News

Starting in April, visitors to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum will be able to use a new headset-based guide system, which is being introduced because of the rising number of visitors to the Memorial. The new system makes it possible to maintain visitor service at a professional standard, even when many groups are touring the Museum simultaneously.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum on April 5. He paid his respects to the victims at the Death Wall in the courtyard of block 11, where the Nazis shot thousands of people. The Prime Minister, on a private visit, was accompanied by Museum Director Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński, who informed him in French about the history of Auschwitz.

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.