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People from All Over the World Want to Visit this Place – the 18th Session of the IAC
The 18th session of the International Auschwitz Council, reporting to the Prime Minister of the Polish Republic, has concluded at the Chancellery of the President of the Council of Ministers in Warsaw. Professor Władysław Bartoszewski chaired the meeting.
Members of the Council heard a report from Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum director Piotr M. A. Cywiński, who spoke about new publishing and internet initiatives, the progress of conservation work at the Memorial, planned changes to the national exhibitions, and attendance for 2009, which will probably reach a record level of 1.3 million. Dr. Cywiński also spoke about difficulties connected with the functioning and development of the Museum. He noted the administrative problems connected with plans to purchase the PKSiS bus garage in Oświęcim, where the Museum plans to build an up-to-date visitor service center.
“The part of the report that indicated the incredible success of the Museum in reaching out to contemporary people made a great impression on me,” said Bartoszewski. “When such enormous throngs of people visit the Memorial, they create logistical problems that are the dream of the majority of exhibition sites around the world. People from all over the world want to visit this place. May it so continue. I am happy that I lived to see this.”
Board member Jonathan Webber, a professor at Oxford, feels that the Museum has undergone enormous changes in the last few years. “Many new and varied initiatives have emerged, such as the growth of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, various new kinds of publications in many languages, an excellent website, and finally the presence of the Museum on Facebook. The Museum is clearly going full speed ahead, and we can feel the great passion and energy of its staff,” he said.
An important item on the agenda was the presentation of the scenario for a new main exhibition. “There is no need for me to say how enormous the educational significance of this exhibition will be,” said IAC secretary Marek Zając. “It will shape the memory of hundreds of thousands of people around the world over the coming decades. The Council has expressed its remarks and ideas, but it generally accepted the direction in which work on the new exhibition is progressing. That is very important, because it makes it easier for the people at work on creating this exhibition to direct their efforts. For them, it represents additional motivation and is a signal that the leading experts in the world appreciate their work.”
“For all of those at the Museum who have been working on the preparation of this concept over the last several years, this was a kind of exam,” said Museum director Piotr M. A. Cywiński. “After all, the members of the Council include specialists from all over the world. These are people with enormous experience in exhibitions and education. The plans that we presented received overwhelming approval. The help and advice of members of the Council will surely make it possible to prepare the scenario for the new main exhibition quickly.”
An important element in the 18th session of the IAC was the approval of the outline schedule for the observance of the 65th Anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi German concentration camp and extermination center, which will be held on January 27, 2010. The members of the Council unanimously passed a motion stating that “alongside the International Auschwitz Council, the government of the Republic of Poland, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim, and Jewish circles will be involved in preparing and carrying out this program. The Council expresses the hope that not only will next year’s ceremonies furnish the world with another reminder of the tragedy of Auschwitz-Birkenau, but that they will also be a contributing factor to a bolder sense of responsibility for the fate of the world, especially on the part of the younger generation.”
Zając stressed the fact that “this is an important decision, because these observances are important not only for Europe, but also for the entire world. The slogan for the entire program will be ‘Education for the Future,’ which refers to drawing conclusions from the tragedy of Auschwitz and education for future generations.”
The next session of the International Auschwitz Council will take place in Oświęcim in June 2010.
