News

The winners of the second "Withered Roses" competition, organized by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the Museum, have been announced. The primary aim of the contest is to encourage and enhance historical awareness, while inspiring young people to learn about the history of the area where they live by searching for historical mementoes. Former Auschwitz prisoner August Kowalczyk was a special guest at the ceremony.

The International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is joining a pilot program connected with the comic book The Search, which is intended to familiarize young people with the story of the Holocaust. The comic book is published by the Ann Frank Foundation in Amsterdam.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the State Higher Vocational School (SHVS) in Oświęcim have signed a contract enabling students to hold internships at the Museum. The new agreement is permanent and not, like the previous ones, limited to one academic year at a time. This significantly facilitates cooperation between the institutions. Last year, 23 SHVS students held internships at the Museum.

“It is difficult, at the site of a tragedy, to speak about hopes for a better future for our world; remembrance, awareness, and a sense of human responsibility are, nevertheless, essential to the birth of such hopes,” writes Director Piotr M.A. Cywiński, Ph.D., in the introduction to the annual report on the work of the Museum. The 70 color pages of the bilingual report contain information on the most important events of 2007.

For the second time, Yad Vashem (The Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority) in Jerusalem hosted a seminar for Roman Catholic priests from Poland. This year, the group consisted above all of the rectors, vice rectors, and prefects of seminaries from all over the country.

The International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the Museum is cooperating with the Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education at the University of Southern California on a multimedia package for teaching about the Holocaust and Tolerance.