The 1998 War of the Whose Holocaust is Crosses put up in 1998 in
front of Block 11 In 1998, Polish nationalists embarked upon a
mission to put up 152 Christian crosses in honor of the Polish
Catholic resistance fighters who were executed by the Nazis in a
gravel pit behind Block 11 at the main Auschwitz concentration
camp. This was their way of protesting Jewish demands, over the
previous 10 years, that the 26-foot souvenir cross from a Mass,
said by the Pope at Birkenau, be removed. The basic attitude of
the Poles, as expressed to me, was "This is our country. You
have your country and we have ours. If we want to put up a
Catholic Cross in our country, we'll put it." It was Kazmirierz
Switon, a Polish citizen, who began the crosses campaign in
August 1998. The crosses were removed on May 28, 1999, and peace
was restored. The place where the crosses were set up was right
next to the building where Carmelite nuns had set up a convent.
At that time, the plot of land where the crosses were set up had
been leased