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MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU FORMER GERMAN NAZI
CONCENTRATION AND EXTERMINATION CAMP

IAC Meetings

Meeting XII: 29 May 2006

15-09-2008

"This council is international because memory, too, must be international. It must be a memory that belongs to all of us," said Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz during ceremonies marking the nomination of members of the International Auschwitz Council.

Marcinkiewicz referred to Pope Benedict XVI's speech in Birkenau, indicating that this important statement by the Pope enjoins the mission of preserving memory—not merely a passive memory, but rather a memory backed up with deeds. The Prime Minister expressed the view that this task of preserving an active memory is specifically appropriate for the International Auschwitz Council.

The International Auschwitz Council is a consultative and advisory organ of the President of the Council of Ministers (the prime minister). The term of the previous Council, named in 2000, expired last February.

During the ceremonies, the Prime Minister presented the nominations of members of the International Auschwitz Council for its new six-year term.

The chairman of the Council is Professor Władysław Bartoszewski. The members are Professor Israel Gutman (deputy chairman), Stefan Wilkanowicz (deputy chairman) Kazimierz Albin, Rabbi Andrew Baker, Dr. Hava Ben Sasson, Sara Bloomfield, Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński, Father Manfred Deselaers, Professor Wacław Długoborski, Henryk Flug, Christoph Heubner, Ołeksandr Jewhenowycz Łysenko, Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska, Dr. Richard Prasquier, Romani Rose, Avner Shalev, Kalman Sultanik, Professor Józef Szajna, Leszek Szuster, Marian Turski, Professor Jonathan Webber, Jerzy Wróblewski, and Marek Zając.