First Auschwitz inmate dies

Dan · Post by **Dan** » 26 Feb 2004 00:03

Auschwitz's First Inmate Dies at Age 88

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Stanislaw Ryniak, the first person imprisoned at the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, has died. He was 88.

Ryniak died of unknown causes and was buried Friday at the Osobowicki cemetery in Wroclaw, the Auschwitz Museum said Wednesday. No exact date of death was given.

Ryniak was arrested by the Nazis in his hometown of Sanok, in southern Poland, in May 1940 and accused of being a member of the Polish resistance. He was 24 at the time.

He arrived at Auschwitz on June 14, 1940, together with hundreds of other Polish political prisoners on that first train of inmates.

Numbers were tattooed on the prisoners' arms in the order of their arrival. The first 30 numbers were given to German criminal prisoners who would serve as camp guards.

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/storie ... TE=DEFAULT

Perhaps not totally on topic for the forum, but I thought it would be of interest.

Vadim · Post by **Vadim** » 26 Feb 2004 00:25

and accused of being a member of the Polish resistance.

Michael Mills would probably say that he was a member of Resistance (if he was accused of it, he must have been, right?) and was justly interned...

On a serious note, it is mind-boggling that someone went through hell for 5 years and survived and even lived to be 88. May he rest in peace. Thanks for posting this, Dan.

Earldor · Post by **Earldor** » 26 Feb 2004 00:49

Vadim wrote:
and accused of being a member of the Polish resistance.
Michael Mills would probably say that he was a member of Resistance (if he was accused of it, he must have been, right?) and was justly interned...

I personally find nothing wrong per se in being a member of a resistance movement that fights against a totalitarian regime.

On a serious note, it is mind-boggling that someone went through hell for 5 years and survived and even lived to be 88. May he rest in peace. Thanks for posting this, Dan.

I agree, and would like to extend my thanks also to Dan.

If you are interested in reading about a similar feat and the situation in the camp in its early stages, I'd like to recommend Wieslaw Kielar's "Anus Mundi". Kielar (a pen name, if I remember correctly) was also on the first transport (14.6.1940) of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnow. His camp number was 290 (numbers from 31 to 758 were given, numbers from 1 to 30 were given to German prisoners transferred from Sachsenhausen to act as kapos to these Poles.).

xcalibur · Post by **xcalibur** » 26 Feb 2004 04:18

Vadim wrote:
and accused of being a member of the Polish resistance.

On a serious note, it is mind-boggling that someone went through hell for 5 years and survived and even lived to be 88. May he rest in peace. Thanks for posting this, Dan.

Amen.

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 26 Feb 2004 04:57

Truly. RIP.

Eistir · Post by **Eistir** » 26 Feb 2004 09:19

What was the usual punishment for beeing in resistance movement against germans?I'm asking because I don't have any info.

michael mills · Post by **michael mills** » 26 Feb 2004 10:27

Michael Mills would probably say that he was a member of Resistance (if he was accused of it, he must have been, right?) and was justly interned...

What I would say is this:

On what basis can Stanislaw Ryniak be said to be the first person imprisoned at Auschwitz on a transport with 728 other prisoners?

Why not say he was the 728th person to be imprisoned at Auschwitz?

Was this distinction given him because he received the lowest number of all the Polish prisoners transferred to Auschwitz on 14 June 1940, ie number 31?

If so, surely the distinction of being the first prisoner of Auschwitz should go to the person who received number 1, one of the 30 German criminal prisoners. He is named in the "Auschwitz Chronicle", but I have forgotten it. I have a vague feeling that he was Bruno something.

Or are the 30 German prisoners discounted because they were made Kapos? But they were nevertheless concentration camp prisoners.

Perhaps Ryniak also became a Kapo, and that is why he was able to survive just over four and one-half years at Auschwitz (as opposed to the average three months or so).

The quoted article makes an egregious error. Although prisoners transferred to Auschwitz were assigned a registration number from the very beginning, they were not at first tattooed. Tattooing was only introduced at some later date, to prevent prisoners escaping punishment by assuming the numbers of deceased prisoners.

Vadim · Post by **Vadim** » 26 Feb 2004 16:10

See, gentlemen, I knew Mills was waiting in the wings with his mouth open for foot insertion... Mills, the gentleman was 88, he survived Auschwitz, now he passed on - breathe deep and LET IT GO. Petty arguments about whether he was #1 or #19 hardly matter. You seem to miss the point: he does not deserve any special recognition for being prisoner #1 at Auschwitz, he deserves recognition for having gone through hell on this earth. Not many of those now living can claim that distinction.

Perhaps Ryniak also became a Kapo, and that is why he was able to survive just over four and one-half years at Auschwitz

Michael, I have seen in many of your posts that you sadly underestimate some basic human traits like willpower or patriotism. Not everyone survived by becoming a Kapo...

michael mills · Post by **michael mills** » 27 Feb 2004 01:09

Well, the original article quoted in the first message on this thread stated :

Stanislaw Ryniak, the first [my emphasis] person imprisoned at the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz

I was questioning the basis on which this person was given that distinction. If the article had said that he was among the first transport of Polish prisoners to Auschwitz there would be nothing to object to.

Vadim sees the importance of this person in his having "gone through hell on this earth".

Well, there have been many places that could be described as "hell on this earth" other than Auschwitz. The Kolyma camps for example.

And there have been millions of people who have gone through "hell on this earth" at those other places. And there must have been a huge number of people who survived "hell on this earth" at those places who have since died anonymously, without getting their names written up in the newspapers.

I think that the people who make so much fuss about the death of a former Auschwitz inmate are motivated primarily by a desire to concentrate on only one example of "hell on earth", namely Auschwitz, in order to conceal all the scores of other "hells on earth" that were perpetrated by an ideology which they espouse or for which they feel a residual sympathy because it had its origin in an ethnic group to which they belong or with which they have an affinity.

Omega-Force · Post by **Omega-Force** » 27 Feb 2004 03:54

Vadim · Post by **Vadim** » 27 Feb 2004 04:51

michael mills wrote:I think that the people who make so much fuss about the death of a former Auschwitz inmate are motivated primarily by a desire to concentrate on only one example of "hell on earth", namely Auschwitz, in order to conceal all the scores of other "hells on earth" that were perpetrated by an ideology which they espouse or for which they feel a residual sympathy because it had its origin in an ethnic group to which they belong or with which they have an affinity.

Careful Michael, one of these days you might give yourself an aneurysm if you keep straining to produce cryptic masterpieces like that...

xcalibur · Post by **xcalibur** » 27 Feb 2004 05:55

Vadim wrote:
michael mills wrote:I think that the people who make so much fuss about the death of a former Auschwitz inmate are motivated primarily by a desire to concentrate on only one example of "hell on earth", namely Auschwitz, in order to conceal all the scores of other "hells on earth" that were perpetrated by an ideology which they espouse or for which they feel a residual sympathy because it had its origin in an ethnic group to which they belong or with which they have an affinity.
Careful Michael, one of these days you might give yourself an aneurysm if you keep straining to produce cryptic masterpieces like that...

Ah, Vadim, don't underestimate "unser Mills", the "Canberra Purveyor of Crapola, Sly Slayer of the Semitic".

It's really easier not to respond directly to his posts and just think of him, as embarrassing as it may be, as "our Irving", as onerous a task as that may be.

Someday he might actually be published, and you and I can say we were there at the beginning.

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 27 Feb 2004 08:53

Let's avoid personal remarks and get back on topic.

Eistir · Post by **Eistir** » 27 Feb 2004 12:41

Excuse me where from I can get answer to my question?Was it just a prisonsentence or was it execution?
Thank you.

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 27 Feb 2004 17:09

Eistir -- You asked:

What was the usual punishment for beeing in resistance movement against germans?I'm asking because I don't have any info.

That depends on what the member of the resistance did. Punishments ranged from indefinite detention in a concentration camp to execution.