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Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation Council convened for the first time

The 14-member Council of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation convened for the first time at the Chancellery of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers in Warsaw on June 17.

The founder, Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski, was unanimously elected chairman of the Council. “Our work is voluntary,” he said. “We do not profit in any way. We all share an identical motivation—to ensure that the Memorial Institute will always be able to function, because this is a matter of preserving the world’s largest cemetery without graves. Over a million people visit Auschwitz each year, people from all over the world. This places us under an obligation.”

“Since 1947,” Prof. Bartoszewski continued, “Poland has done as much as it could. We have collected material and accounts, amassed documentation, and preserved the buildings to the degree that we could afford to do so. Now, we are in the European family. This is a part of the history of Europe, not only of Poland and not only of the Jewish people. We expect that Europe will also treat it as a part of its history.”

The mission of the Foundation is to raise €120 million for the Perpetual Fund, and the annual interest of €4 to €5 million will make it possible to plan and systematically carry out the essential conservation work. Thus, for the first time in its history, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial will have a real chance to set up a permanent, overall, long-term conservation program that makes it possible to safeguard the remains of the camp for future generations.

“For several years, the Museum has had a very up-to-date conservation workshop on site, which was made possible by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation. A superb team of graduate conservationists works there. Last year, they analyzed the general state of preservation of the site of the camp. Now, there is a need to begin a comprehensive program of tasks scheduled on a 20-year basis. The main purpose of the Foundation is to build up and manage the Fund, to supervise its investment, and to expend the income exclusively on the financing of conservation work. I am convinced that we are on the threshold of a turning point in the history of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum,” said Museum Director Piotr M. A. Cywiński, who is also the President of the Management Board of the Foundation.

Rafał Pióro, the deputy director of the Museum and the vice president of the Management Board, informed the Council about the most urgent conservation tasks facing the Auschwitz Memorial.

“The most important problem to be solved is, of course, the scale of the whole undertaking, because we are talking about very extensive grounds and an enormous number of buildings. We will base our decisions above all on the condition of the structures. I would like to draw special attention to the grounds of Auschwitz-Birkenau. That is where we have the greatest number of buildings that are authentic vestiges of history. At this moment, one of our most important challenges is to control the action of the ground water, which is having a detrimental effect on the condition of 45 brick barracks at the site of the women’s camp. We will have to use all available expertise in order to carry out this task without deforming the historical landscape of the site, since the overriding value for us is the preservation of authenticity,” Pióro explained.

“In terms of the priorities at the Auschwitz I site,” he added, “we must remember that, aside from the buildings and ruins, the grounds of the Memorial also contain movable items and archives, which are in fairly comfortable shape at the moment, because we are able to keep them under optimal conditions in the storage areas.”

The session also considered the work of the Foundation so far, and the response to the letter that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk sent to the leaders of numerous countries, asking them to support the Foundation. The first binding commitment came from the German government, which pledged €1 million in immediate funding, with a much larger sum to follow next year.

“Jürgen Rüttgers, prime minister of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, who is also a member of the Foundation's Council, announced the coordination of aid from the German states, for which I am very grateful, because it demonstrates a real will to help on the part of German society,” said Cywiński. “Positive declarations have come in from various countries, and continue to come in. A great deal will depend on the coming year. I hope that we will be able to begin the first projects within three years. The later we begin, the more expensive and risky the conservation work,” he added.

“I would like to thank you for the trust that allows me, as a German citizen, to sit down in such company,” said Jürgen Rüttgers. “I think that the work of this Foundation will be effective because it has to do with such an important place. I have three sons, and I follow the way in which they are confronted with the subject of the Holocaust at their schools in Germany. It is hard for them to understand these events. I know from talking with young people that many of them did not understand this history until someone who had been a victim of the Holocaust told them about what happened then. The majority of those responsible are dead, but the responsibility remains. Maintaining the memory of crimes against humanity is especially important. We need to consider how to pass the history on to the coming generations, and we also need to pass on the task of protecting the memory. As Germans, we are aware of our responsibility, and this is why we are taking part in this task.”

The Council analyzed the statute of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and passed a resolution setting up a Finance Commission, to be headed by the banker and economist Józef Wancer. The commission will include financial specialists with experience in auditing, banking, and perpetual fund management. Their main task will be to supervise the work of the Board of Directors in regard to the Foundation’s financial activities. The commission will develop recommendations on investing the Perpetual Fund, and on cooperating with companies that specialize in such investments. “On the basis of the work of the Finance Commission, the Council of the Foundation will decide at future meetings on the ways of investing the Perpetual Fund. All money raised until that time will be placed only in guaranteed long-term certificates of deposit in banks, or invested in bonds issued by states or local authorities in European Union countries,” reads the resolution passed by the Council.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation was also on the agenda at yesterday’s meeting of the International Auschwitz Council, which placed great hope in the establishment of the Foundation and expressed the expectation that aid from many countries will make it possible to create the Perpetual Fund as soon as possible.

MEMBERS OF THE FOUNDATION'S COUNCIL

Władysław Bartoszewski – former prisoner of Auschwitz Concentration Camp, co-founder of the Żegota Jewish Aid Council, chairman of the International Auschwitz Council and the Board for the Protection of the Memory of Combat and Martyrdom, Minister of Foreign Affairs on the Government of the Polish Republic (twice), Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Plenipotentiary for International Dialogue.

Eleonora Bergman – director of the Jewish Historical Institute, member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews, member of the International Consultative Council creating the new main exhibition at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

Henryk Flug (Israel) – former prisoner of the Nazi concentration camps, chairman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors and the International Auschwitz Committee, member of the International Auschwitz Council.

Piotr Kadlčik – chairman of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in the Polish Republic, member of the board of the European Congress of Jews.

Serge Klarsfeld (France) – historian, lawyer, deputy chairman of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah (Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah), chairman of the Fils et Filles des Déportés Juifs de France (Sons and Daughters of the Deported Jews of France), member of the Board of Trustees of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum -Birkenau.

Edward Kosakowski – Chairman of the Chair of the Conservation and Restoration of Wall Paintings at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, member of the Board of Trustees of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

Paweł Machcewicz – historian, professor at the Mikołaj Kopernik University in Toruń, lecturer at the Collegium Civitas, plenipotentiary of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers for the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk.

Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska – former consul of the Polish Republic in New York, ambassador of the Polish Republic in Israel, member of the International Auschwitz Council.

Zbigniew Nosowski – former co-chairman and now deputy chairman of the Polish Council of Christians and Jews, editor-in-chief of Więź magazine, co-founder and chairman of the Social Committee for the Remembrance of the Jews of Otwock and Karczew.

Kalman Sultanik (USA) – former prisoner of Nazi concentration camps, deputy chairman of the World Jewish Congress and the United Israel Appeal, member of the International Auschwitz Council, chairman of the financial commission of the International Auschwitz Council.

Jürgen Rüttgers (Germany) – minister of education in the Helmut Kohl government from 1994-98, prime minister of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Józef Wancer – banker, deputy chairman of Citibank of New York for 23 years, chairman of the board of the BPH bank.

Marek Zając – secretary of the International Auschwitz Council, lecturer at the Rev. Józef Tischner Higher European School.

Archbishop Józef Życiński – Metropolitan of Lublin, theologian, philosopher, member of the Papal Culture Council.