Item HT 27636 Identity Card - Issued to Jan Gorniaczyk, Polish Association for Lubeck & District, 2 Oct 1945

Summary

Cardboard identity card issued to Jan Gornia following his release from a Nazi concentration camp at the end of World War II. Mr Johann (Jan) Gorniaczyk (Gornia) was detained between 3 February 1940 and May 1945 in Nazi concentration camps and the photograph inside the card shows Jan wearing the uniform also in the collection.

Mr Gornia was born 8 December 1922 in Wasowo, Poland. He spent his imprisonment in Sachsenhausen, Oranienburg in Germany as a non-Jewish political prisoner, number 16589. The inverted red triangle indicates that, according to the Nazi system of prisoner classification, that Mr Gornia was a political prisoner. It is believed that he was incarcerated because his father or uncle had been involved in the Polish uprising against Germany after World War I.

Mr Gornia met his Polish wife Mira in postwar Germany; she had been forcibly taken to a labour camp in Germany and she worked as a nurse in a hospital after the War. Jan and Mira married in Germany and migrated together to Australia in 1949, bringing with them his uniform, along with other war memorabilia. It was then that he officially shortened his name. Mr and Mrs Gornia had one son and lived the majority of their lives in Yarraville, Melbourne. Jan was highly skilled with his hands and worked for Holden.

Physical Description

Identity card made from light brown coloured cardboard. Unfolded the identity card has six faces - three faces on the front, and three on the back. The card is meant to be folded and placed inside its plastic pouch when carried. The front of the card identifies its holder in Polish and English, and has a black and white portrait photograph attached to it of Mr Jan Gorniaczyk, who is shown wearing his concentration camp uniform. The back of the card explains that the holder has been liberated from his imprisonment, and should receive privilege and help. The accompanying flexible and transparent plastic pouch is slightly larger than the folded identity card. It is sealed at the sides and opens at one of its longer ends. It has a half oval cutout at the opening for ease of access.

Significance

This collection of wartime memorabilia holds enormous historical significance. These pieces highlight how the Holocaust has involved the lives of innumerable non-Jewish Poles, who experienced incredible levels of inhumanity while imprisoned in concentration and labour camps in Europe. Although the Jewish Holocaust experience is well documented, discourse surrounding the non-Jewish experience is not as prevalent. These pieces help tell this story. Additionally, this collection aids in the understanding of post war migration to Australia, in this case, of the Polish community to Melbourne.