“A Walk Around Oświęcim. Photographs from the Collection of Tadeusz Firczyk” is the title of the latest book published by the Remembrance Museum of Land of Oświęcim Residents. The author’s copies were officially presented to Tadeusz Firczyk by Museum Director Dorota Mleczko.
The bilingual publication (in Polish and English) contains 122 photographs taken in Oświęcim over the past 140 years. Each of the 10 chapters has an introduction to the history of each part of town and a plan of the area. The photographs also have individual captions.
“The collection of documents, photographs, and objects is possible only thanks to fruitful cooperation with the inhabitants of the Land of Oświęcim. This album is, on the one hand, a tribute to Mr. Tadeusz Firczyk for his many years of passion and knowledge, and, on the other, an attempt to capture the changes in the town on the basis of photographs from the collections of this Oświęcim collector,” said Dorota Mleczko.
The ceremonial presentation of the album was special for a second reason. Tadeusz Firczyk donated to the Remembrance Museum several dozen very valuable photographs and publications devoted to the history of the Land of Oświęcim.
“These materials should be here not because I am important, but because history is important. They are meant to serve people,” he said.
The album “A Walk Around Oświęcim. Photographs from the Collection of Tadeusz Firczyk” will be distributed at the opening of the Remembrance Museum of Land of Oświęcim Residents, which is scheduled for April of this year.
Tadeusz Firczyk was born on 12th September 1938 in Oświęcim. He began collecting photographs and postcards in 1981. Then he taught himself to take photographs. In 2012, he was awarded the Medal of the City of Oświęcim in recognition of his work to popularize the history of the city.
