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Ombudsmen from all over the world assembled in Oświęcim on December 4. They took part in a session marking the 60th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and International Human Rights Day. The honorary patrons were the President of the Polish Republic, Lech Kaczyński, and the Chairman of the European Commission, Manuel Barroso.

About 200 young people from 40 countries who are taking part in the Solidarity Express program visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on December 2. They viewed the exhibits in block 4, devoted to the Holocaust, and block 5, with its collection of evidence of Nazi crime including human hair, prostheses, shoes, and suitcases with names on them. They also visited block 11, known as the Death Block, and the Death Wall, the crematorium I building at the Auschwitz Main Camp site, and the Auschwitz II-Birkenau site, where the mass killing of Jews took place.

Ladies and Gentlemen,On the 29th of March, acting upon a motion submitted by Professor Władysław Bartoszewski, I appointed you members of the International Auschwitz Council, the continuation of a council once established by the former Minister of Culture and Art, Izabela Cywińska. I wish to most cordially thank all those who have been members of the council for nearly a decade for their enormous, unselfish effort and dedication, for helping to solve so many problems and for alleviating the tensions and conflicts arising along the way.

On Monday, November 17, the 16th session of the International Auschwitz Council was held at the Chancellery of the Council of Ministers in Warsaw. The Subject of the session was, above all, the finances of the Memorial Site, as well as the definition of some conservation priorities.

The new Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum website has gone online at www.auschwitz.org. Professor Władysław Bartoszewski performed the ceremonial opening during a meeting of the International Auschwitz Council at the Chancellery of the President of the Council of Ministers in Warsaw. More than a million people a year visit the Auschwitz Museum website. The prime benchmark of its popularity is the fact that it has appeared among the first two or three results, and often as the first result, of Google searches related to Auschwitz.

Piotr M.A. Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, found himself among the nominees for this year’s Totus Awards in the category: Achievements in the field of Christian Culture. It is the most prestigious Catholic award in Poland and is often referred to as the “Catholic Nobel Prize.” This year’s Award Banquet was held on Saturday, the 11th of October, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw.