The Fountain of Tears and Marian Kolodziej's Labyrinth - Memory wars and identity politics at Auschwitz.
In the summer of 2019, I participated in a summer program at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum where we visited Marian's Kolodziej's haunting testimonial exhibition called the Labyrinth. It was one of the most moving exhibitions I have ever seen and it surprised me that in the many years I have participated in the March of the Living as a regional educator that I have never heard of the place. As one of the first prisoners at Auschwitz from the deportation from Tarnow, Kolodziej narration provides a haunting expression of living trauma, using iconic religious themes the Labyrinth offers the viewer the full horror of the camp, such as Jewish and Catholic religious items and figures as exemplified by Father Maximillian Kolbe, who is featured throughout the exhibit as well as some rabbinical leaders. This is a religious testimony that adds depth to the memory wars and identity politics that is the Auschwitz – Birkenau memorial complex. An additional new layer to the memorial complex is a center titled the Fountain of Tears – A Dialogue of Suffering between the Holocaust and the Crucifixion in which Christian Israeli artist Rick Wienecke using a verse from the book of Jeremiah "Oh Lord that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears that I would weep day and night for the loss of my people." The exhibit and sculpture reflect the last seven words of Jesus during the crucifixion, seven bronze figures representing the response and reflection of the Holocaust, and six pillars of stone for a memorial to the six million Jewish victims. The location of the museum is near the entrance to Birkenau and closer to the original train platform to the camp. The aim of the paper is to reflect on the religious nature of these two memorials and the impact this will potentially have on memorial wars and identity politics of predominately Jewish and Polish victims of the Holocaust at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.
