News
More than 200 former Auschwitz prisoners have now signed the Foundation Act of the Education Center
More than 200 former prisoners of the Auschwitz German camp have now signed the Foundation Act of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, which will be opened at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Professor Władysław Bartoszewski, French thinker Simone Veil, and Nobel-prize winner Elie Wiesel were the first to sign. They did so on January 27, 2005, during ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the camp. Others who have signed include Halina Birenbaum and Henryk Mandelbaum, the last survivor alive in Poland of the Sonderkommando, the group of prisoners whom the Germans forced to perform the work of extermination in the gas chambers and crematoria.
The majority of the signers are former prisoners from Poland. Most recently, two of the prisoners from the first transport to Auschwitz, on June 14, 1940, signed: Józef Hordyński (camp number 347) and Józef Stós (camp number 752). Citizens of Belarus, Ukraine, Israel, and the USA have also signed.
In the document, the former prisoners urge historians, researchers, and teachers to pass on the memory of the victims of Auschwitz and the Holocaust, to deepen the understanding of the mechanisms of hatred and contempt, and also to keep watch for new dangers, and counteract those dangers by fostering dialogue and cooperation.
“At the site of this crime, reflection must transform itself into responsibility,” reads the Foundation Act. “The earth does not conceal the blood of the victims, and their scream is unending. Today, education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust carries that scream to all the generations. May this task, which new generations take up in their conscience, become a source of hope for you and your children.”
The Center will be located directly adjacent to the grounds of the former camp, in the so-called Theatergebaude building, which belongs to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. Plans envision the transformation of the Museum’s ongoing educational efforts to adapt them to the needs and challenges of the 21st century.
The Center will cooperate closely with Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the Holocaust Memorial in Washington, leading universities around the world, and international institutions and organizations.
