The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum's collection of art includes work that prisoners secretly made while in Auschwitz. The museum has more than 100 portraits by Franciszek Jaźwiecki, a Polish artist and political prisoner.
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
His portraits portrayed prisoners of various nationalities and ages, and they shared a similar haunting quality, according to Agnieszka Sieradzka, an art historian at the museum.
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
"The most interesting in these portraits are eyes -- a very strange helplessness," Sieradzka says.
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Sieradzka says prisoners created portraits because the "desire to have an image was very strong."
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Sieradzka believes Jaźwiecki made the portraits because he was aware they would one day become important historical documents.
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Almost every portrait features the subject's prisoner number, which gives historians a name to attach to the pictures.
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Jaźwiecki is said to have hidden his portraits in his bed or in his clothes.
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
After his death in 1946, his family donated his portraits to the museum.
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
In addition to portraits, Jaźwiecki also made landscapes.
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
Through the prisoners' art, Sieradzka says, we can see the truth about Auschwitz.
Franciszek Jaźwiecki/Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
