Pedagogy from Behind the Wires. Elements of Education in Kites Smuggled by Prisoners Out of the Concentration Camp in Majdanek

Abstract

The concentration camp in Majdanek is a card in history that surely may be counted among the most difficult ones. Prisoners who were kept in inhumane conditions, apart from fighting for their lives, which was obvious, also tried to contact their near ones who were left free. Owing to this striving so called “kites” were written, that is letters written by prisoners to their families. Among the numerous subjects that are brought up in the letters we also find ones that show attempts at educating someone through the letters. The aim of the article is to present those aspects of the correspondence that had pedagogical character. What is interesting, the prisoners tried to influence younger people who usually were their children, but very often the remarks were directed to their younger siblings. The prisoners tried to instill the Christian faith, moral and ethical principles, but also the need of education or the attitude of responsibility for others in the ones to whom they wrote the letters. Taking into consideration the fact that the letters were written in such a peculiar place and at such a peculiar time it is hard not to agree that the educational aspect of the “kites” is interesting from the point of view of pedagogy as a branch of social science.