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50 copies of these unique publications were made in Auschwitz camp

Children in Auschwitz were exploited...

...and experimented on

Ryszard Horowitz,a Schindler Jew,survived Auschwitz nightmare as a few year old child

The tales had been illegally written by forced labor prisoners who worked in SS offices at camp plans – said Jadwiga Kulesza, an Auschwitz historian. – There they had access to inks and paper. When the tales were ready the prisoners smuggled them out of the office, and passed to trusted civil workers outside the camp – said the historian.

According to prisoners’ testimonies, approximately 50 copies of these unique publications were made in Auschwitz camp. The tales were either written or translated by a prisoner, Stanisław Bęć, and some of them contain poems by other prisoners. Completing the whole project included no less than 12 people, who risked their lives to accomplish it. The book contains six tales:

“The Adventures of a Black Chicken” is probably the first tale to have been written in Auschwitz. It tells a story of two chickens who decided to explore the world despite mother hen’s warnings.

“A Tale of a Hare, Fox and a Cockerel” is about a hare, whose house was occupied by a fox. It had been translated from Czech.

“A Tale of All Living Things” is a collection of poems about bugs, birds, animals from fields, meadows and house yards. Its prototype was also a Czech tale, yet of unknown title.  

 “A Wasp Wedding” tells a story of a wasp couple, their guests and a great time they had. It has been preserved without pictures, on two pieces of paper only.

 The main character of "The Selfish Giant", a tale based on Oskar Wilde’s fable, is jealous of his garden and children playing there, however contrary to the original, it is a poem. Also not illustrated.

 “Tales of a Wise Cat” describe two hares that sneak out of their parents’ care and have multiple adventures.