News

“We were people like all other people on earth. We had family friends, homes...” – This is the title of a new temporary exhibition at the Auschwitz Memorial. At the exhibition, you can see many items belonging to people, the vast majority of whom were Jews, deported by Germans to Auschwitz.

The 90th birthday of Professor Władysław Bartoszewski was celebrated at a special ceremony organised at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. During the course of the ceremony, the director of the Auschwitz Memorial, Piotr M.A. Cywiński, Ph.D., officially presented the Professor with the Light of Memory: an award granted to him on January 27, 2012 on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Specialised training began for a few weeks for guides at the Auschwitz Memorial Site, organised by the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. The goal of the trainings is to improve the merit and methodological qualifications of more that 270 licenced Museum guides, who guide in nearly 20 languages.

“Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Place Where You Are Standing...” is the latest publication of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The album presents 31 historical photographs taken by SS men in 1944 depicting the extermination of Jews in the Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp. They were set in contrast with present-day photographs of the same locations.

The Light of Remembrance award for outstanding contribution in the education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust was awarded to Krystyna Oleksy, the outgoing deput director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in charge of education and head of the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. The statuette, a new award established by the director of the Museum, was presented during a ceremonial farewell which finalised her 37 years of work at the Memorial Site.

Kazimierz Smoleń, a former prisoner of Auschwitz, co-founder and long-time director of Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, died on the 27th of January in Oświęcim. He passed away at the age of 91, on the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp.