The Creator of the Museum and Former Auschwitz Prisoner Died on the Holocaust Day
 Rose on a stone near Auschwitz - source: (c) C.Puisney / Wikimedia |
Kazimierz Smolen, a former prisoner of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, passed away on The International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holocaust. He was 91 years old.
Kazimierz Smolen was born on April 19, 1920 in Chorzów Stary. He was sent to the concentration camp for underground activities in Chorzow in one of the first transports of Polish prisoners. He was given a number 1327. Kazimierz Smolen was also imprisoned in Mauthausen.
After the war Kazimierz Smolen graduated from law at the Catholic University and worked for the Main Commission for Investigation of Nazi Crimes. He appeared as a witness and an expert in many trials of war criminals, inter alia in Nuremberg and Frankfurt.
He was a co-founder and a director (1955-1990) of the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was also a long time secretary general and deputy chairman of the International Auschwitz Committee.
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