The remains of Salvador Dali are being exhumed in Spain. The exhumation of Salvador Dali's body showed that the famous mustache retained its shape

On January 27, 1945, Red Army soldiers liberated prisoners of Auschwitz, the most famous concentration camp of World War II, built to exterminate Jews from all over Europe.

The exact number of Auschwitz victims is still unknown. At the Nuremberg trials, an approximate estimate was made - five million. Former camp commandant Rudolf Hess claimed that the number of those killed was half that number. And current European historians believe that “only” a little more than a million prisoners did not receive freedom.

Well, it is quite possible that the Nazis would have been able to hide the traces of their crimes, but thanks to quick action Soviet army, the Nazis did not have time to destroy not only the witnesses to the atrocities, but also the murder weapons. Crematoria and gas chambers, instruments of torture, thousands of kilograms of human hair and ground bones, prepared for shipment to Germany, appeared before the eyes of the liberating soldiers.

Medical experiments and experiments were widely practiced in the camp. Actions were studied chemical substances on the human body. The latest pharmaceuticals were tested. Prisoners were artificially infected with malaria, hepatitis and other dangerous diseases as an experiment. Nazi doctors trained to perform surgical operations on healthy people. Castration of men and sterilization of women, especially young women, accompanied by removal of the ovaries, were common.

But above all, Auschwitz was a real enterprise for the Third Reich, a “death factory” that brought the state not only the corpses of “subhumans”, but also serious profit. Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler was even proud that every month the “death factory” brought two million marks of net profit to the German treasury. Nothing was lost here that could be used for the benefit of the “thousand-year Reich.”

Most of the valuables, gold and money were collected from the trains on which deported Jews were brought. Every day, the SS seized almost 12 kilograms of gold - mostly dental crowns, which they pulled out from corpses, and the personal belongings of Jews became a reward for the soldiers of the Third Reich.

“Istoricheskaya Pravda” publishes archival photographs of how the Soviet liberators saw this “death factory”.

Railway gate of the camp.

The history of the creation of Auschwitz has its own intrigue. It was conceived as a camp for political prisoners - Poles. The author of the idea is one of the people closest to Himmler, SS Gruppenführer Erich Bach-Zalewski (during the Great Patriotic War) Patriotic War will lead punitive operations against Belarusian partisans, then - suppression Polish uprising in Warsaw in 1944. Ironically, he will be released from prison at the end of the 50s).

Bach-Zalewski proposed the creation of such a camp in Poland shortly after the outbreak of World War II. His subordinate, SS Oberführer Wigand, at the end of 1939 found a place near Auschwitz. There were already military barracks there that were quite suitable for barracks. An important argument for choosing the location of the future camp was the developed railway system.

The main gate of the camp with the inscription “Work sets you free.”

By the beginning of 1941, the Nazis created 3 categories of camps. To the 3rd, the most terrible, for those who are not fit for “correction”, Mauthausen in Austria was intended. The second category included Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and some other camps in Germany (for those whose “reformation is unlikely”).

The future Auschwitz-2 fell into the same category. Finally, Auschwitz-1 was intended for the first category “for the less spoiled.” Initially, it was indeed planned to release the prisoners - after the war.

Auschwitz. Photo from the cockpit of an American bomber.

The concentration camp itself for prisoners included 33 barracks (blocks). On the territory of the camp, the construction of production facilities for various companies and production facilities for the needs of the Wehrmacht began. Auschwitz was supposed to become profitable...

Auschwitz did not immediately become a “death factory.” The first period of its operation (until mid-1942) is called “Polish” by historians. At this point, most of the prisoners were indeed Poles. Some were sent here from Gestapo prisons and other concentration camps to face death sentences.

Poles ended up in Auschwitz en masse later. Thus, in just 2 months after the defeat of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, 13,000 people were sent here. In total, about 150,000 Poles passed through this camp.

In the summer of 1942 it was approved new plan development of a camp designed for 300,000 prisoners and including a special department for the mass extermination of Jews. According to this plan, in March - July 1943, 4 crematoria and gas chambers were built in Birkenau. Four mini-camps were created inside, which by May 1944 were connected by railroad tracks.

Sending Slovak Jews to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Auschwitz served two functions: a concentration camp for people different nationalities and place of destruction. The number of its prisoners was constantly growing. On March 26, 1942, a women's camp appears. In February 1943 - gypsy. By January 1944, there were about 81 thousand prisoners in Auschwitz. In July - more than 92 thousand. In August - more than 145 thousand.

Hungarian Jews near the train after arriving at the Auschwitz concentration camp

Jews from Transcarpathia near the train after arriving at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

From the Jews arriving at Auschwitz, able-bodied people began to be selected for other concentration camps. This took place after the so-called selection. In total, at least 1 million 100 thousand Jews passed through Auschwitz.

A column of Hungarian prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp near the railway cars.

From February 1943, gypsies began arriving at Auschwitz. In Birkenau 2, the so-called family camp for 23,000 Roma from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. Most of them died from disease and hunger.

Arrival of prisoners.

Auschwitz was one of 6 death camps in Poland. But only it was intended to exterminate Jews from all over Europe. The rest worked on a territorial basis: in Majdanek, Sobibor, Treblinka and Belzec they destroyed mainly Polish Jews, who lived in the so-called General Government. In Chelmno - Jews from western Poland, annexed to the Reich. All of them ceased to exist as extermination centers in 1943.

Arrival of prisoners.

Arrival of a train with new prisoners

Children prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp show camp numbers on their hands.

Of the 1 million 300 thousand prisoners of Auschwitz, about 234,000 were children. Of these, 220,000 were Jewish children, 11,000 Roma; several thousand Belarusian, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish. Some children were born in the camp. They also wore a number on the prisoner's striped clothing.

By the day of the liberation of Auschwitz, 611(!) children remained in the camp.

Prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp at the construction of a chemical plant.

Chemical factory.

Many prisoners also worked at the plant. From 1940 to 1945, about 405 thousand prisoners were assigned to the factories in the Auschwitz complex. Of these, more than 340 thousand died from disease and beatings, or were executed. There is a known case when the German industrialist Oskar Schindler saved about 1000 Jews by ransoming them to work in his factory. 300 women from this list were mistakenly sent to Auschwitz. Schindler managed to rescue them and take them to Krakow.

Rabbis at Auschwitz concentration camp

Portrait of prisoners.

Women's barracks.

Camp security.

In total, Auschwitz was guarded by about 6,000 SS men. Their personal data has been preserved. Three quarters had completed secondary education. 5% are university graduates with an advanced degree. Almost 4/5 identified themselves as believers. Catholics - 42.4%; Protestants - 36.5%.

SS men on vacation

Glasses taken from executed Jews.

The “death factory” in Auschwitz worked with German punctuality and thrift for wonderful property. In total, there were 35 warehouse barracks in the camp, which were full of things taken from the Jews; they did not have time to take them out.

Clothes of the destroyed prisoners.

The Nazis didn't just throw anything away. When soviet soldiers occupied Auschwitz, they found about 7.5 thousand prisoners there who were not taken away, and in the partially surviving warehouse barracks - 1,185,345 men's and women's suits, 43,255 pairs of men's and women's shoes, 13,694 carpets, great amount toothbrushes and shaving brushes, as well as other small household items.

The bodies of prisoners.

Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss testified:

“Various party and SS functionaries were sent to Auschwitz so that they could see for themselves how Jews were exterminated. Everyone received deep impressions. Some of those who previously ranted about the need for such destruction, at the sight of the "final solution" Jewish question"were speechless. I was constantly asked how I and my people could witness such a thing, how we were able to endure all this. To this I always replied that all human impulses must be suppressed and give way to iron determination with which the orders of the Fuhrer must be carried out. Each of these gentlemen stated that they would not like to receive such an assignment ... "

Soon there will be an end to the high-profile story that has been exciting Spain for several years - whether the great surrealist Salvodor Dali has an heir, or rather an heiress. In Figueres, in the house-museum of the eccentric artist, his remains were exhumed in order to take DNA samples, the court ruled.

For many years it was believed that Dali had no descendants, but now a woman was found who claimed that she was his illegitimate daughter. While waiting for the results, the local press calculated what kind of inheritance this lady could count on if everything was confirmed.

The forensic procedure takes place in an absolutely surreal spirit. The remains of Salvador Dali are exhumed in front of a huge press gathering. But not a single shot will be taken inside the museum. Forbidden. Even the glass dome was covered with fabric to prevent the body from being removed by drones. Journalists and tourists talk to each other: “I wonder how it’s called famous mustache?. Completely surreal.

“Let's not discuss such details. As the mayor of the city, I was present at the procedure. I can only say that the remains of Salvador Dali are in satisfactory condition,” said the mayor of Figueres, Marta Felip.

The great artist seemed to have foreseen: last sleep, caused by the flight of a bumblebee around a pomegranate, will sooner or later be disturbed. He bequeathed not to bury his body. Dali was buried in the building of his personal theater-museum under a multi-ton steel slab. Tonight she was moved for Pilar Abel Martinez.

“I have a chance to learn the main thing about myself, to essentially understand who I am. It is wonderful! This is the best thing that could have happened to me and my mother. There are no words!" - she says.

Pilar Abel Martinez insists: she is the illegitimate daughter of Salvador Dali. The mother worked as a maid in the house where the artist lived, and everything started to happen: courts, three DNA examinations, based on particles taken from the artist’s death mask. Fiasco... Something external resemblance, of course, you can find it. But Dali never mentioned possible daughter. Pilar Abel Martinez herself is better known as a soothsayer. Love spell, lapel, vow of celibacy. Either she's a swindler, or she's just like her father - extravagant.

“I want everyone to know I feel calm and positive. Yes, I have peace in my soul. For eleven years I searched for the truth,” says Pilar Abel Martinez.

The man who embalmed Salvador Dali's body was present at the exhumation today. He fears the formaldehyde he used 28 years ago may have damaged his DNA.

“Apparently, experts will work with material from the artist’s large bones and teeth. All this will be taken for research in Madrid, to the Institute of Toxicology,” explains Narcisse Bardalet.

The result of the DNA test will be announced at the court hearing on September 18. If it is confirmed that Salvador Dali was indeed the father of Pilar Abel Martinez, the woman will be able to claim a quarter of the artist’s inheritance - 300 million euros.

Maria Pilar Abel Martinez has been trying for ten years to prove that she is the artist's biological daughter. This summer the story reached its climax. The court ordered the exhumation of the remains and a DNA test. The results were negative.

Who is Pilar Abel

According to the newspaper El Pais, Maria Pilar Abel Martinez is a 61-year-old clairvoyant from Girona, Spain. For more than eight years she acted as a fortune teller in a program on local television. The town of Girona is just an hour's drive from Figueres, where Salvador Dali was born and raised.

According to Abel Martinez, she first heard that Dali was her father from her grandmother. One day she told her: “I know that you are not the daughter of my son and that you are the daughter of a great artist, but I love you just as much.” In addition, Abel claimed that when her grandmother scolded her, she often said: “You are strange, just like your father.”

In the 50s, according to Abel, her mother worked as a maid in Port Lligat. Nearby, the Dali family had a house, which later became the artist’s museum. Abel claims that Antonia worked for Dali’s friends, whom the artist often visited.

Pilar Abel was born on February 1, 1956. Even before this, the mother left the village and married another man. However, according to Abel, she was born precisely after secret relationship the artist and her mother Antonia in 1955.

At that time, Salvador Dali had already been living in a civil marriage with his future wife Gala (nee Elena Dyakonova) for two decades. Their official wedding took place only in 1958. The couple had no children.

Exchange of claims

Salvador Dalí died in Figueres in 1989 at the age of 84. The artist bequeathed to bury himself so that people could walk on his grave. That is why Dali’s remains were walled up under the floor of his theater-museum in Figueres.

However, the artist left no biological samples on which to conduct analysis. In 2007, Pilar already tried to conduct a DNA study to establish paternity. Then the material for examination was the remains of skin and hair, which were preserved in plaster. death mask Dali.

This mask was provided by Salvador Dali's friend and biographer Robert Descharnes. But, as Abel states, she never received these tests, because their transfer was blocked by the Dali Foundation, which controls and manages the master’s entire inheritance.

However, back in 2008, in an interview with the Spanish agency EFE, Desharnes' son Nicolas said that the doctor who conducted the paternity test told him that the test result was negative.

In 2015, Abel filed a lawsuit against the Spanish Ministry of Finance and the Gala and Salvador Dali Foundation. On June 26, 2017, a Madrid court ordered the exhumation of the artist's body.

And again a fiasco

If the test results were positive, Pilar Abel could claim to bear the surname of the great painter. Also, a woman could claim a quarter of Dali’s inheritance and copyrights to his works.

During his life, the artist, who is considered one of the most famous representatives surrealism, created over a hundred works. The most expensive on this moment his painting is a portrait of Paul Eluard. This work was sold at Sotheby's for $22 million in 2011.

On July 20, Dali's remains were exhumed. For analysis, samples of hair, nails, teeth were taken, and two long bones were also extracted. However, a DNA test showed that Pilar Abel is not the painter’s daughter. The woman herself intends to challenge this decision. She noted that she “doesn’t trust the storage network” for DNA samples.

At the same time, at a meeting on September 18, the Madrid court confirmed the results of the genetic examination. And the Spanish prosecutor's office petitioned to recover legal costs from Pilar Abel. The prosecution stated that the woman’s behavior was “capricious and unreasonable,” as well as the doubts she expressed to the Institute of Toxicology about the error of the DNA test results.

The prosecutor's office will consider the request next week. The verdict will be announced then.

Timur Fekhretdinov

In the Spanish city of Figueres, the artist’s body was exhumed at the end of July. Salvador Dali. Criminologists reported that the remains were well preserved - the surrealist's hair and famous mustache were untouched by time. Dali's body was exhumed to establish family ties: a fortune teller from Girona Maria Pilar Abel Martinez stated that she might be illegitimate daughter famous artist. We will tell you how Martinez is trying to be recognized as Dali’s daughter.

Maria Martinez, a tarot card reader, claims that her mother had an affair with Dali in 1955. She herself was born in 1956. In the 1950s, the woman’s mother worked in the small Catalan town of Cadaques, where Dali often visited. Martinez says that even as a child she was told that she was the daughter of an artist.

“Am I really the daughter of Salvador Dali? He's so ugly!" Martinez told her mother one day. She replied that he, of course, was not handsome, but had a special charm, and confirmed that she had indeed become pregnant by the artist. Martinez’s mother was then 25 years old, Dali was 51. Martinez herself met the artist several times on the streets of his hometown, but did not communicate closely with him. She believes that her gift as a fortuneteller comes from her biological father.

Martinez has repeatedly tried to prove that she is actually the daughter of Salvador Dali. However, so far she has not been able to do this: a paternity test can only be carried out using exhumation. Permission to exhume the body in June 2017 was issued by the Madrid court, since no other biological samples with the artist’s DNA remained.

Dalí is buried under a concrete slab in a museum in his native Figueres. According to the artist's will, he had to be buried in such a way that people could walk on his grave. Dali's body was removed on the evening of July 19 and taken to the laboratory, where specialists took samples of the artist's teeth, bones and nails.

The opening of the grave was attended by Narcis Bardalet, who prepared Dali’s body for burial in 1989 (the artist died at the age of 85), writes the BBC. “When I took off the blanket, I became emotional. I really wanted to see him - and I was amazed, it was like a miracle. His mustache looked 10 out of 10, and his hair was kept exactly right,” he said.

The results of the DNA analysis are still unknown; it should take several weeks to complete. If Maria Martinez nevertheless establishes a relationship with Dali, she may inherit all of his property, which now belongs to the state. According to The Daily Telegraph, Dalí's estate is valued at approximately $300 million. Martinez's DNA paternity test alone will not be enough to claim her inheritance: she faces a long legal battle against the state.

Not everyone believes Martinez's words. Dali did not have children; he admitted more than once that he suffered from impotence and avoided sex. He and his wife Gala (Elena Dyakonova) lived in an open marriage, the wife had many lovers, but Dali himself could not stand it when someone touched him. It is known that orgies were held in their house, but Dali did not participate in them, preferring to observe. As Dalí biographer Ian Gibson notes, it is “absolutely impossible” that Dalí, who was already married to Gala, could have traditional relationships with any woman.