Objects

A depiction of clouds and water with human figures with their heads turned in different directions. They are prisoners of Auschwitz. In the short story "Potop" (Deluge) by Maria Zarębińska-Broniewska, they were ordered by the Arbeitsdienstführer to swim in a slough that had formed in their camp yard as a result of rain and the spilling of the contents of the toilet. In the story, only one of them was eventually forced to swim, but the other joined her, thus interrupting the commander's abuse. By presenting many floating women, as if the entire described group, Olga Siemaszko referred to the universalising layer of the scene: the narrative includes words about the expected deluge (analogous to the biblical one), which may have already occurred.

The object, at the time of its donation to the POLIN Museum, was affixed to an additional backing with a number written in pencil in the middle: "34" (underlined). In the volume, the illustration is printed on page 33, the recto side of the same page.

The composition of the illustration is enclosed by a brown frame made with paint; the outer edges are irregular because the artist did not have to take care of the finishing of the outer elements of the work, leaving their artistic processing to the publisher's graphic designers.

Przemysław Kaniecki