Private collection of items and artifacts from KL Auschwitz complex that our Foundation takes care of, has been enriched by another original item from the era. Artifact, that carries clear and loud message about the evil that happened in ex German Nazi camp KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, evil, that exceeds plain common sense, doesn’t matter the race or creed.
This evil aimed at, planned and realized by german Nazi’s against the most innocent of beings – the Children.
This little stoneware figurine shows also another fact: that this was the evil on a scale of whole Europe, and reached whole world.
Walt Disney, drawing his first project of Mickey Mouse could not foreseen that to this day it will be the symbol of child’s joy, play and easiness, nor in his darkest nightmares he couldn’t have seen that this figurine of his joyful and playful Mouse will come to a place so dreadful and stripped of human values, that it has been called the „Darkest Hell” and „Anus Mundi.” We do not know it’s history, and we do not know who was one of the children, who has been brought in a death transport to KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, it was one of thousands of children brought to the camp, but the child has left a trace of his or hers presence.
This small stoneware figurine of Mickey Mouse, which is widely known all over the world, whose adventures are familiar both to kids but also us, adults, is a symbol of family cinema of cartoons and movies – now it cries in horror showing us, informing us that through the Death Gate of KL Birkenau entered in trains, and disembarked with their parents or carers, or maybe added to transport all by themselves – not guilty of anything, helpless, little beings, at the start of their way.
Figurine found in the years post-war, during field works in the woods, at the site where at the time of KL Birkenau functioning were thrown out items after the victims of gas chambers, marked by the SS administration as useless and not suitable for re-use by the Nazi machine of German Third Reich. This site is located outside of the KL Auschwitz-Birkenau National Museum area, and nowadays it is a private property. In the deportation transports to KL Birkenau people from all of the occupied europe brought with them everything they considered useful, whatever they had valuable or whatever they could bring with them. Robbed property and baggages were sorted in the camp by prisoners, supervised by the SS; valuables were sorted first, next the items brought by the victims were sorted accordingly to their usefulness for re-use in needs of German military and citizens (clothing, drugs and food), then by the standards of materials usable for the needs of indystry of Third Reich. Everytjing that was useless was burned (documents, letters, photos) or disposed of to the pits in vicinity of KL Birkenau, so these items were also used for leveling the ground.
After acquiring this figurine we were so schocked, that for the few days we haven’t done anything to confirm it’s authenticity and revealing it’s history. It has been donated to our Foundation along with few other items of everyday life from the time, items of Jewish origin, among others some coming also from the Ghetto’s. The fact, that we were looking at Disney’s Mickey Mouse that was thrown out among with other items from victims of gas chambers was at the beginning not humanely possible to understand.
Only after a few days we started searching for any information; what was the year of production, in what country, who could have been the manufacturer. Thanks to a great involvement of owner of a private collection, among others also comic books about Mickey Mouse, we received first info. Mr Carsten Laqua helped us with the identification, we know that the figurine dates back to 1930’s, manufacturer is most probably from Germany – it was produced without the licence from Disney and meant for export to other countries. Sadly, we will never be able to recognize the child who was the owner of the figurine…
Mickey Mouse, who is looking at us through the Death Gate of KL Birkenau, from the void of death with gas chambers and crematoriums, is a symbol of childhood and childrens innocence, that kept it in his or her hand, or stored it in the pocket of their clothes as a priceless treasure. This child has remained forever just an innocent child, but we cannot forget neither about this place, nor about all of it’s victims and all the suffering that it brought.
