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Background history
This intricate pendant decorated with scenes referring to the symbolism of the Ancient Egypt, despite being unfinished, enthralls with its elaborate workmanship. It was sculpted in Oflag VII A Murnau by Second Lieutenant Zdzisław Jaeschke for his companion in captivity Second Lieutenant Mieczysław Kaczmarek. It testifies to the unique talent of this amateur artist, which was developing intensively during the over five-year-long period of internment. The creator of the pendant (born in Konarów near Lvov on 27 April 1913) graduated from Jan Kazimierz University in Lvov with a degree in Law. He was taken captive as a soldier taking part in the Polish Defensive War of 1939. After his stay in the citadel in Przemyśl, then in the transition camps in Zamość (16-26 November) and Radom (27 November – 6 December), he was brought to Stalag XIII A Nürnberg for a short time. As early as on 30 January 1940, he was transferred to the officer POW camps located on the territory of Bavaria, initially to Oflag VII C Laufen, and then was interned in Oflag VII A Murnau from the end of May 1940. It is in the latter where Zdzisław Jaeschke, like many other POWs, engaged in development of cultural and educational life, which was a form of peculiar therapy to overcome the hardships of the camp life, arts and theatre being his greatest passion. He painted pictures, including landscapes and portraits, which enjoyed the most popularity, as well as caricatures which presented in a distorting mirror not only his mates, but also German supervisors. He sculpted in wood and bone. It is caricature and small sculptures that display his talent and precision of executing the detail the best. He used his artistic skills in the activity of the camp theatre, where he was responsible for the sets, preparation of costumes, wigs and props. The wide spectrum of interest in culture and his passion and public-spirited attitude, which saved Zdzisław Jaeschke from the “illness of the wires” in the camp, did not allow him to stay passive after the war, either. Zdzisław Jaeschke, in a similar way to that followed by many inhabitants of the former Eastern Lands of the Second Republic of Poland, decided to settle down in the so-called Regained Lands, first in Prudnik, then in Opole. In spite of his artistic passion, he finally devoted himself to journalism, working for the Trybuna Robotnicza [The Workers’ Tribune], Trybuna Opolska [The Opole Tribune] (the deputy editor-in-chief) and for the Polish Radio Station (the editor-in-chief). Later, he made use of the experience to set up and manage the Publishing House of the Silesian Institute in Opole. In 1963, together with Karol Musioł, they established the Society of Friends of Opole, for which he worked in the successive years as a deputy president, and from 1983 as President of this organization. Despite having so many commitments, he realized his artistic ambitions, too, the proof of which are, for example, the illustrations in Dorota Simonides’s publication under the title Bery to nie tylko gruszki, czyli rzecz o humorze śląskim [Bery means not only pears, that is a thing about Silesian humor] (Opole 1984). The time spent in the camp resulted also in his continuing love for the theater, which he developed by organizing the amateur theater movement in Opole Silesia. He died in Opole in 1991. Zdzisław Jaeschke, although he unwillingly returned in his thoughts to the time he spent in captivity, maintained his contact with our Museum. In 1987, he presented the Museum with an album with caricature drawings and watercolors. The last item acquired by the Museum, which is directly connected with Zdzisław Jaeschke, is the rich collection of camp correspondence, which his son, Janusz Jaeschke, gave over to the Museum in September 2015.
Prepared by: Renata Kobylarz-Buła
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Pendant with symbols of the Ancient Egypt
Source of acquisition
In 1998, a small parcel reached the Museum, in which – apart from other camp memorabilia – there were a figurine of a dancer and a pendant made by Zdzisław Jaeschke. The packet was sent by Mieczysław Kaczmarek who was living in Germany at that time.
Description of the item
A pendant to go with a pocket watch, 9.5cm long, made of a bull’s bone, consisting of six elements jointed with a cord and decorated with ancient Egyptian motifs. They tell a story of a young Egyptian, who – as the first element indicates – set off on a war expedition (on a chariot with a bow), was taken captive (as suggested by the second element without curving) and then he fortunately came back home (which is communicated by the third element). The other elements feature symbols of reviving life and beauty, that is a lotus flower and the bust of Nefertiti, the wife to Pharaoh Akhenaten reigning in the XIV century B.C. (the bust not connected with the pendant).
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