News

The second post-graduate course in "Totalitarianism-Nazism-the Holocaust," for teachers, was inaugurated (see also Museum, Education Center).

The Grand Circle Foundation of Boston, MA (USA) presented the Museum with a check for $73,000, earmarked for educational activities.

The media are interested in the Lederfabrik affair. During the war there was a tannery there, and the building was also used to store the hair of the victims of the gas chambers. Now it is to be turned into a discotheque. The Foundation for the Youth Meeting House, which stands nearby, has protested against these plans. The starosta (head of the county) of Oswiecim has upheld his original approval. The mayor disagrees, arguing that the discotheque runs counter to the city's zoning plan.

Romano Prodi, head of the new European Commission, began his international travels with a symbolic visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Chairman wished to signal his interest in human rights and the protection of human rights at the outset of his term. According to Prodi, there is no more "clear and eloquent symbol than a visit to Auschwitz." He wrote in the guest book: "I am here today, at the beginning of my mandate as Chairman of the European Commission, to listen, to ask questions, and to remember.

Mrs. Weizmann, wife of the current President of Israel, made an unofficial visit

The cornerstone for the restoration of the synagogue in Oswiecim was laid on November 8, 1999.