Francuzi w hierarchii więźniarskiej Auschwitz‑Birkenau. GIS w badaniach historycznych – wprowadzenie do badań
The French in the Inmate Hierarchy of Auschwitz-Birkenau: GIS in Historical Research – Introduction to a Research Project

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this article is to identify a research problem concerning the French prisoners of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and to discuss preliminary results of a PhD project conducted at the Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences. As planned, the implementation of the project will involve the use of methods offered by widely understood information technologies, such as the Geographic Information System (GIS) and the structural language of SQL queries. Drawing on the actor-network theory, the author focuses her considerations on the French deportees, who were one of the more numerous groups of Auschwitz-Birkenau prisoners. The article outlines a potential research field and presents preliminary results of a study on the Auschwitz II-Birkenau women’s camp. Thanks to the use of information technologies, such as GIS tools, it was possible to map the space of sectors BIa and BIb of Auschwitz II-Birkenau with its particular parts, including barracks, baths, kitchens, latrines, etc. Using raster georeferencing, an image of the camp as it is today was superimposed on an aerial photograph of the sub-camp taken by the Allies in 1944.

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