News

Commemoration and Works of Art from Auschwitz

A meeting organized by the Museum examined the results of studies of the history and present state of the original camp kitchen building, which stands near the Auschwitz I Arbeit macht frei gate.

The work, carried out with the intention of commemorating the building, and also using it to house a gallery of Auschwitz art, began last year. It is worth noting, for those familiar with Polish landmarks, that the main kitchen building, measuring 75 x 10.5 meters, has as much floor space as the main nave, transept, and presbytery of the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Cracow.

In her introductory remarks, Jadwiga Kulesza of the Auschwitz Museum archives presented the history of the structure on the basis of extant German records and prisoner testimony. The major part of the meeting was devoted to expert preservationist-architectural opinions on the kitchen, drawn up on commission from the Museum by the Cempla and Partners Landmark Preservation firm.

The analysis was intended to establish the history of the building, define the state to which it is preserved, assess the condition of original landmark elements, and offer suggestions for its preservation. An analysis was made of the erection and expansion of the building from 1940-1944 and the changes it has undergone in the postwar period. It has been determined that the proportion of genuine landmark elements is very high—70% of building is made up of the original construction.

The experts stated that the best policy would be to re-create the historical arrangement of the building’s interior and to adopt a conservative approach with an eye to both the exposition of the original landmark itself, and the planned exhibition there of works of art from Auschwitz. Participants in the meeting included Provincial Landmarks Officer Andrzej Siwek and Helmut Morlok, who, on behalf of the German federal states (Länder), coordinates preservation work at the Auschwitz site financed by the German government and the governments of its constituent states.

The question of funding for the preservation work and setting up the exhibition, which according to preliminary estimates could exceed one million euro, was left open.