News

Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński is the head of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum as of September 1, 2006. He takes over the duties of the previous director, Jerzy Wróblewski, who has retired after a career spanning 50 years.

Teachers and educators from Romania traveled to Poland from August 31-September 2 to take part in an educational seminar titled The Symbolism of Auschwitz: Education at a Memorial Site, prepared by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust.

Auschwitz: History, Education, and Symbolism is a seminar for European teachers being held from September 6-11, 2006 at the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust.

Taking the form of a biographical dictionary, this book consists of 430 pages filled with the biographies of about 1,300 residents of the Rybnik area, Wodzisław Śląski, Żory, and Raciborz who suffered repression at the hands of the Germans in World War II.

August 2, Birkenau (PAP – Polish Press Agency) – Roman Kwiatkowski, President of the Association of Roma in Poland, made an appeal for the victims of the Roma Holocaust to be remembered and for the survivors to be treated with respect. The call came during Roma Extermination Remembrance Day ceremonies at the site of the former German Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. Over 200 persons, including former Auschwitz prisoners, took part in the commemoration.

Freshmen at the Oswiecim State Higher Vocational School are doing three-week internships at the Museum. OSHVS teacher Jacek Urbiński said that all the students must do an internship, regardless of what they're studying. "The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is very popular and most of the students ask to go there. An internship at the Museum is always a valuable and interesting experience, and the cooperation between our institutions has gotten off to a good start.".