In the closing days of the war many concentration camps, suddenly exposed to the fighting on the front, were abandoned and often deliberately destroyed.
In an effort to hide their crimes, the SS evacuated the prisoners in forced death marches. Tens of thousands of them perished and were buried at the roadside in various parts of Germany.
Komski walked this way to his last concentration camp, Dachau.
The journey took 16 days. With no food at all being distributed to the prisoners, only those resourceful enough were able to make it.
Komski and his comerades survived on a pail of potatoes they bought from a German farmer for a hundred dollars they found sewn in the lining of a coat.
All Auschwitz paintings and art in this exhibit are copyright © Auschwitz Museum and Jan Komski. All rights reserved.
