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Our post-war identity is structured on the memory. Auschwitz Museum Report 2023.
English-Polish report summarizing the year 2023 at the Auschwitz Museum and Memorial was published. Director Piotr M. A. Cywiński dedicated his introduction to the role of memory in shaping our post-war identity.
"Merely a single generation ago, the world was enthralled by the utopian vision of the “end of history”. As we approach the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, we are witnessing the resurgence of old, dehumanising, antisemitic, and racist demonic ideologies and the rise of new tensions and international conflicts.," one read in the introduction.
"A free, democratic and humane world has limited tools of recognition, apart from its own experience. Our post-war identity is structured on the memory of the Shoah and the tragic fates of the Third Reich’s victims. That is why memory is today the indispensable bond that shields the world from the perilous influences of all forms of hatred and dehumanisation," wrote Piotr Cywiński.
88 pages of this publication include the information on the most important events which took place last year at the Museum, the analysis of attendance of the Memorial, which was last year visited by almost 1.7 million people.
“This is a more than 41 per cent increase on the previous year. This signifies a gradual reversion to the pre-pandemic state,” states the report.
Nearly 90 per cent of visitors acquired knowledge about the history of Auschwitz through a Museum educator. Over 60 per cent of them constituted organised groups. Currently, 324 guides conduct tours of the Memorial in 20 languages.
With the aid of the globally unique “Auschwitz in Front of Your Eyes” application, millions of people will gain access to the authentic spaces of Auschwitz and Birkenau.
“The platform serves as an online guided tour of the former camp. An educator conducts the narrative in real time, utilising multimedia materials, archival photographs, artworks, documents, and Survivors testimonies,” one reads.
The Museum and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation jointly developed the project alongside Israeli companies AppsFlyer and DISKIN, with additional support from specialist companies like Orange and the generous contributions of various government and private donors.
The multiple surges in attendance in the 21st century have challenged us to create an entirely new Visitor Services Center. Its concept aimed to integrate various functions, such as ensuring security, visitor comfort and access to essential services.
Construction is underway for a state-of-the-art, three-story hostel adjacent to the Center. The accommodation facility created will, in the future, serve as lodging for volunteers, interns, teachers, and those participating in more extended study stays, conferences, or seminars.
A special place in the report is given to the next year's 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
“Eighty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, on 27 January 2025, we will gather together with the last Survivors at the threshold of Auschwitz-Birkenau. On that day, alongside heads of state, government leaders, and all those shaping the remembrance, we will bear witness to our living Memory,” one reads.
Other subjects treated in the publication are conservation works conducted at the Memorial Site, new publications, new exhibitions, and exhibitions which are being developed as well as new items in Museum Archives and Collections, development of infrastructure and directions of scientific works.
Financial statement and the list of donors who supported the Museum constitute another crucial element. A part of the report is information about activities of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation in the USA that among other things support financially preservation of the authenticity of the Memorial.
The texts are accompanied by photographs presenting the most important events at the Memorial Site together with the reproductions of artefacts and archival documents.
The report is published a day before the 79th anniversary of the liberation of German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz.