Mala and Edek

One famous story in Auschwitz – and Block 11 – lore involves two people who fell in love in the camp: Edward Galinski, camp number 531, and Mala Zimetbaum camp number 19880. Both were popular among their fellow prisoners. Edek, as he was known, was Polish, and Mala, a Polish Jew who had been deported from Belgium.

Look Around Edek’s Cell

As she spoke fluent German, Mala was a prisoner-translator for the SS, and thereby given special treatment. Nevertheless at great risk she smuggled food, messages, and other items to her fellow prisoners. That never stopped her from doing whatever she could to help.

“The interrogations were held in our office. Mala did not give anybody away. We talked with her in the corridor, even though that was strictly prohibited.”

The examinations soon turned into torture but Mala and Edek would not reveal anything. Rather, they both stated they had escaped separately in SS uniforms, thus making their interrogators search for accomplices among the SS. The penalty was death, according to recent orders from the RSHA. The sentence had to be confirmed by SS headquarters in Berlin, so the couple were held in their cells for several weeks. Giza Weisblum recalls having received a scribbled message from Mala [41]:

“I know what is awaiting me. I am prepared for the worst. Be brave and remember everything.” Lorenz Sichelschmidt, lecturer and researcher at the University of Bielefeld, Germany, Mala – A Fragment of a Life.

Remember Edek and Mala

In June 1944, four years after Edek’s deportation to Auschwitz, they escaped and two weeks later were caught by a border patrol. After brutal interrogation they were sentenced to death. Edek inscribed their names in several cells, including this one. He was hanged and Mala, about to be hanged, slashed her wrists on the gallows in a final act of defiance.

As you look around the room, look for their names, their numbers etched in the wall. Because under torture and threat of death, the importance of one life and one love rose above the fear, even if just for a moment.

“Because of her personality and courageous behavior, Mala soon won the admiration and respect of many fellow prisoners. Virtually all the pertinent accounts praise her solidarity. Even the SS trusted her.

Mala did not take advantage of this personally but rather used her position to help other prisoners. “In my opinion,” survivor Anna Palarczyk, a close friend of Mala, explained to the author, “resistance in Birkenau was to help each other survive. And Mala was eager to help; that was deeply rooted in her ethics” [14].

A privileged prisoner, Mala could have easily just gone about her work focused on personal survival. No one would have faulted her. In a concentration camp, this was normal, in fact required. Even so, she chose to help prisoners less fortunate than herself and in this way resisted the terrible inevitability of Auschwitz, dehumanization.” From the article Mala – A Fragment of a Life

Mala’s last words

Caught Escaping and Sent to Block 11: “Be brave and remember everything.”

Mala Zimetbaum 1940 photo

“Mala and Edek were imprisoned in separate cells in the basement of Block 11, a brick building on the premises of Auschwitz main camp which served as a high security jail and which was aptly referred to as “The Block of Death.” They were repeatedly interrogated by SS officers of the camp Gestapo’s political department.

Lilly Majerczyk, one of the prisoners working in the political department, relates [40]:

“These events produced many legends about Mala’s life, her personality, actions, and motives. The tendency to present Mala as a heroine becomes most obvious when considering various accounts of her last words [51].

Some survivors report that Mala’s last words were addressed to the SS. According to Raya Kagan [52], camp rumor had Mala saying “I fall a heroine and you will die as a dog.” Krystyna Zywulska and Lena Berg agree on the following [53]: “I know I’m dying but it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are dying, too, and your gangster Reich with you. Your hours are numbered, and pretty soon you’ll be paying for your crimes!” This, too, is improbable because a similar speech has also been attributed to an anonymous Polish woman facing the gas chambers, who may have been confused with Mala Zimetbaum [54].

All these reputed last words are to be taken with some caution. In the first place, they imply a desire to emphasize Mala’s heroism. Heroes often give impressive speeches. Interestingly, none of the accounts is precise about the language in which Mala’s last words were delivered. Most probably, the dying woman would not have had enough strength to address a large audience.

So it is most likely that only fragments of words were understood by some. Mala Zimetbaum’s relative Giza Weisblum credibly reports [58] that in a weak voice, Mala told a few fellow prisoners at the camp hospital: “Do not cry; the day of reckoning is near. Remember everything they did to us.” Mala – A Fragment of a Life.

We shall never know for sure exactly what Mala’s last words were, or her intent. Does it really matter?

Zofja Stepien: Portrait of Mala Zimetbaum; 1944. Courtesy Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

It is not words or the dramatic circumstances of her death that make Mala Zimetbaum one of the great Jewish women of valor. Mala has become a symbol of solidarity, bravery, and compassion because of her behavior in the most extreme conditions imaginable. Her legacy is in deeds, in her unremitting attempts to save lives, to support the weak, to encourage the oppressed and uphold humanity, in her quiet and determined resistance against the ubiquitous terror of the Holocaust.

The Austrian historian and Auschwitz survivor Hermann Langbein wrote [59]: “In a concentration camp, to resist essentially means to preserve life.” This is precisely what Mala Zimetbaum did.

Despite its tragic end, Mala’s story is a story of freedom and humanity, a story of life, and life sustained. “Remember everything” – Mala Zimetbaum shall not be forgotten. Remember.

SOURCE of quoted content on this page: Mala – A Fragment of a Life an article by Lorenz Sichelschmidt, lecturer and researcher at the University of Bielefeld, Germany. Sichelschmidt, L. (1995). Mala — ein Leben und eine Liebe in Auschwitz [Mala — a life and a love in Auschwitz]. Bremen, Germany: Donat Publishers (ISBN 3-924444-89-7)