The Complexity of the Category Bystander: the City of Oświęcim and Beyond

Book Chapter

Piotr Setkiewicz, Jacek Lachendro,“Bystander: the City of Oświęcim and Beyond.” Auschwitz: History, Place and People. An Academic Guide to the Camp Complex. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 2021, p. 135-150.
With the Preface: Theoretical Considerations by Bożena Karwowska and Ewa Wampuszyc

Educational Resources

  • Map of the Auschwitz Interest Zone The so-called Interest Zone (Interessengebiet in German) was an area of approx. 40km2 encompassing Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau as well as several of the Auschwitz subcamps. The SS established the Interest Zone in early 1941 after expelling the local population. For further information, see: Mini Dictionary of Terms from the History of Auschwitz […]

Discussion Prompts

  • Discuss prewar Oswiecim. What was present in the town? What were the purposes of these buildings? Which buildings were appropriated by the Nazi Germany?
  • What happened to Oswiecim after the war?
  • Consider that Rudolf Hoess lived with his family in Auschwitz I. What does it tell us about the perpetrators and their perception of the space?

Bibliography

Barnett, Victoria J. “The Changing View of the ‘Bystander’ in Holocaust Scholarship: Historical, Ethical, and Political Implications.” Utah Law Review, no. 4 (2017): 633–47.

Dwork, Deborah, and Robert Jan van Pelt. 1996. Auschwitz, 1270 to the Present. New York: WW Norton & Co.

Ehrenreich, Robert M., and Tim Cole. “The Perpetrator-Bystander-Victim Constellation: Rethinking Genocidal Relationships.” Human Organization 64, no. 3 (2005): 213–24.

Hilberg, Raul. Perpetrators Victims Bystanders: The Jewish Catastrophe, 1933-1945. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.

Oszpicin. Przewodnik Po Żydowskiej Historii Oświęcimia | Oshpitzin. Guide to Jewish History of Oświęcim. 2014. Oświęcim: Centrum Żydowskie w Oświęcimiu.

Steinbacher, Sybille. 2018. Auschwitz: A History. London: Penguin Books.

Świebocki, Henryk.  People of Good Will: Memorial Book of Residents of the Land of Oświecim Who Rendered Aid to the Prisoners of Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Oświecim: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, 2009.