IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS, THE TERM MUSELMANN DENOTES A PRISONER IN THE STATE...

 IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS, THE TERM MUSELMANN DENOTES A PRISONER IN THE STATE OF PHYSICAL INANITION AND PSYCHOLOGY EXHAUSTION. 

this strange-sounding word derived from German became a general label for very many of the prisoners of Nazi German concentration camps.

The term Muselmann denotes a concentration camp prisoner in the state of utmost physical inanition and psychological exhaustion and is inseparably connected with the problems of concentration camps, particularly of camp prisoners.

 Paradoxically, this strange-sounding word derived from German became a general label for very many of the prisoners of Nazi German concentration camps, and entered into everyday use in the camps. 

With the crematorium chimneys smoking on the horizon, every prisoner knew very well what the term meant, regardless of the language they spoke.

 Its meaning was clear and absolutely unequivocal: it stood for the most wretched of the wretched, a prisoner described by linguist Stanisław Jagielski (1968) as “one who was teetering on the brink of death whilst still alive.”

Most Muselmänner [plural form of Muselmann] did not survive the camps, yet the tragic word for a prisoner on the verge of death survives in defiance of the concentration camps and has come down to us in its diverse versions in Polish, German and other languages.

Muselmänner have received more attention in memoirs, novels, and short stories than in scholarship.

 There is a long‑standing need to put some order into the bibliography of the subject and define the characteristic features of this pathological syndrome. 

My basic aim in this article is to draw up an image of the Muselmann, his physical appearance, the causes of the condition, what he did and how he behaved in the various camp communities and, above all, his psychological condition.

The Muselmann’s existential state consisted of a specific set of physical and psychological symptoms, exceptional and unique from a medical perspective. 

In a wider sense it was a special pathological product of the system of extermination operating in the concentration camp.

 My examination of the Muselmann’s psychology gave me a unique opportunity for an insight into the experience of humans on the verge between life and death.

 Another of my aims was to familiarize the reader with this still little known, sometimes fascinating, always enticing if at first repulsive world.

I analyzed survivors’ recollections of Muselmänner and various aspects of their condition.

 Their stories were collected by Dr Stanisław Kłodziński, an Auschwitz survivor himself, who sent out a specially compiled questionnaire to around 300 other Auschwitz survivors in the fall of 1981.

 He asked them for the origin of the German word Muselmann itself (Polish muzułman) and its synonyms in the concentration camp meaning, and the condition of the Muselmann (Polish muzułmaństwo). What physical and psychological features was a prisoner supposed to have to be considered a Muselmann?

 What were the causes of the condition, and what individual predispositions were required in a prisoner to develop it? 

How did Muselmänner behave and what were their habits? What was the attitude of other prisoners and camp overseers?

 Kłodziński’s respondents were also asked about the Muselmann’s susceptibility to, and immunity from, disease and the hardships of the camp, how Muselmänner died, whether it was possible for them to survive (if so, then how), and whether the condition left any permanent vestiges in survivors.

 By the end of June 1982 we had written answers from 66 men and 23 women.

 What we learned from the interviews we conducted with survivors at the Kraków Psychiatric Clinic helped us to understand and interpret the answers we had gotten to the questionnaire.

My second vital source of information were survivors’ memoirs preserved in the archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

 I also used scientific publications and published memoirs, particularly those written by medical practitioners.

 I collected information from unique, generally very accessible sources such as photographs and drawings. 

For instance, I analyzed drawings by Jerzy Brandhuber, Władysław Siwek, and Jerzy Potrzebowski. 

The photographic portrait of a Muselmann on the jacket of the French album La déportation is deeply moving.

 Words can hardly do justice to the depth of meaning in this picture: perhaps only Gisges (1976) has come closest when saying, “Only their eyes shone like the eyes of wildcats.”

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