Japanese doll in Pawiak

Japanese doll in Pawiak

“The tree saw everything ~Japanese doll in Pawiak~”

This is a piece of work based on a true story combining Piano and Mime.

This doll was made by Kamila Zukowska who was a member of the Polish underground resistance. Kamila was born on 18.01.1905, she was interested in Japanese culture and had many traditional Japanese items (Kimono, fan etc).

She felt Japanese in behavior and appearance; small figure subtle movement and black hair. She liked the opera Madam Butterfly, very much which was performed by Teiko Kiwa (japanese-dutch singer) and she went to see it many times.

When World WarⅡstarted, Kamila, her husband and her friend managed a barber shop. She organized resistance with her husband and sisters and they copied flyers by typewriter. Unfortunately her friend and business partner turned out to be a Gestapo inform. As a resort Kamila and her husband and sisters were sent to“Pawiak prison.

She was being tortured and in a very bad environment, she felt death was near and she decided to make a Japanese doll model of Teiko Kiwa in prison. This was a form of escape from the difficulty of prison life.

A guard who was part of the resistance and worked in the prison sawed materials for the doll in her collar and carried them in to the prison for Kamila.

When doll was done, Kamila wrote a secret massage to her family.

“・・・・・I managed to make a doll for you. The Japanese is standing.

Please set her on the piano and give her the name Teiko Kiwa・・・・・”

The prison guard risked her life by delivering the doll to Kamila’s family.

On 22 May 1942 Kamila was taken to a forest near Warsaw and shot to death.

A niece of Kamila who received this doll changed its name from „Teiko” to “ Taika” to make it sound like a Polish woman’s name and she kept it in her home. In 1976 she gave the doll to the Museum of the prison Pawiak where the doll is displayed.

There is bronze statue of an elm tree next to the Museum.

Even though the Nazis destroyed Warsaw the actual tree lived until 2004.

This information was taken from the Museum of the prison Pawiak and the niece of Kamila Ms. Banachowicz.