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New York Times
25-02-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Marian Turski, Who Refused to Forget the Holocaust, Dies at 98
Marian Turski, a Holocaust survivor who returned to his native Poland after World War II to give voice to fellow victims of the Nazis and their collaborators, warning the world in writings and speeches about the dangers of indifference to racial and ethnic injustice, died on Feb. 18 at his home in Warsaw. He was 98. His death was announced by the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which he had helped to establish and whose board he had chaired since 2009. Speaking in 2020 at the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in German-occupied Poland, where he was shipped from the Lodz ghetto when he was a teenager, Mr. Turski sounded an alarm about what he called 'a huge rise in antisemitism.' 'Auschwitz did not fall from the sky,' he said in a Polityka magazine podcast. 'It began with small forms of persecution of Jews. It happened; it means it can happen anywhere. That is why human rights and democratic constitutions must be defended.' 'The 11th Commandment is important: Don't be indifferent,' he asserted. 'Do not be indifferent when you see historical lies. Do not be indifferent when any minority is discriminated. Do not be indifferent when power violates a social contract.' He added: 'If you are indifferent, before you know it another Auschwitz will come out of the blue for you or your descendants.' His father and younger brother were killed at Auschwitz, and he lost 37 other relatives in the Holocaust. Menachem Z. Rosensaft, an adjunct law professor at Cornell University, a son of Holocaust survivors and the author of 'Burning Psalms: Confronting Adonai After Auschwitz' (2025), said Mr. Turski had exemplified 'those members of the survivor generation who, instead of turning inward and wallowing as they might easily have done in their suffering, devoted himself to the future, to making sure that nothing like the horrors he and European Jewry experienced in the Holocaust would happen again to anyone else.' Only weeks before his death, Mr. Turski returned to the camp where he had been a slave laborer to attend a ceremony commemorating the 80th anniversary of its liberation, in January 1945, by the Soviet army. 'We have always been a tiny minority,' he said, referring to himself and his fellow survivors. 'And now only a handful remain.' For decades, Mr. Turski was a dominant sermonizer among them. He served as a firsthand witness to wartime atrocities as a columnist for the weekly Polityka magazine, which he went to work for in 1958; as chairman of the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland from 1999 to 2011; and as the editor of three volumes of eyewitness accounts, titled 'Jewish Fates: A Testimony of the Living' (1996-2001). 'Marian dedicated his life to ensuring that the world never forgets the horrors of the past,' Ronald S. Lauder, the cosmetics heir and president of the World Jewish Congress, said in a statement this week. He described Mr. Turski as 'a man who led by example, choosing good over evil, dialogue over conflict and understanding over hostility.' Mr. Turski was born Mosze Turbowicz on June 26, 1926, in Druskininkai, a city that was part of Poland then and is now in Lithuania. His father, Eliasz Turbowicz, a coal trader who came from a family of rabbis, had planned to emigrate to Palestine but remained in Europe because of a recurring lung ailment, a result of a wound sustained while serving in the Russian army during World War I. Mr. Turski's mother, Estera (Worobiejczyk) Turbowicz, was a clerk. Mosze attended Jewish primary and secondary schools in Lodz, but once the Germans invaded in 1939, Jews were confined to the Lodz ghetto. He helped support his family by tutoring in Hebrew, Latin and Polish and working in a smokehouse, where he butchered horse meat. He also joined the Communist resistance. Two weeks after his parents and younger brother were deported, in August 1944, he was shipped out on one of the last transports from Lodz. He figured his chances of surviving were better at Auschwitz-Birkenau than in the ghetto, which the Nazis were obliterating. His mother was sent to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp in northern Germany; she survived the war and died in 1988. Mosze's experience, too, was one of harrowing survival: deployed from the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp to do roadwork; forced to join a death march to the Buchenwald concentration camp ahead of the Soviet advance; and sent to a camp at Theresienstadt, in occupied Czechoslovakia, where he caught typhus and shriveled to 70 pounds before the camp was liberated by the Red Army in May 1945. After the war, he returned to Poland as a committed Socialist. Given the antisemitism in the country, a Communist official suggested that he adopt a non-Jewish name; he chose Marian Turski. He earned a degree in history from the University of Wroclaw. Joining the Polish Workers' Party, Mr. Turski became a committed Communist official, enforcing censorship, imposing crop quotas on farmers and presiding over a fraudulent referendum that consolidated Polish territory recovered from the German occupation — all, he would later say, in the interests of promoting Polish nationalism and socialism. In 1965, while studying and lecturing in the United States on an eight-month State Department scholarship, he participated in a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Years later, when President Barack Obama, at a ceremony in Warsaw, asked Mr. Turski what had motivated him to march, he replied, 'Simply out of solidarity with all those who fought for their civil rights and against racial divisions.' In the late 1960s, he soured on Soviet communism because of the government's official policy of antisemitism and Moscow's opposition to political liberalization in Czechoslovakia. That 'accelerated my transition from being a Pole with Jewish origins to an awareness of being a Pole and a Jew simultaneously,' he said. While he suppressed his wartime memories for years, Mr. Turski returned to Auschwitz in the 1970s, a trip he would make more than once. In 2020, he urged Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, to ban Holocaust deniers from that social media platform. Mr. Zuckerberg eventually did so that year. Mr. Turski's wife, Halina (Paszkowska) Turski, a fellow Holocaust survivor, had escaped the Warsaw ghetto, served as a messenger for the resistance and later worked as a sound engineer for filmmakers. She died in 2017. He is survived by their daughter, Joanna Turski, a flutist; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. 'Soft-spoken, an intellectual giant, he remained in Poland so that his voice resonated as closely as possibly to the abyss,' Professor Rosensaft, of Cornell, said. 'He could tell people, 'I have seen this,'' he added. 'It is now going to be our task — the following generations — to make sure the authentic memory of the survivors becomes ingrained in our consciousness. We cannot replicate the voice of the survivors, but we can make sure that the questions they asked, the warnings they raised, remain ingrained in our consciousness.'
BBC News
19-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Marian Turski, Holocaust survivor and historian, dies aged 98
Polish Holocaust survivor, historian and journalist Marian Turski has died aged in 1926, Mr Turski survived the Lodz Ghetto, extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and two death marches as a dedicating himself to history and journalism in post-war Poland, he co-founded Warsaw's landmark Jewish history museum and became president of the International Auschwitz drew international attention on the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz's liberation in 2020, when he remarked Auschwitz "did not fall from the sky" and warned it could happen again. Mr Turski was born as Moshe Turbowicz and spent much of his childhood in the Polish city of Lodz. After the Nazis conquered Poland in 1940, he and his family were moved to the Jewish ghetto established in the city which was plagued by disease, starvation and forced 1944, his parents and younger brother were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau – where Mr Turski, still a teenager, was to arrive two weeks later in one of the last transports from the Lodz Turski's father and brother were killed in the gas chambers, while his mother was sent to work at the Bergen Belsen camp in northern January 1945, as Soviet troops advanced, Mr Turski was among the 60,000 prisoners the Nazis forced to walk west in what came to be known as death marches. He first marched to concentration camp Buchenwald and later on to Terezin, where he was liberated on the brink of death from exhaustion and said it was as if he had amnesia after leaving Auschwitz, where he did not return for 20 years."I could never forget that I was in Auschwitz, because I have a number tattooed on my arm and I see it every day," he told Polish outlet Onet."However, after the war, I was struck by amnesia... I remembered individual episodes perfectly: arriving at the camp, a few other things, some stories from the death marches. Everything else was blurred, though."He rejected an offer to migrate west after the war, instead returning home in the hopes of building a socialist Turski studied history at the University of Wrocław, during which time he took up journalism and worked in political 1958, he became editor of the magazine Polityka's history section, from which he went on to become an influential journalist and historian. 'Do not be indifferent' Mr Turski drew international attention at the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 2020, remarking that Auschwitz "did not fall from the sky".It approached "with small steps until what happened here, happened," he said the Eleventh Commandment of the Bible should be "thou shalt not be indifferent"."Because if you are indifferent, before you know it, another Auschwitz will come out of the blue for you or your descendants," he was one of four survivors who spoke again at the 80th anniversary in warned world leaders gathered by the gates of the camp that "we can observe a significant rise of antisemitism in today's world, and yet it was precisely antisemitism that led to the Holocaust".Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said the Jewish community would miss Mr Turski greatly."Marian was our teacher, he was our moral voice and mentor. "He was steeped in Jewish wisdom and used it to guide us on how to face today's problems. We are so blessed that we had Marian with us for so many years."Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Mr Turski's words had become "a motto for us".He wrote on X: "The 11th Commandment for these difficult times."Polityka magazine called Mr Turski "an extraordinary man, a witness to the ages, our friend" whose voice was heard "all over the world".
Boston Globe
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Marian Turski, Holocaust survivor who warned of the danger of indifference, dies at 98
Mr. Turski survived the Lodz ghetto, where he and his family were forced to live, two death marches, and imprisonment at the Nazi German concentration camps Buchenwald and Auschwitz-Birkenau, which was in German-occupied Poland. He lost 39 relatives in the Holocaust. Advertisement Unlike many Jewish survivors who left postwar Poland, Mr. Turski chose to remain. He was on the political left his entire life and was a member of the Communist Party. While on a scholarship to the United States in 1965, he marched from Selma to Montgomery with Martin Luther King Jr. in support of civil rights for Black Americans. Mr. Turski was among a dwindling number of Holocaust survivors and spoke during observances last month marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. It was a stark warning about the dangers of indifference at the 75th anniversary that brought him international attention and raised his moral profile among his supporters. Mr. Turski said at the time the Holocaust did not 'fall from the sky' all at once but took hold step by step as society's acceptance of small acts of discrimination eventually led to ghettos and extermination camps. With world leaders in the audience, Mr. Turski called on people to not remain indifferent when minorities are discriminated against, when history is distorted, and when 'any authority violates the existing social contract.' Many in Poland interpreted his words as a critique of the right-wing government in power at the time. Some who felt targeted criticized him for using the Auschwitz anniversary to comment on the political situation, or suggested that Mr. Turski lacked the moral authority for such a warning because of his past support for communism. Advertisement Citing the words of another survivor, Roman Kent, Mr. Turski described what should be the Eleventh Commandment of the Bible: 'Though shalt not be indifferent.' 'Because if you are indifferent, before you know it, another Auschwitz will come out of the blue for you or your descendants,' he warned. Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, said members of the Jewish community would miss him greatly. 'Marian was our teacher, he was our moral voice and mentor. He was steeped in Jewish wisdom and used it to guide us on how to face today's problems. We are so blessed that we had Marian with us for so many years,' Schudrich said. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Tuesday after Mr. Turski's death that those words had become 'a motto for us,' adding on X: 'The 11th Commandment for these difficult times.' Poland's conservative President Andrzej Duda also paid tribute to Turski, saying: 'He consistently spoke about the need to cultivate sensitivity to evil. May his memory be honored!' He was born on June 26, 1926, as Mosze Turbowicz and spent his childhood and teenage years in Lodz, where he attended a Hebrew language school. In 1944, his parents and brother were deported to the German Nazi camp Auschwitz, and he arrived there two weeks later in one of the last transports. His father and brother died in the gas chambers, while his mother was sent to work at the Bergen Belsen camp in northern Germany, and Mr. Turski was dispatched to work on roads in the Auschwitz-Birkenau area before being sent on two death marches. He was liberated at Terezin, close to death from exhaustion and typhus. Advertisement In September 1945, he returned to Poland, a committed communist who wanted to help build a socialist Poland. When a communist official recommended that he change his name to adopt one that didn't sound Jewish, he complied, a biography published by the POLIN museum said. He used his last time on the stage at last month's Auschwitz anniversary observance to warn of the dangers of hatred and to recall that the number of those murdered was always far greater than the smaller group of survivors. 'We have always been a tiny minority,' he said. 'And now only a handful remain.'
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Marian Turski, head of International Auschwitz Committee, dead at 98
The 98-year-old president of the International Auschwitz Committee, Marian Turski, is dead. The Holocaust survivor died on Tuesday in Warsaw, the committee - an association of Auschwitz survivors and their organizations from 19 countries - announced in a statement. Turski was elected president of the organization in 2021. "Auschwitz survivors in many countries are saying goodbye with great pain and infinite gratitude to their friend, brother and fellow sufferer Marian Turski, who was heard all over the world as a powerful representative of their memories and as the voice of their murdered relatives," said the committee's executive vice president, Christoph Heubner. Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, wrote on X: "We will ensure that the story of Holocaust survivor Marian Turski lives on." She added: "Today the world lost a man who lived through the horror and the evil of concentration camps." German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, writing on X, remarked that Turski labelled "you should not be indifferent" as the "11th commandment." "Not to be indifferent is a task for the state - and a civic duty that we carry forward. It is our obligation," Scholz said. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, also on X, wrote that Turski's "legacy is now our mission to all of us to carry forward his message of remembrance of the Shoah and reconciliation in Europe." Until the last days of his life, Turski followed political developments with increasing concern as a journalist and eyewitness. Heubner said Turski was dismayed by the Europe-wide resurgence of anti-Semitic and far-right extremist ideologies. Heubner said Turski's words at the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on January 23 are especially important. "Our days, the days of the survivors, are numbered. But we will not fall silent if you, all of you, do not remain silent." Turski and his family had been imprisoned in the Lodz ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland since 1942, before being sent to the concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz in 1944. After his liberation, Turski worked as a journalist in Warsaw. He was a co-founder of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The International Auschwitz Committee is based in Berlin. The name Auschwitz has become a synonym for the Holocaust and the epitome of evil worldwide. The Nazis killed more than a million people there alone, mostly Jews. Throughout Europe, they murdered about six million Jews during the Shoah.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Holocaust survivor Marian Turski dies aged 98
WARSAW (Reuters) - Holocaust survivor Marian Turski, who became a journalist in Poland and headed an international committee of Auschwitz survivors, has died at the age of 98, said the Polish weekly magazine Polityka, where he worked as a columnist. In an article on Tuesday announcing Turski's death, Polityka described him as "an exceptional guardian of memory, an outstanding man whose voice was heard all over the world". Born as Moshe Turbowicz on June 26, 1926, in Druskieniki, in what is now Lithuania, Turski was sent to the Lodz ghetto at the age of 14. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. In 1944 he was transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp set up by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland, where both his father and brother died. In 1945 he survived two death marches, firstly from Auschwitz to Buchenwald, a concentration camp in Germany, and then from Buchenwald to Theresienstadt, where he was liberated by the Soviet Red Army. More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease at Auschwitz, where most had been brought in freight wagons, packed like livestock. After World War Two Turski lived in Lower Silesia, southern Poland, before moving to Warsaw, where he worked as a historian and journalist. He started working at Polityka in 1958 and was the author of several books. He was made an honorary citizen of Warsaw in 2018, in part as recognition for his work in setting up the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews in the city. In January, Turski gave a speech at the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in which he warned against rising antisemitism. "We see in the modern world today a great increase in antisemitism, and it was antisemitism that led to the Holocaust," he said. "Let us not be afraid to convince ourselves that we can solve problems between neighbours." Over 3 million of Poland's 3.3 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis. In all, between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically killed 6 million Jews across German-occupied Europe, along with gypsies, sexual minorities, disabled people and others who offended Nazi ideas of racial superiority.
