News
New Auschwitz Museum Website
The new Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum website has gone online at www.auschwitz.org. Professor Władysław Bartoszewski performed the ceremonial opening during a meeting of the International Auschwitz Council at the Chancellery of the President of the Council of Ministers in Warsaw. More than a million people a year visit the Auschwitz Museum website. The prime benchmark of its popularity is the fact that it has appeared among the first two or three results, and often as the first result, of Google searches related to Auschwitz.
The new website offers people around the world a chance to learn about the history of Auschwitz, examine selected archival documents, view current and historical photographs, and order Museum publications from the comfort of their homes. The website also contains information about the most important events at the Memorial, in the form of texts, photos, and videos. People planning visits to the site can find out how to get there, reserve a Museum-licensed tour guide working in one of fifteen languages, and even check the local weather forecast.
The new functions include a full timeline line of historical events, searchable by date, as well as 360-degree panoramas of the Auschwitz and Birkenau sites and descriptions of all the exhibitions. A webcam shows a live view of the infamous Arbeit macht frei gate.
Users can make online donations to the upkeep and conservation of the Memorial, joining the community of people around the world sharing the responsibility for the future of this exceptional place. There is also information about opportunities available to people interested in volunteer work and internships at the Museum.
The site is divided into four separate parts: The Museum, History, Visiting, and Education. There is also a descriptive organizational chart of the Museum, including a detailed list of addresses and information on contacting staff.
Authoritative full-length texts prepared by historians from the Museum research department, covering the history of Auschwitz in a concise and accessible way, comprise some of the most valuable resources at the website. There is also a special search engine for the data base of prisoners referenced in the records that the SS did not manage to destroy before evacuation.
Another new feature is an expanded range of offerings from the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. The section lists the lectures, workshops, seminars, study residencies, and postgraduate courses available from the ICEAH.
A special media section will soon be added. Requiring registration, it will include press releases, accreditation forms, photos and texts, announcements of upcoming events, and a range of other useful material.
www.auschwitz.org, in English and Polish, is constantly adding new material, including educational material suitable for classroom use by teachers.
