WITNESSarchive

W–004 · Documentary photograph and sources

Czesława Kwoka, No. 26947

Czesława Kwoka outlived her mother by less than a month. Both were brought to Auschwitz from the camp at Zamość on 13 December 1942. Czesława was fourteen. She was assigned number 26947, her mother Katarzyna number 26949; both were sent to the women’s camp at Birkenau.

1. Original registration portraits

Three Auschwitz registration portraits of fourteen-year-old Czesława Kwoka, attributed to prisoner-photographer Wilhelm Brasse. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Three Auschwitz registration portraits of fourteen-year-old Czesława Kwoka, attributed to prisoner-photographer Wilhelm Brasse. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Provenance and sources for frame 1

Displayed file: 1920 × 808 pixels. The source record discusses public-domain status; check which jurisdiction it covers. This frame or variant is a colourisation; its method and credit are described in the source record. Full image record in Russian.

lekcja.auschwitz.orgauschwitz.orgcommons.wikimedia.orgfacesofauschwitz.comView image file

Czesława had been born on 15 August 1928 in the village of Wólka Złojecka in the Zamość region. She was Polish, Catholic and a schoolgirl. During the German occupation, authorities expelled Polish families from the area to clear land for colonisation. Czesława was among those displaced.

On registration, prisoners were photographed in the laboratory of Block 26 at Auschwitz I. Three views were required: profile, full face and full face in a headscarf. The Erkennungsdienst laboratory answered to the Political Department, the camp Gestapo. Prisoners worked behind its cameras; Czesława’s portraits are attributed to one of them, Wilhelm Brasse.

Brasse recalled that a female guard struck Czesława before the sitting because she could not understand orders in German. Her split lip is visible in the frontal portrait. Katarzyna died in the camp on 18 February 1943. Czesława died on 12 March, still fourteen.

In January 1945, the SS ordered the camp’s photographic records destroyed. According to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, Brasse and another prisoner, Bronisław Jureczek, first put wet photographic paper into the stove, then many prints and negatives. The fire went out. When their supervisor left, they retrieved what had not burned. The saved collection, estimated by the museum at 38,916 photographs, included Czesława’s portraits.

2. Hand-coloured version

Marina Amaral’s hand-coloured version of Czesława Kwoka’s three registration portraits, made for Faces of Auschwitz. The colours are a later interpretation.
Marina Amaral’s hand-coloured version of Czesława Kwoka’s three registration portraits, made for Faces of Auschwitz. The colours are a later interpretation.
Provenance and sources for frame 2

Displayed file: 1920 × 808 pixels. The source record discusses public-domain status; check which jurisdiction it covers. This frame or variant is a colourisation; its method and credit are described in the source record. Full image record in Russian.

lekcja.auschwitz.orgauschwitz.orgcommons.wikimedia.orgfacesofauschwitz.comView image file