News

The February issue of Oś is dominated by the events of January 27, the 66th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi German Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz. In this issue you can read an account of the ceremony and the most important words that were uttered during the event—speeches by former prisoners as well as Presidents: of the Republic of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, and the Federal Republic of Germany, Christian Wulff. We also write about the visit by the presidents to the International Youth Meeting Center.

Tomasz Tamborski, the starosta or head of the local administration in Kołobrzeg county has urged local governments across Poland to lend their financial support to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. The council of the Kołobrzeg county passed a motion today to contribute ten thousand zloty to the Foundation in the first event of its kind in Poland.

The European pack for visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum is a lengthy English-language resource targeting teachers and advisors planning visits to the Auschwitz Memorial. It is the result of several years of work by specialists from the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, the Council of Europe, and the Polish Ministry of National Education.

In the first of 2011 issues of this monthly, we summarize attendance at the Auschwitz Memorial. In the past year, the grounds of the former Nazi German Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz were visited by 1.38 million people. In the 60-year history of the Museum, this is a record number.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has decided to support the Perpetual Fund of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. The Netherlands joined other European countries which participate in the project. The goal of the Foundation is to preserve the Auschwitz Memorial for the next generations. The income from the Perpetual Fund will serve to finance the conservation of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp.

Personal mementos, documents, and works of art connected with the history of the German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz donated to the Museum by former prisoners and their relatives can be seen at the Let's Build Remembrance exhibition in block 12 at the former Auschwitz I camp. All the donations were made to to the Memorial in the course of the last three years