News

The first session of the new term of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Council was held on 24 May 2017. The main topics discussed by the members of the Council were, educational challenges related to record attendance, creation of a new headquarters for the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, as well as investment plans related to the construction of the new Visitor Service Centre, among others.

At this year’s Turin International Book Fair, which is the second largest Book Fair in Europe, the Museum’s Publishing House presented the Italian language edition of Fairy Tales from Auschwitz. The publication brings us closer to an incredible and moving story of the creation of illustrated fairy tales created by prisoners of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp.

The Auschwitz Memorial’s Archive has been enriched with a unique and extensive collection of documents associated with the Auschwitz camp and the history of World War II, including the ghettos and other concentration camps, created by the Holocaust survivor Władysław Rath and handed over to the Museum by his family. The entire collection contains 1893 documents and 29 photographs.

Director Piotr M. A. Cywiński presented Serge Klarsfeld the highest award of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial “Light of Remembrance”, during the conference in Izieu dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the trial of the Lyon Gestapo Chief, Klaus Barbie.

The Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński was elected as chairperson of the Programme Board of the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute (JHI) in Warsaw. The deputy Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Jarosław Sellin attended the meeting of the new Board, which was held April 26, 2017.

On April 24, the 26th March of the Living was held on the site of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. Several thousand people, mainly young Jews as well as a large group of Polish youth gathered at the “Arbeit macht frei” gate at the former Auschwitz I camp on the premises of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau.