News

Just after midnight on February 1, a bus carrying miners to the nearby Piast coal mine went out of control and struck the "Gate of Death" at the site of the Birkenau camp, dislodging part of the wall and damaging the metal gate and the protective grille over the railroad tracks.

The British Embassy has donated a Pentium III computer worth approximately 12,000 zloty ($4,000) to the Museum. The computer was installed in the office of the director of the Archives, where it will function as the server for the archival network and facilitate coordination of work on a catalogue of the resources there.

The annual training program for Museum guides began in January. The aim is to enhance the quality of guide services offered by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.

Work on the "Historical and Memorial Description of the Auschwitz Concentration Camp Site" has been completed.

Stefan Stapelberg, head of the Rent-a-Guru company in Heidelberg, Germany, has donated a copy of the commercial version of HTTP-Analyze software to the Museum.

Another course in the series organized by the Yad Vashem Memorial Institute in cooperation with the Museum was held in Israel from November 16 to 30. The 34 participants from Poland included two Museum staff members. Most of the group were history teachers. There were also Polish teachers, priests, and several guides from the Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial.