News
Modest Aid for Oświęcim
Polish government aid to Oświęcim will amount to almost 1,400,000 złoty this year. Representatives of the government, the provincial governor, the provincial marshal, and local government officials signed an agreement for the realization of Stage II of the Oświecim Government Strategic Program yesterday.
Plans for Phase II of the Oświecim Government Strategic Program include the cleanup and utilization of the area around the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, the improvement of the transport system for pilgrims, tourists, and residents, and the establishment of an International Education Center near the concentration camp site. Tadeusz Matusiak, vice-minister for internal affairs and administration, was in attendance and stated that Oświęcim, as a symbol, needs support.
Local government officials, however, are not satisfied with the level of funding. They complained that it is lower each year, as opposed to the requirements, which are rising. The government may indeed plan to appropriate a total of 20,000,000 złoty for Phase II of the Oświecim Government Strategic Program, but the level of this year's aid leaves few people believing these promises.
*** Oświecim Government Strategic Program – the Nazis murdered over a million people in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. For years, there have been almost half a million visitors from Poland and other countries annually to the Museum, which has been in existence since 1947.
The problems connected with the presence and functioning of the Museum within the city limits of a town with a population of over 40,000 include the unresolved issue of the buffer zone, the international conflicts and disputes that grew out of the establishment of a Carmelite convent in a building adjacent to the Museum, and the so-called "supermarket affair." The desire to solve these problems led in 1996 to the conception of an "Oświęcim Program." It was developed by members of the Museum staff, Oświęcim city hall, the Oświęcim communal government, and local cultural and academic figures.
This concept was the foundation for the Oświecim Government Strategic Program, approved in 1996 by the Polish Council of Ministers. It envisages above all the cleaning up and utilization of the buffer zone around the Museum and the modernization of the Oświęcim city transport system.
The Oświecim Government Strategic Program also calls for the "reconstruction and revitalization of the Old City and the reconstruction and renovation of the most significant landmark buildings" as well as the creation of an International Congress and Seminar Center and an International Education Center. Funding for these projects was intended to come predominantly from the national budget, while contributions were also envisioned from the Bielsko provincial government (since liquidated), the ministries of Culture and Art and Transportation and Maritime Commerce, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp Victims Memorial Foundation.
