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Kalmar's encounter with the Holocaust
It was eighty years ago, on January 27, 1945, in the last days of the second world war, that the prisoners in Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the Nazi concentration camps, gained their freedom. That summer, the Swedish hospital ship HMS Prins Carl made four tours to Kalmar, carrying some 300 survivors from Auschwitz and other camps. Upon recovery, many of those who received medical care here chose to move on to other locations; some stayed on. Some of the patients who arrived could not be saved; they were buried here in Kalmar.
January 27 is the international day of commemoration for the victims of the Holocaust, and this past Monday a ceremony honoring the victims was held in the Mosaic Cemetery here in Kalmar. On the eve of the ceremony this reporter met with Anke Decker, administrator for Kalmar Parish, and Maria Kanje, coorrdinator of exhibits and public events for Kalmar County Museum, to talk about Kalmar's experience of the Holocaust.
In the summer of 1945 about 300 survivors from Nazi concentration camps and work camps were brought to Kalmar on the hospital ship HMS Prins Carl, one of the so-called "white boats". The ship made four tours that summer. On board were many young, but ill or severely injured patients. Although they had been under care for some months in Lübeck prior to the voyage, a majority were in very poor physical condition.
"The transports with Prins Carl were very risky. The ship was escorted by minesweepers. There were still mines in Baltic waters," Anke Decker explains.
The ship's first arrival at Elevatorkajen was on June 30. The harbor had been cordoned off to prevent the spread of typhus, which had raged in the camps. But still, thousands of Kalmar residents had gathered outside the barrier.
"Judging from the press reports of the event, the atmosphere was very sombre, as the victims were carried and being helped ashore. The crowd was absolutely quiet. It seemed almost as though it was first now that many residents fully grasped what had been going on in Nazi Germany. Here they saw the consequences first hand," says Maria Kanje.
Once ashore, the patients were transported by ambulances to the warm-water bathhouse on Kattrumpan, only a couple of hundred meters away. Showers, delousing and fresh clothing awaited them.
"The most acute cases were taken to the Epidemic Hospital on Lindö [an island a few hundred meters north of town], where they could be treated in preventive isolation," says Anke.
Some were transported to improvised housing in Vasaskolan [a school south of central Kalmar], but most were taken to the Civil Emergency Hospital, that is, the former county hospital at Söderport near Kalmar Castle. A new county hospital in Kalmar had opened in the 1930s, but the former hospital had retained its function in case of war and stood ready when the patients arrived.
"My impression of the reporting after the victims' arrival was that the reporters focused on positive, more cheerful events — for example, a birthday party in the hospital or other light-hearted get-togethers. It's like they felt it was so hard to see these people and to grasp what they had been through, so they felt a need, perhaps even a duty, to 'lighten up' the situation, to tell more cheerful stories to their readers in Kalmar:'Now she has a happy smile on her face and is so thankful to be here in Sweden.' That sort of thing", says Maria.
So, you say it was mostly 'feel-good' stories in local media?
"Yes. In the local press, yes. Nowadays it's perfectly natural to find a therapist to talk to, whether or not you've experienced any kind of trauma. But here the focus was on eating to get stronger, and forgetting. There wasn't any crisis team there, waiting for them. I'm sure the nurses and doctors did a good job, but in the case of the Civil Emergency Hospital, Professor Malin Thor Tureby, who has studied the Mosaic congregation here in Kalmar and read letters from patients, found complaints about the hospital administration and criticism of the care they, the patients, were given. There was apparently one particular staff member who had anti-semitic sympathies," says Maria.
At least one patient died on the voyage to Kalmar, and several were in such poor condition that they died shortly after their arrival. They are buried in the Mosaic Cemetery in the Southern Cemetery, close to Kalmar Castle, and in the Northern Cemetery — depending on their religious affiliation.
Your reporter met with Maria and Anke in the Mosaic Cemetery. A memorial stone was raised there in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. Around the stone stand 24 smaller black stones, one for each of those buried in the cemetery, with name, date and nationality. They came from Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Rumania and were between the ages of 15 and 38. All had died and were buried within a single year, from June 30, 1945 to June 14, 1946.
"Some of them died here after no more than a few days, judging from the inscriptions," Maria observes.
Near the memorial stone we find the grave of Josef Kowner, an artist. He was one of those imprisoned in Auschwitz during the Holocaust who chose to remain in Kalmar, which he did until his death in 1967.
"Josef Kowner resided on Fogdegatan here in town until his death. He was a true Bohemian, spoke Yiddish, loved to sit in the cafes, in billows of smoke. There was an aura of 'café parisien' about him. Sophisticated, well educated, one of the few Jewish artists who survived the Holocaust. His work was shown in the 2016 Berlin exhibition, 'Art from the Holocaust', which then-Chancellor Angela Merkel personally opened. In fact, his self-portrait was featured on the poster that advertised that major and important exhibition", says Anke, who has served as been working with administration of graves in the Mosaic Cemetery these past several years.
"I'm quite certain that my interest in this work has to do with my origins. I was born in Germany," she says.
She has learned details of the background of some of those buried. In March 2021, for example, she received an email letter with the heading, "Help us". It was from a woman in Poland named Jolanta Nitkowska-Weglarz.
"Jolanta's Aunt Kazimiera, her mother's sister, had disappeared during the second world war, and Jolanta wondered if she possibly was buried here. She was.
"Jolanta's brother had happened to see an image of our memorial stone online. He saw Kazimiera's name on it," says Anke.
After 76 years of searching, the family finally found out what had happened. Kazimiera had come to Kalmar on the last tour HMS Prins Carl made. She died here after only one month. She was only 21 years old.
"Jolanta's mother had searched for her sister for years and years, but never found her. Her mother died before Jolanta found the answer. Jolanta and I developed a very close contact, and I know how much finding Kazimiera meant to the family. We had a long, long conversation on the phone, it gave an emotional release and meant a lot.
"I went through the documentation of our graves and found the grave in the Northern Cemetery. She was buried there, as she was Catholic. There was no longer any marker, but her name is engraved on the memorial stone. I went out to the grave with my son and lit a candle. I sent a photo of it to Jolanta. It felt good to be able to do that, says Anke in conclusion.
Agnes Ekman
agnes@kalmarposten.se
Bildtexterna i fall de hänger med:
Anke Decker, administrator for Kalmar Parish, and Maria Kanje, coordinator of exhibits and public events for Kalmar County Museum, with the memorial stone
Translation byline fotografs in the original article:
[Transport by ambulance from Elevatorkajen to the bath house on Kattrumpan.
The Swedish hospital ship HMS Prins Carl made four tours with some 300 survivors from Nazi concentration and work camps.
Survivors from the Bergen-Belsen camp play chess while listening to the radio in Kalmar's Civil Emergency Hospital.
Survivors are carried ashore at the Elevatorkajen in Kalmar.
A party for the refugees at the Civil Emergency Hospital.