Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

We invite you to participate in the conference “TRANS-FORMATION OF TRAUMA. DIFFERENT WAYS OF PROCESSING TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES”, which will take place in Oświęcim. We chose this city for a reason. Its difficult history, as well as the consistent efforts undertaken in the areas of dialogue, education, and cooperation, create an important context for a conversation about how differently the process of working with trauma can unfold.

We will gather in the building of the Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki State University of Małopolska in Oświęcim, a place of particular significance. It was here, on June 14, 1940, that the first transport of 728 Polish prisoners from Tarnów arrived, marking the beginning of the KL Auschwitz concentration camp. Among them was a young scout, Marian Kołodziej. His story serves as a bridge between the past and the central theme of our conference.

In the opening address, Dr. Radosław Folga will introduce the late Marian Kołodziej, a set designer who for 50 years was unable to speak about his experience. For half a century he carried within him images so overwhelming that only a serious illness finally opened the path to their expression. The result was a profoundly moving series of works entitled “Negatives of Memory. Labyrinths” (https://kliszepamieci.org), presented at the St. Maximilian Kolbe Centre in Harmęże.

These are hundreds of drawings on paper and bedsheets, the latter used in moments of inspiration when materials ran out. They constitute a record of the process of working through trauma; something that finds no words in conventional language. When words fail to describe the unimaginable, the psyche may resort to various solutions, a symptom or… an image. Here, drawing serves the function of pictographic writing.

The author himself wrote:
“This is not an exhibition — not art, not pictures, but words locked inside drawings. It was not my intention to fulfill a duty of remembrance and bear witness through art. Art is helpless in the face of what man has done to man… A view of Auschwitz through drawing. Everyone who was in Auschwitz and survived Auschwitz remained for the rest of their life with the indelible mark of the human tragedy that unfolded there. I would like to suggest to the viewer: be patient, patiently read everything that is written in these drawings. These are my ‘drawn words’ to you. They must be read.”

In various theoretical frameworks, trauma is defined as an event that “tears apart” the psychic apparatus. The experience is too vast to be processed. Trauma on the scale of the Holocaust is “unpresentable.” “Drawn words” are a process, an attempt at symbolization. When the psyche is flooded by “beta elements” (per Bion’s theory), that is, raw, unprocessed sensory impressions and anxieties, drawing becomes a way of physically externalizing them.

The use of bed sheets (which carry rich symbolism: from birth to death, with highly intimate connotations, they are associated with the physical body, but also with sleep) amplifies the somatic dimension of this creative work. The bodily aspect of trauma will be addressed by Prof. Katarzyna Schier.

The “indelible mark” refers to the permanence of the memory trace. Trauma is not an event of the past; it often unfolds in an “eternal now,” a theme that Joanne Stubley will address in her presentation.

The plea to “be patient, patiently read” can be understood as an invitation to enter into an analytic relationship, into the intimate world of traumatic experience which, though it unfolded amid crowds of people, settled into a feeling of terrifying solitude. The survivor needs a “witness.” The witness cannot merely look (passively); they must “read,” actively interpret and empathize. Prof. Katarzyna Prot-Klinger and Dr. Krzysztof Szwajca, with three decades of experience working with Holocaust survivors, will speak more about this.

The “patience” that Marian Kołodziej calls for requires time so that mourning can be experienced and worked through (Durcharbeiten).

This is one possible direction for processing traumatic experience. The conference aims to show that this is not always the case, and that post-traumatic growth requires a great deal of patience and effort to emerge from the trance of trauma. Igor Rotberg will speak about this, sharing clinical examples.

We invite you to join us at this gathering, to be together in a place of difficult memory, which may become a space for meaningful and living dialogue.

We look forward to seeing you in Oświęcim!