Chapter 19 - The Final Descent

Summary

Thematically and structurally, Grotowski's theatrical vision of European civilization negates Wyspiański's: resurrection is replaced by voluntary descent into the underworld. In the final scene, the prisoners follow the headless ragdoll into the crematorium which they have just built, shutting the covers behind them. As they disappear into the hole, they sing a triumphant song. Are they oblivious? Ironic? Defying? Grotowski describes the scene as an inversion of Wyspiański's ending, a form of cruel variation on the Easter procession:

At the end of Wyspiański's play, the Savior arrives. But in Auschwitz the savior never came for those who were killed. […] The final procession was the march to the crematorium. The prisoners took a corpse and they began to sing: “Here is our Savior.” All the processions disappear into the hole during the song of triumph.

Kalemba-Kasprzak notes that there is an element of “religious fervor” in the prisoners’ procession, as “One by one, they disappear into the trunk that now is their coffin. Once the last prisoner is gone and the cover is shut, the voice coming from inside recites two lines from Wyspiański's text: ‘they're gone – and smoke circles linger above.’” The scene attempts to represent metaphorically one very specific aspect of Auschwitz life. Customarily, Germans would employ a number of strategies to prevent the creation of martyrs, whose elevated status could inspire and unite the prisoners.