Archive of Erich Kulka, Historian of Czech Jewry and Author

Description of the files are available on IDEA ALM system at Yad Vashem Archives reading room The Erich Kulka Record Group contains: Personal and family documentation; documentation regarding the trial conducted against Sebesta, an antisemitic Czech writer who libeled Erich Kulka; the struggle to clear the names of the Sonderkommando workers as set forth in the book "People In Auschwitz" by Herman Langbein; trials against Nazi war criminals; documentation regarding Holocaust denial; escape of inmates from Auschwitz-Birkenau; research he conducted and published throughout his life, mainly regarding Jewish fighters in the Svoboda Army in the Soviet Union; Kulka's struggle against antisemitism and anti-Zionism in Europe, especially against Neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers; newspaper clippings and articles that were published by the Public Committee of Auschwitz Survivors in Israel; documentation regarding the Jews of Czechoslovakia over the centuries; collections of testimonies and articles that Erich Kulka used in his research, and collections of testimonies gathered mainly from Sonderkommando workers. Erich Schon, born in the village of Vsetin, Moravia (today in the Czech Republic), 18 February 1911, and died in Jerusalem, 12 July 1995, was the son of Malvina and Siegbert Schon. After World War II Schon changed his last name to Kulka, the last name of his first wife, Elly Kulka, who did not survive the Holocaust. A history of the arrests of Erich Kulka begins in July 1939, first with arrest by the Gestapo in Brno and afterwards with imprisonment in the Dachau, Sachsenhausen and Neuengamme camps until November 1942, when he was transferred to Auschwitz. Kulka was given the number 73043 and sent to work on the maintenance and repair of machinery and machines in Auschwitz II (Birkenau). In January 1945 with the approach of the Red Army, during the evacuation of the inmates by train from Auschwitz, Erich and his son Otto reached the Moravská Ostrava station and escaped, finding a hiding place in the homes of Czech friends in the Moravia area. Erich Kulka's experiences during the war are described in his book, "From Suffering to Resistance". Immediately after the end of the war, Erich Kulka and his friend Ota Kraus wrote "Death Factory", the first book about Auschwitz-Birkenau. Their book was first published in the Czech language in 1946, and since then it has been translated into many languages. Additionally, Kulka appeared as a witness in trials against war criminals conducted in Poland in 1946-1947. During the 1960s Kulka continued to testify at the trials of SS personnel who committed crimes in Auschwitz. After the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968, Erich Kulka made aliya to Israel and continued his research activity at Hebrew University and at Yad Vashem.