Dr. Barbara Milewski: “Camp Mementos from Krystyna Żywulska and the Making of a Satirist-Songwriter in Auschwitz-Birkenau”

Krystyna Żywulska is best known as the author of Przeżyłam Oświęcim (I Survived Auschwitz)—one of the first autobiographical accounts of life and death in Auschwitz-Birkenau, published in Poland immediately after the war. Virtually unknown but no less important are the songs and poetry she created during her imprisonment. This talk by Barbara Milewski, Associate Professor of Music at Swarthmore College, examines a selection of Żywulska's camp songs and the valuable insights they provide into the daily experiences and cultural activities of prisoners in the most notorious of Hilter's camps. Milewski is presently writing a book that explores the musical-poetic activities of prisoners in Birkenau, Sachsenhausen, and Buchenwald.

Co-sponsored by Lafayette College Hillel Society, the Music Department, the Jewish Studies Program, and the Russian and East European Studies Program.