News

November is the month during which we commemorate two sad anniversaries. November 22, 1940 the first execution by firing squad was held in Auschwitz. A year later, November 11—Polish Independence Day—the Germans held executions at the Death Wall in the courtyard of Block 11 using a silenced small caliber weapon. We are able to recount these events now through the testimony of witnesses as well as archival documents.

The Auschwitz Museum is the first institution of its type to implement a pilot online education program. The initiative by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust has spurred great interest among Internet users. Although the course is currently available only in Polish, there have been declarations of interest from people outside Poland

Prime Minister David Cameron has stated that the United Kingdom will financially support the Perpetual Fund of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation in maintaining the grounds and buildings at the site of the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz. Asked in the House of Commons about support for the Fund, Cameron answered in the affirmative and went on to add that “Auschwitz-Birkenau is a very powerful reminder of the ultimate consequences of intolerance, and it is only right that it should be preserved to bear witness to the deaths of the millions of victims who perished there and to act as a stark reminder of man's inhumanity to man."

“Confrontation and Reflection” is the title of the winning poster in the Third Biennial of Socio-Political Poster in Oświęcim, which adorns the cover. Its author Bangqian Zheng is from China. The 74 best posters of the contest can be viewed at the International Youth Meeting Center until the end of the year. In this month’s Oś you will find a review of the exhibit and a report about the awards ceremony. DOWNLOAD PDF FILE...

A thousand copies of a special publication devoted to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the plans for a Perpetual Fund to cover the conservation of the Auschwitz Memorial are being distributed to people whose decisions can rescue the authenticity of Auschwitz for future generations.

A seminar for Polish teachers and educators took place November 14-26, 2010, at the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem. Taking part in the seminar were 25 staff members and guides of Museums as well as other Memorial Sites, middle and high school teachers, educators and trainers from various institutions involved in educational work about the Holocaust and the Second World War.