On 24 September Christoph Heubner will be presenting the Polish translation of his book Durch die Knochen bis ins Herz at the International Youth Meeting Center (IMYC) in Oswiecim. The book is being published in Kraków by the renowned Jewish publisher austeria wydawnictwo under the title W samo serce.
Christoph Heubner is a German author who is closely associated with the establishment of the International Youth Meeting Center in Oświęcim. As one of the co-founders he has been working together with the centre since 1980. He has been a member of the IYMC foundation’s board of trustees since it was founded in 1995, and has held positions as its chairperson or deputy chairperson. His unwavering commitment to preserving the memory of the victims of Nazi crimes and his dedicated work for reconciliation between the German and Polish peoples have accompanied him throughout his adult life. After graduating from high school he refused to take part in military service and instead became a peaceworker in a hostel for the homeless. He later accompanied the first groups in the initiative for the Stutthof concentration camp memorial. He has received many of the highest possible awards in Poland and Germany in recognition of his outstanding contributions towards the German-Polish reconciliation process.
Book presentation
With Christoph Heubner
Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee
THE FACE OF A MAN
87TH KRAKOW POETRY SALON IN THE IYMC
On 24 September 2023 at 5.30 pm, we are happy to invite you to the 87th Kraków Poetry Salon in the IYMC entitled The Face of a Man. During the evening Beata Paluch and Jacek Romanowski (H. Modrzejewska National Stary Theater in Krakau) will be reading excerpts from Christoph Heubner’s book Durch die Knochen bis ins Herz. The event will be accompanied by the music of Jacek Hołubowski. In the second part of the programme we would like to invite you to join in a conversation with the author Christoph Heubner, and the translator of the text into Polish, Rafał Wędrychowski.
The project is being supported by the city of Oświęcim, the district of Oświęcim, the EnCo Engineering Company, OMAG Machinery and Equipment Factory, Austrotherm, RE-Bau and Gebrüder Weiss.
W samo serce
(Original German title: Durch die Knochen bis ins Herz)
Stories and Memories of Auschwitz survivors
Christoph Heubner tells stories about ants, olives and a piece of margarine wrapping paper. And he recounts what was done to people ‘in that place’ and how they carried on living ‘afterwards’. The author has accompanied, and listened to, Auschwitz survivors for more than four decades – as they talk about their happiness and sadness in their lives after their ‘survival’, of images, smells and memories that they can never erase from their minds, and about their certainty that they also need to speak for those who can no longer speak, those who are as close to them as the numbers still tattooed on their arms.
Heubner’s volumes of stories: Ich sehe Hunde, die an der Leine reißen, Durch die Knochen bis ins Herz and Als wir die Maikäfer waren have been published by the Steidl Verlag Göttingen. His book Durch die Knochen bis ins Herz is being published in Kraków by the renowned Jewish publisher austeria wydawnictwo under the Polish title W samo serce which has been translated from the German by Rafał Wędrychowski.
Date and place:
Sunday 24 September 2023, 5.30 pm
International Youth Meeting Center
MDSM-IJBS-IYMC
ul. Legionów 11
32-600 Oświęcim/Auschwitz
Poland
Link to MDSM website
Link to book announcement
