Obituary for Marian Turski (1926—2025)
20.2.2025
Marian Turski passed away on February 18, 2025. Just the day before, on January 27, 2025, he had addressed the guests at the commemoration ceremony in Auschwitz with moving words. He was a historian, journalist, and one of the most important voices in the culture of remembrance. As a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp, he tirelessly advocated for raising awareness about the crimes of National Socialism and warned against the dangers of intolerance and antisemitism.
Turski was born on June 26, 1926, in Druskieniki (now Druskininkai, Lithuania). During the Second World War, he and his family were deported to the Łódź Ghetto and later to Auschwitz. He narrowly survived the death march to Buchenwald. These experiences shaped his life and his tireless work for remembrance and coming to terms with history.
After the war, he became a journalist and historian, dedicating his life to coming to terms with the Holocaust and upholding human rights. As chairman of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw and the International Auschwitz Committee, he significantly shaped the public discourse on history, responsibility, and reconciliation. His legacy is his powerful reminder to learn from history. In his famous speech "Auschwitz Warns," delivered on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in 2020, he said:
“Auschwitz didn't fall from the sky. It began with small manifestations of intolerance and antisemitism, with racism. That's what we must remember: It didn't begin with gas chambers.”
In this speech he also formulated his urgent commandment for posterity:
“Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not be indifferent.“
Turski warned that the greatest risk to the survival of democracy and human rights lies not only in hatred or extremism, but also in the indifference of the majority.
His tireless dedication was also reflected in the Exhibition “Marian Ruzamski. The art of remembrance”, which he initiated and for which he served as patron. In 2025/2026, the Museum Center for Persecuted Arts, together with the Palace of Arts in Krakow, the Tarnowski Castle Museum in Tarnobrzeg, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, will present the first solo exhibition of this remarkable artist in 100 years. The director of the Center for Persecuted Arts, Dr. Jürgen Kaumkötter, and the director of the Tarnowski Castle Museum, Prof. Dr. Tadeusz Zych, met with Turski in Warsaw in November 2024 at the offices of the magazine Polityka to discuss the exhibition's planning.
Turski recognized the importance of art as a means of remembrance. "Works of art are emotional witnesses," he said. They build bridges between the past and future generations, making the incomprehensible tangible. Especially in a time when the last living witnesses are passing away, artistic forms of expression are gaining increasing importance. The exhibition dedicated to Marian Ruzamski, an artist who himself became a victim of the Shoah, is not only an act of tribute but also a contribution against forgetting.
Shortly before his death, Marian Turski was able to complete the foreword for the exhibition catalog—a testament to his commitment to remembrance and against the resurgence of hatred and exclusion. This exhibition is dedicated to him, in recognition of his lifelong work, his tireless advocacy, and his profound humanity.
Marian Turski had planned to personally open the exhibition "Marian Ruzamski: The Art of Remembrance" in Solingen on May 8, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. We will now read his foreword.
With him, we lose one of the most important voices in the culture of remembrance. But his legacy remains. It is now up to all of us to carry on his message.
Marian Turski Marian Turski (1926–2025) – We remember him with respect, gratitude and the promise not to forget his warnings.
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