The Old Guard

by Lurczynski, Mieczyslaw; Nitecki, Alicia; Speca, Gerald W.

• ISBN13: 9781438430812
• ISBN10: 1438430817
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-02-01
• Publisher: Excelsior Editions

Summary

Brutally and unflinchingly honest in its depiction of the effects of concentration camp life on the human psyche, Mieczys?aw Lurczy?ski’s The Old Guard is one of the earliest works of Holocaust literature and one of the few works written by a non-Jew who was also a survivor of the camps. Begun during his imprisonment on scraps of paper and completed immediately after the war, the play is based on Lurczy?ski’s experiences in Buchenwald and its sub-camp in Escherhausen, SS-Kommando Hecht. The action takes place in the Camp Elder’s room at Hecht, where the prisoners who hold privileged positions in the camp—old-timers from Auschwitz, Majdanek, and other camps—play cards, drink moonshine, and steal from one another. The play’s hero, based on the prewar Polish actor Fryderyk Jarosy, who was also imprisoned at Hecht, attempts to uphold the values of Western civilization in this depraved environment, an impossible task that ultimately leads to his death at the hands of the Camp Elder.