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First open on-line lesson of the Auschwitz Museum in English
The “Auschwitz — Concentration and Extermination Camp“ online lesson, which focuses on the most important topics in the history of the Nazi German camp, is available in English on the Museum's website. The Auschwitz Memorial is a pioneer of e-learning in institutions of this kind in Poland.
“The whole lesson is an extensive compendium of knowledge on fundamental issues in the history of the camp. In the lesson, you will find not only the most important facts and dates put into a historical lecture, but also many text, audio and video testimonies of survivors enriched by contemporary and historical photographs. Specially designed multimedia maps, diagrams and teaching exercises are a very important part of the lesson. It all creates a very rich tool of on-line self-education“ said Andrzej Kacorzyk, the director of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust.
The authors of the lesson are Dr. Jacek Lachendro and Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz who are specialists of the Museum Research Department. “We have tried, in an accessible way, to present the complicated history of the German Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, which over time became an enormous complex of concentration camps and centre for the immediate extermination of Jews in gas chambers,” said the head of the Research Department of the Museum, Dr. Peter Setkiewicz. “Thanks to the possibilities offered by the Internet, a historical lecture could be enriched with many multimedia and visual elements, as well as testimonies of the witnesses. This is very important, because in this way, the whole becomes an interesting, often very personal story about this terrible place,” he added.
The lesson consists of two parts. "The first relates to Auschwitz as a concentration camp — its establishment, development and operation, as well as the various groups of prisoners. Food and clothing, housing, work at the camp, punishment, executions, as well as pseudo-medical experiments are among the topics covered," said Agnieszka Juskowiak-Sawicka, head of the E-Learning Section in the Education Centre. "The second part concerns the mass extermination of Jews at Auschwitz. It is divided into several chapters covering not only the construction and operation of gas chambers and crematories, but also prisoners of the Sonderkommando, the masking of the crimes, the question of bombardment of the camp and the number of victims," she added.
“The Internet is the perfect way to reach out to people who want to know the history of Auschwitz but can not visit the Memorial Site because of the long distance travel. This lesson can also be used by teachers, for example, to prepare their students for a visit to the former camp. The lesson in Polish and English is only the first step since we are planning to make it available in several other languages," emphasised Andrzej Kacorzyk.
