The Auschwitz Cross instituted on 14 March 1985, was a Polish decoration awarded to honour inmates of Nazi German concentration camps, including but not limited to Auschwitz (the Polish name of Auschwitz is Oświęcim

Oswiecim

Oświęcim is a town in the Lesser Poland province of southern Poland, situated west of Kraków, near the confluence of the rivers Vistula and Soła.- History :...

).

It was awarded generally to Poles, but it was possible to award it to foreigners in special cases. It could be awarded posthumously. It ceased to be awarded in 1999. An exception was made in the case of Greta Ferusic

Greta Ferusic

Greta Ferusic is a retired professor of architecture at the University of Sarajevo and survivor of Auschwitz and the Siege of Sarajevo."Greta was the only one of her family to survive the Holocaust. After the war, she studied architecture at the University of Sarajevo and was the first woman to...

, who was awarded it in February 2004.

Description

The Cross is a silver Greek cross with wide arms, 42 x 42 mm. Obverse shows barbed wire and camp poles; the year 1939 on the left, 1945 - on the right arm. In the center there is a red enameled triangle with the letter P, as worn by Polish nationals imprisoned in the camps. The reverse bears the inscription "PRL / WIĘŹNIOM / HITLEROWSKICH / OBOZÓW KONCENTRACYJNYCH" (People's Republic of Poland to prisoners of Nazi concentration camps).