The Ministry of Foreign Affairs participates in the creation of a memorial site at the former German concentration camp in Gusen, Austria. After the screening, director Magdalena Żelasko, a Pole who has lived in Vienna for over 30 years, talked to the guest of honour—Stanisław Zalewski.

During the Second World War, Stanisław Zalewski was a member of the resistance movement. He was arrested by the Gestapo on 13 September 1943 for painting the kotwica sign (an anchor-shaped emblem of the Polish Underground State) upon walls in Warsaw. He was interrogated in the Pawiak Prison and sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau German concentration and extermination camp. In November 1943, the Germans transported him to the Mauthausen–Gusen concentration camp. There, in inhumane conditions, he worked in a local quarry, and then was forced to produce munitions in the tunnels.

“To live normally after what I've been through, I try not to think about my experiences in the camps. I have found a way. I have packed my memories in waterproof box, wrapped with a string, and thrown them into the water. And I pull them up occasionally, for today’s event, for example, but after using the contents, I throw the box back into the water,” said Stanisław Zalewski during the discussion. Zalewski decided to share his memories especially with the youth, so that they may serve as a warning for the future. 

He concluded: “I am a happy man. But one has to work for happiness. Only another person can make us happy. That’s why we should treat each other as human beings. That is happiness.”

The documentary “Ambassador of Remembrance” was released on 1 September 2024, exactly 85 years after the outbreak of the Second World War. It is shown in cinemas in Austria and other European countries, such as Albania, Croatia, Italy, Romania. The Polish Institute in Vienna is a partner of the film.

 

Photo: Sebastian Indra/MFA