News
A Good Conclusion to Stage Two—Now Let’s See Stage Three. Money for Oświęcim from the GOSP
The Polish government has appropriated 7.72 million zloty, double last year’s figure, for the Oświęcim program, which supports investment in this place that is special for both Poland and the world. The official documents were signed yesterday in the office of the voivode (provincial governor).
More than a million zloty is earmarked for the expansion of the Higher Humanistic School in Oświęcim. A similar amount goes for work on the road leading to the monument at the Birkenau site, constructing a parking lot, and adding access roads near the site of the pyres where corpses were burned and the International Monument to the Victims of Fascism. Building a pedestrian overpass at the train station and modernizing city streets and the station square will also absorb large sums, as will street improvements in Brzezinka and Harmęże, which lie within Oświęcim commune.
“For the first time, we managed to avoid sharp conflicts over the division of the money,” said Janusz Sepioł, the Marshal of Małopolska, and voivode Witold Kochan expressed his hope that the second stage of the government program, begun in 1997, will not be the last. About 40 million zloty have already been spent on improvements to the city and the areas near the camp, which attract tens of thousands of tourists and pilgrims, and this year’s total is the largest yet.
Deputy minister of internal affairs and administration Wiesław Tarka said that the government plans to continue the program, although it is too early to talk about numbers because discussions on next year’s budget are still in the preliminary stage. Oświęcim mayor Janusz Marszałek said that the needs are enormous, and invited the minister to make a personal inspection of the Auschwitz site so that he can see how vast it is (RTK).
