. 15–16. Retrieved 30 July 2014. Zdzisław Łukaszkiewicz, Obóz koncentracyjny i zagłady Majdanek, „Biuletyn Głównej Komisji Badania Zbrodni Niemieckich” 1948.
  8. 1 2 Mr. Counsellor Smirnov (14 November 1945 – 1 October 1946). "Trial of the Major War Criminals" (PDF). Afternoon Session: 19 February 1946. Nuremberg: The International Military Tribunal. 590 of current document. Volume VII Official Text in the English Language Published at Nurembers, Germany, 1947. Resources. Retrieved 5 August 2014. The Polish-Soviet Extraordinary Commission has ascertained that during the 4 years' existence of the extermination camp at Maidanek the Hitlerite hangmen, following the direct order of their criminal government, exterminated by mass shooting and mass killing in gas chambers approximately 1.5 million persons...
  9. ↑ "Łukaszkiewicz, Zdzisław". WorldCat Identities. OCLC Online Computer Library Center. 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  10. ↑ "BU Katalog on-line". Łukaszkiewicz, Zdzisław (1955), Hitlerowskie obozy koncentracyjne. Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu. 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.

References

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