Czesław Aredzki

Digital exhibitionSeven lives

Czesław woke up. He had no idea where he was. The last thing he remembers was having a fever and feeling very weak. He tried to move and realised that he was surrounded by other bodies. Dead bodies.

Czesław, 1944 Auschwitz, Poland

Czesław arrived at Auschwitz on 3 August 1943 and was assigned prisoner number 138009. Because he was a political prisoner, Czesław could write letters to his relatives and receive post and food parcels., unlike other prisoner groups.

Photo: Helena Bonnvier, The Swedish Holocaust Museum/SHM

One of the letters Czesław sent to his wife

Czesław's cap

During his time in Auschwitz, Czesław became seriously ill with typhus and was moved to the hospital barracks. There he eventually became so ill that he lost consciousness. He was carried out of the barracks together with those who had died, but then he woke up. As he struggled to climb out of the pile of corpses, a paramedic and a Jewish doctor spotted him. They took him back to the hospital barracks.

Czesław wrote his last letter from Auschwitz on 8 October 1944. As the Soviet army approached, he was moved between several concentration camps in Germany before being liberated.

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