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Sportsmen from Germany support the Memorial
A public appeal to support the activities of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum by the director Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński met with a great response in various circles. In the recent days, 75,000 Euro, to support one of the most important projects of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust planned for next year, was donated by the WeKickCorona Initiative, which was established by two FC Bayern Munich players: Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich.
In connection with the impossibility to finance its further educational, exhibition or research activity, Museum directors have appealed for financial support and it has not gone unheeded.
“Auschwitz is part of our history and its memory is omnipresent 75 years after the end of the war. We are all challenged to ensure that one of the darkest chapters in human history does not repeat itself. It is a matter close to our hearts to help ensure that the culture of remembrance is upheld even in the corona pandemic“, said Leon Goretzka and Joshua Kimmich, founders of the WeKickCorona Initiative.
In agreement with the founders of the WeKickCorona Initiative, the donation will be spent on the organization of international educational conference in 2021. It is going to be the most important event prepared by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust in the year to come. Prominent experts as well as practitioners from all over the world will take part. The conference itself will be devoted to “Exclusions” in the modern world.
“Every second year, a big international methodological conference is held at the Auschwitz Memorial, devoted to the search of new methods in teaching about the Holocaust, dehumanization as well as modern expressions of xenophobia and hatred. Joint reflection is every time shared by outstanding experts, teaching practitioners and theoreticians from various countries all over the world. I am deeply convinced that such regular review of methods is necessary in the modern fast-changing world”, said director Piotr M.A. Cywiński
“Unfortunately, due to the collapse in Museum revenues as a result of the pandemic, organization of the international conference has been called into question. The donation has arrived just in time to save the project of a fundamental character for us and numerous partner institutions”, Director Cywiński added.
Part of the donated funds are going to be spent on preparing the exhibition devoted to sportsmen and sport in the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. The exhibition is going to be inaugurated in the Olympic year. It will be accessible both physically at the Memorial Site as well as in the online space
Forwarding the support to the Memorial was possible thanks to Hamburger Volksbank Stiftung.
