News

The financial situation of museums located at the sites of former German Nazi concentration camps and extermination centers, work on the new main exhibition, the new Russian exhibition, and the state of the preservation of the historic Arbeit macht frei sign were some of the subjects that the International Auschwitz Council considered. The two-day meeting in Oświęcim on June 1-2 was chaired by Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski.

The International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust has published an internet-based lesson, available in the Polish language, to help teachers around Poland in educating students about the Second World War. The presented material can be used during history classes, social studies, was well as while teaching lessons about the Polish language and culture.

Nearly 120 Franciscans from all over Poland — novitiates, seminarians, and candidates — participated in a study visit to the Auschwitz Memorial Site. The visit took place to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the deportation of Father Maximilian Maria Kolbe to the camp on May 29, 1941.

The government of the United Kingdom will support the Perpetual Fund of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation with £ 2,15 million. The decision was announced on Thursday May 26 by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, during the meeting with young students in the Jewish Museum of London. United Kingdom is another country to make an official declaration of support for the Foundation.

At the invitation of Andrius Kubilius, the prime minister of Lithuania, a group of experts met in Vilnius with the goal of holding a debate with the persons in the Lithuanian government responsible for the reorganization of the Memorial in Ponary.

The Arbeit macht frei sign over the historical gate of the Auschwitz I main camp has been put back together after being destroyed by thieves. Detailed analysis and expert advice enabled conservationists to restore it to almost exactly the condition it was in before the theft. Further measures will be taken to protect the inscription, which will probably be placed in the Museum exhibition in the future.