Eugeniusz Tytyk - An Auschwitz Survivor, My Father, My Hero
Ranked #1,281 in People, #27,664 overall
EUGENIUSZ TYTYK
Polish Patriot, Auschwitz Survivor, Fantastic Dad - Great Role Model For Young Generation
This lens is about my father - Eugeniusz (Eugene) Tytyk. I created it as my appreciation for his love and to honor his sacrifice as a young Polish patriot during WWII when he risked his life by engaging in fight against the powerful Nazi invaders. He had no chance - like so many other Polish patriots... While trying to get to France so that he could fight the Nazis (the Polish Army didn't exist any more), he got caught and spent 5 years in the Nazi concentration camps and prisons, including 11 months in Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp - the deadliest of the all Nazi camps where over 1 million people got killed.
I'd like to dedicate this lens to the young generation - especially the teenagers - who so often are lost, depressed and don't know what to do with their lives. They apparently are missing true role models. Unfortunately, there are not many of such role models available. Those in the arenas of entertainment and sports let them down so often - with scandals popping up in the media every day.
Young people can learn a lot from my father Eugeniusz. He had to be very strong and very positive to survive the hell on earth that the Nazis created in Auschwitz as well as the tortures and terrible beatings he received durring the interrogations by the Gestapo or delivered by vicious SS guards and the kapos.
Eugeniusz was so close to death many times, suffering from hunger, beatings, cold, sicknesses and very hard work. But his mental and emotional sufferings were even worse as he - along with all Nazi prisoners - was deprived of his humanity. Even only seeing thousands of people dying every day, being sent to gas and burned in the crematoria and open pits could break down anybody. Especially when you knew that the same may happen to you - any time, 24/7...
My father miraculously survived (see my Poll below: Why Prisoner 171515 Survived Auschwitz) and came back home after spending five years in Nazi concentration camps and prisons. Years later he wrote his book "Living Shadows" to give his own shocking report on Nazi crimes during WWII, describing those horrific crimes from the perspective of a young victim.
Eugeniusz, who was a book worm himself, would be extremely happy to see young people read his book and learn positive things from his experience. I believe that Eugeniusz was a true hero, a great role model for the young generation to follow.
Thank you for visiting my lens.
Ilona Zuzalek
Please click here to learn a little about me - the author of this lens, daughter of Eugeniusz Tytyk. I also have a blog "Living Shadows Story" - please take a look. And don't forget to give me FIVE STARS if you like my lens... Thanks again for stopping by!
"The longer you live, the longer you'd like to live"
Lens of the Day Award
Thanks for the recognition!
This lens was selected by Squidoo as the "Lens of the Day" on Oct. 24, 2006. Please read here the nice award-presentation comments from Squidoo's Talia. Thanks again for support! EUGENIUSZ TYTYK'S STORY
Eugeniusz joins the Military School, becomes a POW when WWII starts, but sucessfully escapes from German captivity.
My father - Eugeniusz Tytyk - was born in 1920 in Porabka, a small village in the south of Poland. By the way, in the same year, only few months earlier and only a few miles from his place - in the city of Wadowice - was born Karol Wojtyla who became pope John Paul II.In 1938 Eugeniusz graduated from the high school and in the same year he went to the Military College. When WWII started, he was an Officer Cadet (the picture shows him wearing a cadet uniform on the street of his town - Bielsko).
Despite that he was only 19, he got promoted to a Catering Officer role on the front line in the eastern part of Poland. Polish Army was unprepared and much weaker than the Wehrmacht so it lost the campaign in mid-September of 1939. Eugeniusz became a POW, but was able to escape from the German captivity by jumping off a train carrying the POWs.
Eugeniusz's Story - continued
Underground preparations to fight the Nazis; unsuccessful escapade to France; incarcerated at Vienna prison. Gestapo interrogations, trial and sentence. Sent to the Moorlager.
He returned home and immediately started with a group of his closest friends their clandestine preparations to fight the Nazi invadors.Eugeniusz and his two friends decided to get to France where Polish legions were being formed and they did that on the last day of March 1940. But on the second day of their escapade they got caught at the Austrian-Hungarian border. Placed in a prison in Vienna on April 1, 1940, they stayed there until May 1941.
[The picture shows a postcard Eugeniusz sent to his mother from the Landesgericht I prison - around mid-1940]
For two months, Eugeniusz was interrogated by the Gestapo officers trained well in cruelty. For example, they were intimidating him by poking his head with the gun and threatening that they would use it. All the torturers wanted from him was to admit that he and his friends were trying to get to France and join the Polish legions being formed there. It was true, but Eugeniusz tried for as long as he could to deny it. The Gestapo officers didn't spare kicks at-random and hits with the gun's butt-end to forced him to confess. Finally, after many weaks of continuous interrogations Eugeniusz and his friends agreed to sign their confessions. The interrogations and beatings stopped, but now they were facing a trial by a Nazi special tribunal - for their crime against the Nazi state.
In May of 1941 a special tribunal sentenced Eugeniusz and his two friends to three years in prison for fighting the German state. This term was to be served after the war, but for the time being they were sent to the Moorlager - a concentration camp in Neusutrum, on the German-Dutch border.
The Moorlager got its name from the bog that was all around there and the prisoners - working extremely hard - had to drain the bog and excavate peat.
When one of the prisoners escaped, Eugeniusz's and few others who worked with him got terribly beaten by the kapos - for not reporting the escape. The victims were beaten by two kapos - the first one was hitting with a wooden stick and the second one with a rubber stick. For Eugeniusz it was the first time to see and experience such cruelty at hands of the kapos. Much more from those vicious criminal beasts was waiting for him in Auschwitz...
Eugeniusz got sick at the Moorlager as the result of terrible working and climate conditions and was sent back to the Vienna prison.
Eugeniusz's Story - continued
Sent back from the Moorlager to Vienna; Stein An Der Donau prison, Gustloff Werke factory. Instead of being released, sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
After his return from the Moorlager, Eugeniusz was moved between various Nazi prisons, spending most of the time in Stein An Der Donau where he worked at the Gustloff Werke ammunition factory.Eugeniusz had some hopes that he would be released from the prison by the end of 1943, but something totally unexpected happened to him instead...
He was facing the most tragic challenge when in January 1944 instead of being set free, he was sent to the deadliest Nazi concentration camp - Auschwitz-Birkenau. At his arrival there, he was tattooed with "171515" - his prisoner number. Eugeniusz spent eleven months in Auschwitz, suffering hunger, sickness, cold and hard work. Again, he came close to death many times, including three of so many tragic selections to gas conducted by infamous Dr. Mengele.
He got beaten again a number of times - by the kapos and the SS-men. Auschwitz was a place where no prisoner could be sure that he would be alive next day. It was up to the SS staff and the kapos whether a prisoner was allowed to live. They could kill you and they wouldn't be punished for that. In fact, Eugeniusz describes in his "Living Shadows" a case when an SS guard was rewarded with a 5-day vacation for killing a Jewish prisoner.
[The picture shows a letter (mailer) Eugeniusz sent to his mother from Auschwitz in July 1944]
Eugeniusz's Story - continued
Eugeniusz leaves Auschwitz - not through the chimney! Buchenwald and Ohrdruf camps, then death march to Leitmeritz camp. Forced to work at the underground tank factory. Finally free on May 8, 1945 - when the war ends.
Auschwitz-Birkenau was simply a mass-murder facility that the Nazis created to get rid of the Jews, the Poles and other Slavs and the Gypsies. Thousands of victims got gassed in the gas chambers or killed in other ways (especially in earlier years of the camp's existence; later they used gas chambers mostly) and then burned in the crematoria. Their chimneys were releasing sweet-smelling smoke 24 hours a day. And even worse was the smell coming from the open pits also used to burn the corps when the ovens were operating at full capacity - like in summer of 1944.For Eugeniusz the challenge was not only to survive despite exhaustive work, cold, lack of food, sicknesses, epidemies of typhoos and durhfall, as well as the beatings and whims of the SS guards and the kapos who might kill you any time. All that could distroy your body, even the strong and young one and you quickly became a "muslim" (Muselmann) - broken psychically and physically, ready for the chimney...
You were nobody and you had nothing in Auschwitz. All you had was your number, the striped uniform and the klumps. Those gassed on the arrival didn't even get their numbers... Unaccounted for, nameless victims.
In his "Living Shadows" book, Eugeniusz wrote a number of chapters about Auschwitz, giving his report on the war crimes perpetrated by the Nazi guards and the kapos and how he and his fellow prisoners were trying to defend theiry humanity or simply save just another day.
Eugeniusz survived Auschwitz, but in December 1944 he was sent to the Buchenwald camp and its satellite Ohrdruf camp. Then he participated in on of the "death marches" - exposed to cold and hunger - from Buchenwald to Leitmeritz in Czech Sudeten. Leitmeritz was his last concentration camp where he worked in an underground tank factory Richard I and like all of his fellow prisoners he had to suffer the Nazi terror, cold and hunger so severe that they were forced to eat grass and lignite coal.
The war ended on May 8, 1945 and Eugeniusz was finally free (the picture shows the realese-from-camp document issued by the Leitmeritz camp's Nazi authorities). But he was still far from danger... He had a number of dangerous encounters with the Russian soldiers from the NKVD...
Tragic Addresses - Places Where Eugeniusz Spent Five Years Under The Nazi Imprisonment
Concentration Camps And Prisons Where Eugeniusz Was Imprisoned Between 1940 And 1945
- Vienna (various prisons, 1940-1941, 1943)
- Between April 1940 and May 1941. Terribly beaten during Nazi interrogations. Punished with two weeks of the strict underground isolated cell. Secretly cooking pea soup in the prison cell. Eugeniusz and his friends sentenced to 3 years of prison for "intent to fight actively against the German state," but in the meantime they are to be places in a concentration camp.
- Moorlager (Neusustrum, 1941-1942)
- Eugeniusz and two friends sent to the Moorlager on the German-Dutch border. Extremely hard, emaciating and dangerous work. Eugeniusz almost drowned in the moor, which resulted in severe sickness. Considered by the camp doctor as unfit to stay there, Eugeniusz returns to his former Vienna prison.
- Stein An Der Donau (1942-1943)
- Working at Gustloff Werke ammunition factory. Surprising visit by mother and brother that ends in another cruel punishment of two weeks in freezing underground cell. As result, Eugeniusz gets very sick and goes straight to prison's hospital cell (six weeks with very high fever - almost 40 degrees).
- Auschwitz-Birkenau (Jan. - Dec. 1944)
- The worst of all of the Nazi camps. Eugeniusz spent here 11 months of 1944 - the year of the most massive killing perpetraded by the Nazis. Eugeniusz survived three selections to gas by the "Angel of Death" - Dr. Mengele. He got almost beaten to death by a vicious SS-man, was very sick, but miraculously he survived and left the camp not by the chimney (like the Nazis expected from the prisoners) but on the train taking him to another camp - in Buchenwald.
- Buchenwald/Ohrdruf (Dec. 1944 - March 1945)
- Short, but tragic stay that ended in a death march from Buchenwald to Leitmeritz.
- Leitmeritz (March - May 1945)
- Suffering terrible hunger, forced to eat grass and lignite. Eugeniusz finally free when the war ends on May 8, 1945.
Medals for Eugeniusz's sufferings
Commemorative medals Eugeniusz got from Polish communist government
Unfortunately, after the second world war Poland became a communist country and Eugeniusz didn't like that. He was a true patriot who fought against the Nazi aggressor even though he was just a teenager. For that he paid enormous price - five years spent in many Nazi prisons and concentration camps where he suffered terrible beatings, hunger, cold, sicknesses and just any abuse imaginable. There are some people who can't imagine that and say that nothing like happened. Eugeniusz had a simple, but powerful proofs - the 171515 prisoner number tattooed on his arm by the Nazis when he became an Auschwitz prisoner in January 1944 and scars on his back (including the "very low" one) from the beatings he got from the kapos and Nazi torturers.Like most members of the Polish pre-war army, he wasn't "cuddled" by the communist government and wasn't easy for him during over 40 years of the communist regime. However they couldn't deny Eugeniusz's sacrifice for his home country and he got from them a medal or two.
The first one is for his participation in the September 1939 military campaign against the German invadors, in which Eugeniusz was a Catering Officer even though he was only 19. The second one is for being persecuted during WWII by the Nazis in the prisons and concentration camps.
I have a blog! Please drop by...
- Living Shadows Story
- I have an accompanying blog at Blogger where I give even more interesting details from the fascinating life of my father and his incredible survival of 5 years in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. There simply isn't enough room here... For example, my father had four kidneys - how many do you have? I bet two!
In my blog I also present new material related to the Holocaust, WWII and the places where my father was sent by the Nazis during WWII.
Feed From My Blog - Living Shadows Story
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Oxford Journals - RSS feed of recent issues
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byBazyli Tytyk - Eugeniusz's father was killed by the Soviets
Like father, like son...
However those officers who on that day remained in the territory that got annected by the Soviets were arrested by the NKVD and later (spring of 1940) killed by them in the - now famous - Katyn Forest Massacre. It was one of Stalin's insane methods to get rid of Poland's inteligentsia and military personel. He ordered the killing of well over 20 thousands of some of the best Polish patriots. Among them was Bazyli Tytyk - Eugeniusz's father. The truth about that - for so many years denied by the Soviet/Russian government - was finally revealed in 1989. Please visit my other lens about the Katyn Forest Massacre
- Living Shadows (English edition)
- Eugeniusz writes in his book "Living Shadows" about great influence his father had on his life.
- Katyn Forest Massacre
- Interesting information from Wikipedia about the 1940 massacre by the NKVD of over 20,000 Polish officers and other patriots.
- Katyn massacre victim list
- Katyn Memorial Wall was created by the Electronic Museum at this website. Eugeniusz's father's name - "Tytyk Bazyli" is last on the list under the "T" letter.
Eugeniusz's parents
Mother Rozalia and father Bazyli, wearing the Polish police officer uniform (around 1938). Eugeniusz's Book - "Living Shadows" - My Five Years As A Political Prisoners In Nazi Death Camps And Prisons
Eugeniusz's war memoirs.
Eugeniusz also loved drama; while still in high school he produced a well-received "Kosciuszko at Raclawice" play in which he also payed the title character. He always wanted to write about his tragic war-time adventures and publish that in a book. He wrote it, finally, when he was visiting his family in Canada. He was always a good typist at his typewriter, but late in his life he learned how to use the computer and with this newly acquired skill he wrote his memoirs - in Polish. We promised him to translate his material into English, edit it and find a publisher. Eugeniusz was very happy and proud when he finally received at the beginning of 2006 two versions of his book - "Living Shadows" (in English) and "Zywe Cienie" (in Polish). Unfortunately, he passed away soon after that - in March 2006.
Living Shadows
By Eugeniusz Tytyk. His recollection of 5 years spent in the Nazi concentration camps and prisons, including 11 months in Auschwitz-Birkenau. Also covered: his childhood, teenage years and persecution by the Nazis during WWII. 173 pages, including historic photos. English version.
Book
Price: 19.97 
Read Eugeniusz's story as written by him in Polish
He learned how to use the computer when he was over 70 and he used this newly-learned skill to write his book.
Zywe Cienie
Polish version of Eugeniusz's war memoirs ("Living Shadows"). 178 pages, with photos.
Book
Price: 19.97
Listen to Excerpts From "Living Shadows" Book
Click on the banner or any of the links below to listen to excerpts from Eugeniusz's book! You can order the book here.
- Ch. 30 - My Dangerous Deal With An SS Officer
- During his 11-month stay in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, Eugeniusz was close to death many times, for example he was three times in the selections to gas performed by infamous Dr. Mengele. In this episode he talks about a very difficult situation that happened to him when he had to make a dangerous deal with a high-rank SS officer. It got even more dangerous when the Lagerfuehrer got involved. Find out if Eugeniusz was able to play two roles that the SS officers ordered him to play...
- Ch. 24 - Unexpected Reunion With Professor M.
- One of the main reasons why Eugeniusz survived Auschwitz was that on the first day he arrived there he met his former teacher who promised to help him. Even though Eugeniusz was devastated when he realized that he was sent to the worst of the Nazi camps, he found comfort in the fact that there was somebody there who could help him. Read Eugeniusz's book to find out whether his teacher kept the promise...
- Ch. 15 - Cooking Pea Soup In The Vienna Prison Cell
- Eugeniusz describes how he and his fellow prisoner were able to cook a number of times pea soup in the Nazi prison cell using the sweep and the toothbrush and some other unusual utensils. You just have to listen to this story that includes the instructions. They were in fact cooking the soup but when got caught, they were severely punished...
- Ch. 8 - Trading A Gun For A Schnapps
- When WWII started, Eugeniusz - then 19 - was an Officer Cadet who despite such young age became a Catering Officer on the front line during the military campaign against the Nazi aggressor. But Wehrmacht was much stronger than the Polish Army and the September 1939 campaign quickly ended. Eugeniusz tried to escape to Romania, but got caught and became a POW. Luckily, he was able to escape soon after that - by jumping off the train that was carrying the POWs to Germany. But before that he had a funny adventure with one of the German soldiers. Find out how Eugeniusz exchanged his elegant gun for few gulps of vodka.
Auschwitz Documentary
Some of the best resources about the Auschwitz camp.
- A Virtual Tour of Auschwitz/Birkenau
- by Alan & Krysia Jacobs presented by The State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau & the Cybrary of the Holocaust. Contemporary pictures of many places from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp that are described in Eugeniusz's book "Living Shadows". Unpararelled quality (don't miss the panoramic view feature!), shocking content...
- PBS: Inside the Nazi State. Auschwitz 1940-1945
- Great website with maps, pictures, essays, interviews, timeline, biographies, etc.
- More pictures from Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Taken by Alan Jacobs some years ago. Note Picture 28 described in Chapter 32 of Eugeniusz's book showing the gate at which he had "an almost deadly incident with the crematorium chief".
- The Auschwitz Album
- Visual evidence of the process of mass murder of the Hungarian Jews from Carpatho-Ruthenia. Pictures were taken by the SS photographers.
- Mapping the Holocaust
- Comprehensive information from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, including articles animated maps and photographs.
Related Books On Amazon
Important books on Auschwitz
Survival In Auschwitz
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: $9.89 (as of 12/11/2009)
List Price: $14.00
Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009)
List Price: $13.99
Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 12/11/2009)
List Price: $16.00
Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $13.16 (as of 12/11/2009)
List Price: $18.95
The Auschwitz Album: published in association with the Panstwowe Museum, Auschwitz-Birkenau
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009)
List Price: $90.00
More Books On Auschwitz
On Those Who Survived And Those Who Perished
Auschwitz: A History in Photographs
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009)
Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp
Amazon Price: $19.32 (as of 12/11/2009)
Auschwitz Chronicle: 1939-1945
Amazon Price: (as of 12/11/2009)
The Last Album: Eyes from the Ashes of Auschwitz-birkenau
Amazon Price: $30.02 (as of 12/11/2009)
Five Chimneys: The Story of Auschwitz
Amazon Price: $10.04 (as of 12/11/2009)
Flickr Pictures From Auschwitz-Birkenau
Contemporary view of places where Eugeniusz spent 11 months - from January to December 1944.
Barracks in area BII.
Why Did Prisoner 171515 Survive Auschwitz?
If you've read Eugeniusz's book, or at least the above summary of his tragic war experience, what do you think was the most important factor that helped him survive Auschwitz-Birkenau - the worst Nazi death camp where more than 1.5 million people got murderd or died?
Interesting WWWII-related items on eBay
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Video About Auschwitz-Birkenau camp
Video About Auschwitz-Birkenau camp (2)
Auschwitz II - The Birkenau Experience: Journey into Hell
This is part 2 of my visit to Auschwitz. Birkenau is a separate camp and the place where the processing and gassing took place on an industrial level. It follows the same slide show type with photos taken by me and actual period photos.
Runtime: 549
654793 views
4132 Comments:
curated content from YouTube
Eugeniusz's story on the screen?
Eugeniusz loved movies and theatre and would be the first one to watch a movie based on a story like his own.
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Guestbook - Reader Feedback
Please let me know if you liked reading my father's story.
It's so tragic how people - even the nations with such great culture, like the Germans - could do such barbaric acts to other people. Why are we destroying this beautiful planet? There is enough room and enough food for everybody...
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- zuzanna zuzanna Nov 28, 2009 @ 2:55 pm
- Thanks, jgelien, jeffwend and my other friends for your nice comments.
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- jgelien jgelien Nov 28, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
- We must never forget. You have honored your father exceedingly well in this lens.
Today's role models pale in comparison.
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- jeffwend jeffwend Jul 21, 2009 @ 8:49 pm
- Found this lens through twitter, glad I found it. Blessed by a squid angel
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- AslanBooks AslanBooks Feb 1, 2009 @ 10:27 am
- Thank you for listing your lens on The Squidoo Ink Pot -- http://www.squidinkpot.com.
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- AndrewBF AndrewBF Jan 27, 2009 @ 4:39 am
- A fantastic lens about a subject that must never be forgotten. I've just read this lens and by co-incidence found this link on the BBC news site about the cash crisis threat to Auschwitz. It must not be allowed to fall into disrepair, it must be maintained for future generations to learn the lessons from history.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7842671.stm
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- CoachBrown CoachBrown Oct 25, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
- Truly the Greatest Generation. My father was a US Ranger, 2nd Battalion - the same outfit featured by Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan. He arrived at Normandy beach and for the life of me I cannot comprehend how anyone can keep their wits about them under those conditions. He survived unhurt, but like everyone there that day he left a piece of himself behind and was never the same. We tried to get him to tell us more stories but he simply couldn't go back there. Truly an inspiration and testimony to me that courage is not something you can plan for - it comes from within when you need it, but you have to choose to act on it.
I on the other hand belong to America's sickest generation. After having been given so much we have pissed it away and failed in passing those values to our children. May God grant us mercy.
In your survey "Why Did Prisoner 171515 Survive Auschwitz?" you missed the only correct answer. It was because God chose him to survive.
Thanks for sharing...
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- seedplanter seedplanter Oct 23, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
- My heart aches for what your father went through,. What a bittersweet tribute to him. You've done an amazing job of pulling it all together, and I thank you for that, Zuzanna.
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- chefkeem chefkeem Oct 10, 2008 @ 9:39 am
- A hearty SquidAngel Blessing for this outstanding work!
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