News
Polish Television and the Museum to Host an International TV Studio for the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz
Polish Television (TVP) and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum are organizing an international television studio to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz on January 27, 2025. Approximately 50 Survivors will attend the commemoration event held in front of the main gate of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp.
The studio, which will start the broadcast at 12 PM (CET), will host Survivors: Frank Lowy and Stanisław Zalewski, many people engaged in shaping the memory of Auschwitz, as well as notable guests from the worlds of politics, culture, media, and companies dealing with digital technologies, including Czech President Petr Pavel, Marshal of the Senate of Poland Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Director of Google.org for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa Rowan Barnett as well as Jonathan Glazer who won the Academy Award for his film “The Zone of Interest”.
Polish Television will broadcast the signal from both the studio and the commemoration event to dozens of countries worldwide. Over 1,000 journalists from nearly 50 countries have been accredited for the main event, which begins at 4:00 PM. Discussions with studio guests will be led by TVP journalists Michał Broniatowski, Aaron Dahmen, Joanna Dunikowska-Paź, Agata Konarska, Witold Tabaka, Marek Zając, Maciej Zakrocki, and commented by Dr. Piotr Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum; Wojciech Soczewica, General Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation; and Jacek Stawiski, Director of the Galicia Jewish Museum. The live broadcast will air on TVP1, TVP Info, and TVP Polonia (from 3:00 PM), TVP Historia (from 12:00 PM), and TVP World (from 4:00 PM), as well as on TVP VOD. The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum will also stream the event on its YouTube channel.
The studio guests will include two Survivors: Sir Frank Lowy, a donor to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, and Stanisław Zalewski. The organizers have also announced the participation of numerous prominent figures, not only representing institutions associated with the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust but also notable guests from the worlds of culture, media, and politics, and companies dealing with digital technologies.
While Polish Television has previously broadcast the Auschwitz liberation commemoration events, this is the first time it has partnered with the Memorial to create a special international television studio for the occasion.
"There are several reasons for this initiative. First, this is likely the last milestone anniversary where we will have the honor of having such a large group of Survivors. Second, the tense situation in our region, driven by the war in Ukraine, underscores our duty to remind the world that every war is evil. Lastly, our excellent cooperation with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, co-host of the studio, significantly strengthens our peaceful message to the world. The joint studio will serve as a unique international platform for discussions on the significance of memory and the many symbolic dimensions of this extraordinary place," commented Tomasz Sygut, General Director of TVP.
"Remembering the Victims of Auschwitz and the Holocaust engages multiple layers of human reflection, not just historical or factual considerations. Memory profoundly influences anthropological, cultural, social, political, and ethical questions. The special television studio created for the 80th anniversary will allow us to deepen the dialogue on the role and place of memory in today's world," added Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
"Our joint international studio is a groundbreaking global initiative. With this vital message of memory, the testimonies, and the appeals of the last Survivors, we will reach not only online audiences worldwide but also all accredited media and journalists attending the commemoration event, as well as television stations using the signal produced by TVP," emphasized Marek Zając, Deputy Director of TVP’s Programming Office and Secretary of the International Auschwitz Council.
The studio will be an integral part of one of the largest tents in Europe, erected above the Gate of Death at Birkenau, accommodating approximately 3,000 attendees. A historic freight car, symbolizing the suffering and death of the Victims, will serve as a key visual element. Survivors and heads of official delegations will light candles in front of the train car to honor all victims of Auschwitz.
The studio guests will include two Survivors: Sir Frank Lowy, a donor to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, and Stanisław Zalewski. The organizers have also announced the participation of numerous prominent figures, not only representing institutions associated with the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust but also notable guests from the worlds of culture, media, and politics, and companies dealing with digital technologies.
In addition to the individuals mentioned above, the lineup will include also:
Michael Berenbaum, Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute;
Sara Bloomfield, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington;
Dani Dayan, Director of Yad Vashem;
Barbara Engelking, Director of the Polish Center of Holocaust Research at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences;
Jack Fairweather, author of The Volunteer and The Prosecutor;
Luis Ferreiro, CEO of Musealia, which cooperated with the Auschwitz Museum to create a traveling exhibition “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away”;
Phyllis Greenberg Heideman, President of the March of the Living;
Christoph Heubner from the International Auschwitz Committee;
Mari-Noëlle Jégo Laveissière, CEO of Orange in Europe;
Yishai Jusidman, visual artist;
Hannah Lessing, Secretary of the Austrian National Fund for Victims of National Socialism;
Jörg Lüer from Maximilian-Kolbe-Werk;
Romani Rose, Chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma;
Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, Metropolitan Archbishop of Łódź;
Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland;
Dariusz Stola, Chairman of the International Auschwitz Council;
Piotr Setkiewicz, Head of the Research Center at the Auschwitz Museum;
Nikolaus Wachsmann, historian at Birkbeck College;
Thorsten Wagner from the international educational program FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics), which teaches ethics to various professional groups;
Hanna Wróblewska, Minister of Culture and National Heritage of the Polish government;
Maria Zalewska, Executive Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation in the USA.
The full program of the international television studio organized by Polish Television and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum will be available at 80.auschwitz.org.
By the time the camp was liberated by the Red Army, the German Nazis had murdered approximately 1.1 million people at Auschwitz, primarily Jews, along with Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, and people of other nationalities. Today, Auschwitz stands as a global symbol of the Holocaust and the atrocities of World War II. In 2005, the United Nations declared January 27 the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
