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Our voice in a global debate—Museum Report 2008
"It’s much more than just an annual report. We have tried to create the broadest possible picture of what was Auschwitz Memorial in 2008. We published a document which is our voice in a global debate on the condition and the future of remembrance", said Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński, the Museum director. The 70 color pages of the bilingual report contain information on the most important events of 2008.
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A great deal of space in the annual report is devoted to the financial needs for preservation of the Memorial. "Preserving authenticity is an absolute priority for us. It is a very costly undertaking to maintain more than 150 buildings, 300 ruins, almost 200 hectares of land, and a wealth of priceless documents and other items that constitute evidence of the crimes committed by the Nazi Germans. The lack of permanent funding for preservation could have unimaginable consequences", one reads in the report.
A long-term and global solution that will make it possible to hope that deficits will not threaten the original vestiges, is the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation that is being created at the moment. Its main goal will be amassing a Perpetual Fund for the sole purpose of preserving the Auschwitz Memorial. "If we raise at least €120 million, the income from safe capital investments will suffice for long-term conservation programs in the immediate future and in the coming decades", states the report.
The report also gives information about the International Consultative Group which coordinates the preparation of the new exhibition of the Museum and about the planned art exhibition in the former kitchen building of Auschwitz I. One will also find there information about the attendance to the Memorial. In 2008, 1,13 million people visited the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
As every year an important element of the report is the financial report and a list of the benefactors who supported the Museum. The report also contains detailed information on preservation work, the activities of the specific Museum departments, research, volunteers, films shot at the Museum, the programs and seminars conducted by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. The texts are accompanied by photographs presenting the contemporary view of the Memorial as well as reproductions of art works, artifacts and archive documents.
