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43rd Session of the International Auschwitz Council
The 43rd session of the International Auschwitz Council was held on 12 May 2026 at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The session was chaired by Prof. Dariusz Stola.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Minister of Culture and National Heritage Marek Krawczyk, who awarded the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture “Gloria Artis” to Council member and Holocaust Survivor Ada Willenberg.
Members of the International Auschwitz Council observed a minute of silence in memory of Abraham Foxman who passed on 10 May, the longtime director of the Anti-Defamation League, committed to combating antisemitism and fostering Christian-Jewish dialogue.
Director Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, summarizing developments at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum over the past six months, emphasized that visitor numbers had returned to pre-pandemic levels. The requirement for individual visitors to reserve entry passes exclusively through visit.auschwitz.org has been successfully implemented.
“Until recently, a major problem involved various companies from Kraków bringing visitors in the early morning hours and charging very high fees while making them queue for entry passes. We have now managed to stop these unfair practices, and visitor attendance has not suffered in any way. Eliminating this procedure was very important to us,” emphasized Director Cywiński.
Online guided tours continue to expand and are increasingly being used by representatives of large international companies. Last year, participants included, among others, ministers responsible for culture in the German federal states, Members of the European Parliament, and, in an unprecedented one-time event, approximately 200,000 Italian students simultaneously taking part in an online visit to the Memorial.
Among the most important events held at the Museum, the Director mentioned the 81st anniversary of the liberation of the camp, during which the tradition of avoiding political speeches was maintained.
“This decision was very well received throughout the world. For the first time in January, we also invited an actor to participate in the commemoration event, through whose interpretation the words of a witness to history were heard. Michał Żebrowski read excerpts from the camp notes made by Załmen Gradowski. It was a successful initiative that we would like to continue during future anniversaries,” emphasized Piotr Cywiński.
The Director also highlighted the excellent cooperation with the Polish Television, thanks to which a professional television signal is available to audiences worldwide. The significance of the television production is demonstrated by the fact that the live broadcast of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz reached at least 950 million viewers, excluding internet streaming.
Speaking about educational activities, the Director emphasized the enormous importance of the new headquarters of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust for carrying out various projects.
“A good, large, and functional education center is indispensable at the Memorial Site. If we wish to encourage deeper reflection, this is absolutely essential. It is difficult for us to imagine our work without this infrastructure, including our new hostel, which greatly supports the activities of the
Center. These are tools that have elevated educational activities to a previously unattainable scale,” said Piotr Cywiński.
In his report, the Director also discussed new Museum publications. In 2025, the Museum published 116 titles in 16 languages, including 15 entirely new publications. Total sales exceeded 372,000 copies, the vast majority sold on site. Publications are also available through the online bookstore at books.auschwitz.org.
The Director also spoke about the opening, at the end of last year, of the third section of the Museum’s new main exhibition, devoted to the experience of prisoners in the camp.
“Many people appreciate the minimalism of this exhibition: the fact that it is not a monographic presentation covering entire walls, but rather an exhibition addressing only the most essential issues connected with prisoners of Auschwitz,” emphasized Piotr Cywiński.
He announced that the traveling exhibition “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.”, prepared jointly with a Spanish company Musealia, will be presented for more than two years at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC beginning in January 2027.
The Director also spoke about the Museum’s acquisition of an exceptional original document created by Auschwitz Survivor Alfred Kantor, who was deported to the camp from the Theresienstadt ghetto at the end of 1943. “The Diary of Alfred Kantor,” together with his drawings and notes created both during his imprisonment and after the war, constitutes an extraordinary visual testimony concerning the Holocaust and the experience of a prisoner.
Piotr Cywiński also discussed the involvement of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation in acquiring a large portion of a collection of original documents that had previously been offered for sale at a German auction house. Thanks to cooperation with regional authorities, a substantial part of the collection was secured quickly. The documents will be transferred to the Memorial Sites with which they are connected.
Describing the progress of conservation work, the Director spoke, among other things, about the conservation of brick buildings at the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp, including the completion of conservation work on the oldest camp bathhouse, as well as the stabilization of retaining walls surrounding the building of the first crematorium and gas chamber at the former Auschwitz I camp.
During the session of the International Auschwitz Council, members discussed the progress of work related to the construction of a new museum building and main exhibition, as well as commemoration efforts at the site of the former German extermination center in Treblinka.
In one of the adopted resolutions, the International Auschwitz Council expressed its appreciation for the activities of the International Treblinka Council and called for the implementation of its recommendations, including the immediate removal of inscriptions referring to Jedwabne and Radziłów from the stones commemorating the communities murdered in Treblinka.
In another resolution, the International Auschwitz Council called upon state and local authorities to halt disgraceful attempts to falsify historical truth in the immediate surroundings of the Memorial Site in Jedwabne, contradicting the reliable findings of historians, particularly those established by the Institute of National Remembrance during its completed investigation. The Council appealed for ensuring the dignified observance of the 85th anniversary of the Jedwabne pogrom and the safety of all participants.
The Council also adopted the following resolution:
"Taking into consideration that contemporary historical knowledge about the Holocaust encompasses not only the death camps, but also numerous dispersed crimes committed against Jews as well as Roma and Sinti, including mass executions, pogroms, and the liquidation of ghettos;
Recognizing that sites of mass murder of Jews as well as Roma and Sinti constitute an integral part of the world’s historical heritage and require effective protection;
Expressing the deepest concern over attempts to falsify historical truth at these Memorial Sites and in their immediate surroundings;
The International Auschwitz Council:
appeals for ensuring full and effective protection of these Sites, both those already marked and those still unmarked, as well as their immediate surroundings;
calls upon the state and local authorities to undertake decisive measures aimed at preventing the falsification of memory at these Sites and in their surroundings;
emphasizes the necessity of close cooperation with representatives of Jewish and Roma communities, as well as institutions engaged in the protection of heritage and remembrance, in order to develop a coherent system for safeguarding Holocaust related Sites."
