News
27 January: Ronald S. Lauder will speak on behalf of the Pillars of Remembrance
During the commemoration event of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Ronald S. Lauder will speak on behalf of the Pillars of Remembrance, private donors who support the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the mission to preserve the authenticity of the Memorial Site.
For over three decades, Ronald Lauder, a businessman, and philanthropist has been regularly supporting the conservation at the Auschwitz Memorial. With the financial support of Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, it was possible in 2003 to implement an initiative by the then director of the Museum, Jerzy Wróblewski, to create professional Conservation Laboratories for preserving material traces of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz.
He is also one of the Pillars of Remembrance, people who supported the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation with 1 million EUR, as well as the primary donor of one of the development stages of the new Visitor Service Center at the Auschwitz Memorial. Ronald Lauder is also the chairperson of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation, which has been operating in the USA since 2012.
Through the support of the ABMF, a delegation of approximately 120 Auschwitz and Holocaust Survivors from the United States, Canada, Israel, Australia, and several European countries will participate in the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The main task of the ABMF is to support the activities of the Polish Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation in the United States.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation itself was founded in 2009 in Warsaw by Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski, an Auschwitz Survivor. The mission of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation is to preserve all authentic remains of Auschwitz-Birkenau. To this end, with the support of 38 countries as well as businessed and individuals, the Foundation creates and manages the Endowment Fund, and uses the resulting proceeds to finance the preservation of the Memorial. The President of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation is Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński.
The initial Endowment was meant to be 120 million EUR - so that the annual interest on this amount, i.e., approximately 4-5 million EUR, would enable the implementation of the Master Plan for Preservation, a full long-term preservation program at the Auschwitz Memorial, developed by conservators of the Auschwitz Museum.
Given the economic situation and, above all, the current bond yields, the value of the Endowment Fund was raised to 180 million EUR to raise the projected level of profits that would enable the Foundation to preserve the authenticity of Auschwitz without increasing the investment risk.
At the very beginning of the Foundation, the German Federal Government and the states supported the Foundation with 60 million EUR. During a recent visit to the Memorial Site, the German Chancellor pledged to double the funds allocated to the Foundation. Consequently, the Endowment Capital is now more than 170 million EUR.