News

The Polish embassy in Rome is demanding an apology and correction from the host of the Matrix TV program, who accused the residents of Oświęcim of participation in the Holocaust. Broadcast on Mediaset TV, owned by Silvio Berlusconi, the program was viewed yesterday by an audience of 1,398,000. The subject was Holocaust denial and the Tehran conference.

Today is the 64th anniversary of the arrival in Auschwitz of the first transport of prisoners from the Zamość region.

During a session in Warsaw on December 5, 2006, the International Auschwitz Council approved plans submitted by the new director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Piotr M. A. Cywiński. The Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing its satisfaction at the idea of creating a new main exhibition at the Museum, in the last row of buildings at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp site, while also maintaining and preserving the original camp relics. Details of the changes will be discussed with both the Council and other groups and institutions in Poland and abroad.

Nov. 5, Jerusalem (PAP-Polish Press Agency) – For two weeks, some 40 teachers from various regions of Poland will attend seminars in Jerusalem, Israel on the history of the Holocaust and the history of the Jews in Poland and Europe. The first session was held at the Yad Vashem Memorial Institute in Jerusalem on Monday. The seminars are a joint effort between Yad Vashem and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

The posthumous award of the title "Righteous among the Nations of the World" to Maria Kotarba took place at the Polish embassy in London on October 24, 2006. The Yad Vashem Memorial Institute in Jerusalem bestowed the honor in recognition of the aid she gave to Jews during her imprisonment in concentration camps during the Second World War. Relatives of Maria Kotarba accepted the medal in her name.

The Zen Peacemakers will hold their annual Bearing Witness at the Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi concentration camp in Poland - a place of personal and universal human tragedy during World War II.