Objects

Illustration of a scene witnessed by Marek Edelman, described by Hanna Krall in the book "Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem" (Wrocław 1977). Two Nazi officers are tormenting an elderly Jewish man, cutting off his beard with tailor's shears, in the midst of a crowd of laughing onlookers. According to the account of the book's protagonist, it was one of the first moments during the war when he realized that violence against people of Jewish origin was unpunished and omnipresent. Edelman decided that this violence could not be allowed to stand idly by. "There was no ghetto yet, so there was no sense of horror in that scene. After all, nothing terrible was happening to the Jew: only that he could be put on this barrel with impunity and people were already beginning to understand that this was without consequence and it was arousing laughter. You know what? That's when I realised that the most important thing of all was not to be pushed onto a barrel. Never, by anyone. Do you understand?". MBK