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41st session of the International Auschwitz Council

On 13-14 May 2025, the 41st session of the International Auschwitz Council took place in Warsaw and Treblinka, chaired by Professor Dariusz Stola.

The main session at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw on May 14 was attended by, among others, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Hanna Wróblewska, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski, and Chief of the Prime Minister's Political Cabinet Paweł Graś.

 

“It is an honor to stand before you again as a representative of the Prime Minister and the Polish government. I would like to welcome you and thank you for your work, dedication, and everything you do for the memory of the Holocaust,” said Paweł Graś.

Minister Graś presented nominations to two Council members: Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś and Stanisław Krajewski. A day earlier, Timothy Snyder received his nomination from Deputy Minister Teofil Bartoszewski.

At the beginning of the session, the Council members observed a minute of silence in memory of Marian Turski, who passed away on 18 February 2025.

The main topic of the presentation by Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz Museum, was the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, which took place on 27 January 2025, in front of the Gate of Death of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. The Director also extensively discussed the Museum's most important plans for the coming years.

“The anniversary was a particularly significant culmination in the Museum's history. The preparations engaged the team for many months. Thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, we were able to build an extensive infrastructure, including the main tent that hosted around three thousand people, primarily 56 Survivors, several dozen state delegations at the highest level, and the Museum's most important donors. In addition, a large press center was set up next to the main tent,” said Director Cywiński.

Over 800 journalists from around the world covered the anniversary, and television stations worldwide used the broadcast signal produced by Polish Television. For the first time in the Museum's history, a special television studio was set up during the anniversary, where experts from around the world discussed the contemporary significance of memory about Auschwitz.

"Many of us last stood together in January, just a couple of months ago, at the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau—an occasion of solemn remembrance and historical gravity. I wish to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Piotr and the entire team of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and Memorial for organizing a profoundly meaningful commemoration,” wrote the President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald S. Lauder in a letter addressed to the Council.

"The emphasis placed on the survivors made it especially powerful. I was proud to lead a delegation of 18 Auschwitz-Birkenau survivors and their families from the United States, Canada, Israel, Germany, France, and Austria. It was an honor to walk beside them once again on the ground where memory demands not only reflection, but action,” he added.

“It was extremely important that the main messages during the anniversary were delivered by the Survivors, and there were no political speeches. This was noticed and very well received in many places around the world. A particularly symbolic moment was that Survivor Marian Turski, a member of the Council, welcomed everyone on behalf of the Survivors. The anniversary showed us that in difficult times for the world, memory comes alive and has great significance. However, we must now reflect on how similar round anniversaries should look in the future when we can no longer commemorate this event with the Survivors,” emphasized Piotr Cywiński.

In the presentation on the Museum's future plans, Director Cywiński discussed key aspects of the Museum's operations, including the budget, external funding, and planned exhibitions.

Speaking about budgetary issues, the Director emphasized not only the increase in funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage but also the importance of external financial resources for the Museum's long-term development.

“If we add together all the external funds obtained by the Museum since 2006 – excluding ministry grants and the Museum's own revenue – we are talking about a total of 1.2 billion PLN. These are primarily funds raised and generated by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, as well as funds obtained by the Museum from private donors and European Union grants. This financial support has enabled us to establish the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, build the new Visitor Services Center, and create an expert conservation team, complete with modern workshops and laboratories,” emphasized Piotr Cywiński.

Director Cywiński also mentioned the release of the new five-volume “The Chronicle of Events in KL Auschwitz" and the ongoing preparations for a new Auschwitz monograph, expected to be completed in two to two and a half years: „Based on it, we have already started preparing a new monograph on Auschwitz. I hope it will be ready in two to two and a half years. In a way, this will conclude another stage of describing Auschwitz from the historical research perspective.”

Last year, the Museum sold around 400,000 copies of various publications, available both on-site and through the online bookstore books.auschwitz.org.

The Director also mentioned a new tool for searching information about the victims of the Auschwitz camp, available at victims.auschwitz.org, which is being continuously updated.

“In the future, we also want to add scans of numerous documents related to specific individuals deported to Auschwitz to this globally accessible database. This is a project planned for many years to come. In cooperation with Google, we also plan to create a digital database of camp documents and testimonies in English within the next few years,” added Director Cywiński.

Speaking about exhibition plans, the Director mentioned the ongoing work on the New Polish Exhibition and the first part of the New Main Exhibition. Both exhibitions are expected to open later this year, with subsequent parts of the main exhibition being opened over the next few years.

There are also plans to create a permanent exhibition of camp art in the kitchen building on the site of the former Auschwitz I camp.

“The Museum has over four thousand works of art created either by prisoners in the camp or by Survivors after the war. At a time when fewer and fewer young people can ask Survivors about their experiences in the camp, art can be something that presents various deeply personal stages of human emotions or the dehumanization of the camp experience. These works will guide visitors without any words of commentary,” said Piotr Cywiński.

Director Cywiński also discussed live online tours through the "Auschwitz. In Front of Your Eyes" platform, among other developing projects.

“We want to extend this project not only to schools and educational institutions but also to representatives of the corporate world and international companies. We are currently working on the details of a completely new program, and we hope that in this way, we will be able to reach an entirely new group of recipients for whom reflection on moral responsibility rooted in the memory of Auschwitz can be of great importance,” said Piotr Cywiński.

The Director also spoke about conservation work, financed by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, being carried out primarily on the historic brick buildings at the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp and the importance of newly opened specialized microbiological laboratories.

There are future plans to establish a new building for the Museum's Collections and Archives near the Museum.

“We are considering two locations in the immediate vicinity of the Museum. It would be beneficial to move the most sensitive objects and documents from historical buildings to modern spaces specially designed for their safe storage,” he emphasized.

After hearing the Director's report, the Council unanimously adopted the following resolution:

"The International Auschwitz Council, under the Prime Minister of Poland, has acknowledged the report by Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, and sincerely wishes him success on the path to achieving the goals he outlined in his presentation. The Council expresses its gratitude to the Management and Staff of the Museum for their tremendous work organizing the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Already after the IAC meeting, the resolution was commented on by the chairman of the council Professor Dariusz Stola, the Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich and Hanna Lessing, the secretary of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism.

"I am pleased with the unanimous resolution of the Council regarding Director Cywiński's report and plans. It clearly reflects the unequivocally positive opinions of the Council members expressed during the discussion. I was especially impressed by the January 27 ceremony – a dignified and excellently organized commemoration event of the liberation of the camp. Having observed the activities of the Museum for years, I know that both its management and staff can be relied upon even in the most challenging tasks," said Professor Dariusz Stola.

"The program presented by Dr. Piotr Cywinski for the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is simply put "amazing". It is a program with vision, sensitivity ,and wisdom. This program will engage, challenge, and inspire all people who will make the pilgrimage to the worst death factory in the world," said rabbi Michael Schudrich.

"The development projects and programs for Auschwitz by Director Piotr Cywiński are excelent. This place of remembrance of the Shoah and other victims is truly in the best hands. We all witnessed this during the discussion at the Council meeting,” - said Hannah Lessing.

One of the topics discussed at the meeting of the International Auschwitz Council was a planned investment near the former Auschwitz I camp, at the site of the former commandant's villa, by the new owner, the Counter Extremism Project Poland. The new investment is intended to serve an educational purpose and provide a space for confronting the issue of extremism.

In its resolution, the IAC expressed a negative opinion on the planned project:

"The International Auschwitz Council under the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum have for years consistently guarded the principle of preserving the utmost authenticity of both the Memorial Site and its buffer zone, as well as the landscape surrounding the former camp. Therefore, the Council expresses concern over current intentions to erect new buildings for The Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization within the Museum's boundaries and within its buffer zone. We would like to reemphasize that the gardens of the former Höss villa are subject to special protection aimed at preventing any unnecessary interference with the historical substance of this site. The Council opposes any new investment projects, irrespective of even the best of intentions that the originators of these ideas may have, that would be located in the legally designated buffer zone of the Memorial Site."

During the meeting in Warsaw, Council members also received information regarding the Memorial Site in Treblinka. The day before, Council members visited the site of the former camp, where a new museum building is being constructed, which will eventually house a historical exhibition and a space for presenting sculptures by Treblinka Survivor Samuel Willenberg.