Return To Oshpitsin

New study center, disco recall the Auschwitz past and the Oswiecim present.

nude dancers and wet T-shirt
contests, raised a storm of out-
c. ' n.5 rage from Jewish and survivor
groups, as well as from the
Oswiecim, Poland
-
Polish
government, which urge
n its 800 years of existence,
the
disco's
owners to find a new
this town in southern
site for the establishment.
Poland has been called by
"Places of amusement should
three names. Two are well-
not be situated at areas marked
known: the Polish name,
with the suffering of the inmate
Oswiecim, and the infamous
of former death and concentra-
German name, Auschwitz.
tion camps," the government
The third name, almost forgot-
said
in a blunt statement issued
ten, appears on no current map.
earlier
this month.
But it was the name probably
Though
located outside of a
known best to most of the town's
protected zone" in which activi
residents in the years before World
ties that could be offensive to
War II: the Yiddish, Oshpitsin.
the memory of victims are pro-
The recent opening of two new
hibited, the disco is on the site
meeting places in Oswiecim — a
of a tannery where the Nazis
Jewish center for prayer and study
employed slave laborers and
and a discotheque where a slave-
where
luggage and clothes
labor tannery stood — has spotlight-
brought to Auschwitz by its vic-
ed the town's uneasy triple identity.
tims were sorted.
Both new places aim to
"You don't need a treaty to
Visitors view the exhibition on Oswiecim/Oshpitzin Jewish history, housed in the Auschwitz
demonstrate, albeit in radically
know that it was a wrong decisio
different ways, that Oswiecim the Jewish Center.
to open it there," Rabbi Abraham
town is something more than,
Cooper, associate dean of the Los
and something different from,
restore the city's obliterated prewar
trial city of 50,000, beset by unemploy-
Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal
Auschwitz the death camp.
history to the town's — and visitors'
ment and other economic ills. Most of
Center, said before meeting with
Their opening, however, has laid
— contemporary collective memory.
its residents are youngsters or postwar
Oswiecim Mayor Jozef Krawczyk earlier
bare the difficult coexistence of mem-
The walls of the complex are hung
imports from elsewhere in Poland who
this month. "We are not here to tell the
ory, history, commemoration and
with historic photographs of
chafe at the Holocaust stigma.
people of Oswiecim how to live their
workaday urban aspirations at the
Oswiecim Jews and with prewar
Only a handful of local Jews sur-
lives, but 1,000 people died in that
beginning of the 21st century.
scenes, including postcards showing
vived the war. Szymon Klueger, the
building during the Holocaust," he said.
Jewish residents and the ornate syna-
last known Jew to live here, died last
The young patrons who crowd the
gogue destroyed in the war.
May and was buried in the tree-shaded
Holocaust Synonym
disco each weekend reject the protests.
"A major issue is how to preserve the
Jewish cemetery.
Dancing at the disco, said one 22-
Jews first settled in Oswiecim during
sanctity of the camps along with the
On Sept. 12, the Auschwitz Jewish
year-old
girl, "is better than hanging
the 15th century. By the eve of World
requirements of a significant population
Center — a prayer, education and
out on the streets, doing nothing or
War II, some 7,000 Jews made up well
trying to live respectable lives and feeling
study center, was inaugurated in
getting into trouble."
over half of the local population.
that they are bearing the burden of a
Oswiecim's newly restored, sole surviv-
The disco owners said that because
Most of these people — along with
past that they did not take part in," said
ing synagogue. The center is the only
of the nightspot's popularity, they had
more than 1 million other Jews from all
New York businessman Fred Schwartz, a
active Jewish institution in the
doubled their investment during its
over Europe — were killed in the
prime mover behind the center.
Auschwitz area.
first six weeks of operation.
Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, the
The aim of the $10 million com-
"This city has to live normally and
murder factory set up by the Nazis a
plex, established by the New York-
develop,"
said Zdzislaw Bieniek, a
couple of miles away. Auschwitz
Tannery Disco
based Auschwitz Jewish Center
spokesman for the disco's owners. "With
destroyed Oshpitsin and made Oswiecim
Counterbalancing the center is the
Foundation, is to commemorate the
all due respect to history, Oswiecim
synonymous with the Holocaust.
System discotheque, which opened in
victims of the Holocaust and mourn
should not die for Auschwitz."
At least 500,000 people from all
August in a vast building a mile or so
their loss by focusing on the life, cul-
over the world annually visit
from the Auschwitz death camp.
ture and history of Oswiecim's prewar
Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is now a
The opening of the disco, complete
Jewish community.
New Identity
museum-memorial.
with loud music, flashing lights, semi-
The complex also attempts to
The
disco controversy is the latest of
Oswiecim itself is a depressed indus-

RUTH E. GRUBER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

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