News
A Gift from Munich to the Museum
The Munich Transport Company (MVG) has donated a Mercedes city bus to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. It will carry visitors between the Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau sites, located 3 km. apart.
The bus is fully accessible for the disabled. Museum deputy director Krystyna Oleksy took ceremonial possession of the keys to the blue-and-white bus during a ceremony at the Marienplatz, in front of Munich’s landmark city hall.
“We are happy to be able to help the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum with this gift, making it possible for visitors to the Memorial to see both parts of the camp,” said MVG head Herbert Koenig during the ceremony. “It is a special gesture for Germany and Munich to donate this bus.”
The bus is not new, but underwent a thorough service inspection, and the Munich Transport Company agreed to help in its maintenance. More than a dozen similar buses still carry passengers in Munich.
Expressing her thanks, Krystyna Oleksy said that the Museum is “very happy about this gift from Munich. We try to create the best possible organizational and educational conditions for the visitors who come to the Memorial from all over the world. This bus will help them to travel quickly and comfortably between the two sites.”
The donation was made possible by cooperation between the International Auschwitz Committee, former Munich mayor Hans-Jochen Vogel, and current mayor Christian Ude.
“It is very important for us that the people visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial have a chance to see and learn from that place. We are happy that there are people who have open hearts and who can understand the needs of a place frequented by more than a million visitors each year,” said Christoph Huebner, deputy chairman of the International Auschwitz Committee.
