News
18 years at the helm of the Memorial
1 September marks 18 years for Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński as the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum. Before this, he served for six years as the secretary of the International Auschwitz Council.
"I intended to become a researcher of early medieval history, a medievalist—I wrote and defended my doctoral thesis on this subject. However, shortly after, Jerzy Wróblewski, the retiring director of the Museum, and Professor Władysław Bartoszewski, who chaired the International Auschwitz Council, along with other Survivors, asked me to deal with the darkest chapter of the 20th century," said Piotr Cywiński.
Over these eighteen years, the Museum has undergone tremendous transformations. The Conservation Laboratories has been developed on an unprecedented scale, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, co-created by Director Cywiński, has been financing extensive work to preserve the post-camp authenticity for years. Last year, the sum of support from the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation for the Museum exceeded 100 million PLN. This has enabled the complex and long-term conservation of brick barracks and other buildings at the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau site.
Furthermore, the Collections and Archives storage spaces have been modernized, where items and documents related to the history of Auschwitz are stored and studied. Strengthening the security at the site overseen by the Museum is also of great importance. The authenticity of the Memorial—both in terms of the historical site, all items and documents, as well as the accounts and memories of direct witnesses—is the foundation of the Museum's research and educational work. One of the most important outcomes of ongoing research into the history of Auschwitz is the preparation of a new chronology of events at KL Auschwitz, which will form the basis for the planned publication of a new monograph on the history of the camp.
In 2019, after years of efforts and over two years of construction and conservation work, a modern headquarters for the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust was established in the so-called Theatergebaeude, accommodating up to 7 groups simultaneously. A new Visitor Services Center was also created, prepared to handle over 2 million people annually, next to which a hostel for volunteers and conference participants was built.
Education is not only conducted at the Museum. The largest "virtual" memory community in the world has been created on social media. Last year, the possibility of touring Auschwitz live with a guide online was made available, a first in the museum space worldwide.
The commemoration events of the 70th and 75th anniversaries of the liberation of Auschwitz, organized by the Museum, were of unprecedented scale. The live television broadcast was viewed by 500-700 million people worldwide.
"We are currently working on a truly unique 80th anniversary of the liberation, likely the last such anniversary with a still large group of Survivors. And how incredibly important it is, given the noticeable rise in antisemitism and xenophobia along with an increasingly complicated and unstable international situation," emphasized Director Cywiński.
Dr. Piotr Cywiński is a co-creator of the New Main Exhibition currently being developed and the author of the concept for a planned exhibition of camp and prisoner art planned for the camp kitchen building. This exhibition will depict the interior of a human, the emotions of prisoners, and the dehumanization of the victims. He is also the author of several books on camp themes, among which "Auschwitz. A Monograph on the Human" is certainly the most significant, offering for the first time a deep insight into the human experience of the camp victims.
"Over these 18 years, the Memorial Site has become a leading global research and educational institution dedicated to the tragedy of Auschwitz and the Shoah, and in a broader sense: to genocide, dehumanization, antisemitism and racism, xenophobic policies, and the spread of hatred in public discourse," said Piotr Cywiński.
The Museum's budget has increased nearly tenfold during this period, mainly due to optimal use of European funds and finding support among many donors sensitive to the issue of Memory, both private, governmental, and institutional worldwide.
Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński has lectured in over 30 countries, at various memory institutions and universities, and has been a consultant and expert for numerous projects commemorating tragedies and genocides on different continents. He is a member of the now-banned in Russia, but Nobel Prize-honored, Memorial Association. He has been awarded high orders from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Great Britain, Monaco, Poland, and the Vatican. He has also been recognized as one of the most influential people in the world of museums.
Dr. Piotr Cywiński is the fifth director since the establishment of the Museum at the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in July 1947. Before him, the role was held by Survivors of the camp Tadeusz Wąsowicz (1947-52), and Kazimierz Smoleń (1955-1990), as well as Stefan Wiernek (1953-1955) and Jerzy Wróblewski (1990-2006).
