Secret chess pieces found at Auschwitz camp tell a story of prisoner life

Workers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum have made a poignant discovery in Block 8 of the former Auschwitz I camp: a set of handmade chess pieces hidden beneath the floor.

This collection, consisting of 35 cardboard squares with hand-drawn figures of rooks, pawns, bishops, and knights, shines a light on the prisoners' efforts to maintain a semblance of normalcy under horrific conditions.

Elżbieta Cajzer, head of the Museum's Collections, shared in a statement on Wednesday: "Several drawings may be a bit blurry, but the images of rooks, pawns, bishops, or knights are still easily distinguishable. Nevertheless, the set is incomplete, and some boxes no longer have any traces of the drawing. Our evaluation shows that the objects are in a good state of preservation. They will now be subjected to conservation treatment."

This discovery adds a significant layer to the museum's collection that already includes items like wooden miniature chess pieces and bread-made figures.

Can be seen in a forthcoming exhibition

The chess pieces will be featured in a forthcoming exhibition at their original site in Block 8, focused on the daily lives of the camp's prisoners.

"Cards with images of chess pieces fit into the display case, which we have titled 'evening time.' Our topic will revolve around the short, theoretically free time for prisoners between the evening roll call and the declaration of curfew," explained Magdalena Urbaniak of the New Main Exhibition team. This exhibit aims to convey the prisoners' desperate quest for mental escape and solace through games like chess and cards crafted from whatever materials they could find.

The museum's "Sport and Sportspeople at KL Auschwitz" exhibition highlights the importance of mental activities as a respite for the prisoners. "Camp prisoners treated mental activities as a respite from the brutal camp reality... Some of the gaming paraphernalia illegally made its way to the camp's prisoners from luggage confiscated from Jewish victims," the exhibition notes, emphasizing the clandestine nature of these activities.

Adding a personal perspective, Holocaust survivor Jan Dziopek recounted his experiences crafting chess pieces and boxes in the camp. "I had a lot of orders, even from SS men. However, I was reluctant to fulfill them. Nonetheless, I had to fulfill their orders because, under the guise of working for them, I could fulfill the requests of my colleagues," he recalled.