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Europe According to Auschwitz
The Archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum contain approximately 3,000 accounts by former prisoners, as well as testimony from the trial of the camp garrison. To this day, the material has not been edited as "literature of fact." The accessible reportage form could fill the gap between memoir literature and scholarly studies.
For four years, journalism students from Warsaw University have been attending two-week seminars at the Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum in September. The first camp to be attended by German students was held from March 15-23. The workshops were organized by the International Youth Meeting House in Oświęcim, which decided to aid in realizing the international idea of a chronicle.
The overall project is being carried out by the Warsaw University Reportage Laboratory, and the working method is based on the montage of accounts by former prisoners and testimony from the SS trials, without a word of commentary or linking material.
The chronicle project is an ideal occasion for cooperation between journalism students from different countries. It gives them an opportunity to work on a big subject while helping them to choose and develop their own professional careers.
