Book Review Michelangelo in Ravensbruck
by Countess Karolina Lanckoronska
Da Capo Press Since the end of World War II in 1945, too many generations have grown up
with scant knowledge of the sacrifices Poles made and the patriotism that
made that possible. Countess Lanckoronska's book recounts her experiences
from the beginning of the war in September, 1939 to April 5, 1945. It is
much more than a report (as she calls it) of what occurred. It is also a
spiritual journey in which she as the inveterate educator, teaches the
true values of moral and cultural behavior. The incidents she recounts are written matter-of-factly but instill
great emotion in the reader. One cannot put the book down, even knowing
the final outcome, one reads with great curiosity. In the end we are
grateful that she was in a position to survive and recall that history. It
is said that those who don't know history are bound to repeat it. So, this
book should be read by all succeeding generations so that we learn from
it; that we must preserve cultural behavior in order not to become
inhuman. Countess Lanckoronska offers a view of a people caught in a vice between
opposing forces of the Soviets and the Nazis. An ardent patriot, devout
Christian, wealthy landowner, and Poland's first Professor of Art History
she chose to stay with her students and join the Polish underground
resistance rather than flee to Switzerland when the Russians took control.
Having been discovered as working against the Nazis, she was arrested and
sentenced to death. She was incarcerated in three different prisons before
being sent to the Ravensbruck concentration camp-where the first familiar
face she saw was that of a former student. Though it was one of the most notorious death camps, culture flourished at
Ravensbruck- due, primarily to Lanckoronska's efforts. Through her secret
lectures on art history and classical literature, the women found the will
to survive despite the filth and cold. She chronicles daily life in the
camp, including the atrocities visited upon "the rabbits" or, as we would
call it, the "guinea pigs" - women (all Polish, all political prisoners) on
whom experimental bone operations were performed, leaving them with
twenty-inch scars on their legs, crippled for life. She also recounts that
every Polish woman who was shot shouted "Niech Zyje Polska" (long live
Poland) before she died thus impressing their murderers who came to admire
them.
Lanckoronska would be imprisoned for a total of five years before the
President of the International Red Cross personally secured her release.
She brought out of the camp with her a list of the rabbits, written on the
hem of a handkerchief, which she passed to the IRC. Just three months
later, she settled in Rome and began writing. As a result, the detail and
immediacy of her narrative is practically unmatched in the literature of
the war. The book-penned during 1945 and 1946 - was rejected by several publishers
for being either "too anti-Russian" or "too anti-German." It would not see
the light of day for more than fifty years, and then only in Polish though
it was originally intended for publication in English. It was finally
published in the UK in 2006 on the 61st anniversary of her release from
Ravensbruck and this year Da Capo Press is publishing it in the U.S.
-Mary Flanagan Order from
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