News
Student Internships at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. Cooperation between the OSHVS and the Museum
Freshmen at the Oswiecim State Higher Vocational School are doing three-week internships at the Museum.
OSHVS teacher Jacek Urbiński said that all the students must do an internship, regardless of what they're studying. "The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is very popular and most of the students ask to go there. An internship at the Museum is always a valuable and interesting experience, and the cooperation between our institutions has gotten off to a good start."
Most of the 20 interns are studying English and Russian; several others are studying political science with a specialization in European integration and international political relations or administration and marketing with a specialization in cultural administration and education or public administration. They are working at the Museum in the main office, the publishing department, collections department, library, and visitor services section.
Barbara Madej, who is studying English, chose the spot for her internship. After graduation, she would like to work at the Museum as a guide. "I'm very happy to be able to do my internship here," she said. "I've seen things that you don't see every day, such as art work by the prisoners. I'm also developing in terms of language. I didn't think I'd be given such responsible tasks as translating official correspondence. Of course, Museum employees help me. The atmosphere at work is also good," said Barbara, who comes from nearby Skidzin.
While they're at the Museum, the students have an opportunity not only to see how well they know foreign languages. They also learn how important the site of the former Auschwitz German concentration camp is and how it continues to stir interest around the world.
The students learn how the whole institution functions. Each department organizes special meetings for them, where they learn about things like the preservation workshop, Museum publications, the archives, art works made in the camp during the war, and exhibitions at the site. They can also tour the Memorial, conducted in a language of their choice by a Museum guide.
The Oswiecim State Higher Vocational School
The school was founded under regulations issued by the Council of Ministers on June 7, 2005. It is one of the most important educational institutions in Oświecim, along with the recently founded International Education Center at the Museum.
One purpose of such institutions of higher education is to provide low-cost studies for young people from localities without universities. The Jagiellonian University is the patron of the school and supplies some of its personnel.
Students at the OSHVS can major in English, Russian, Political Science (with specializations in European integration and international political relations), or administration and marketing (with specializations in cultural administration and education or public administration).
The OSHVS Building
Before World War II, the building housed the Polish Tobacco Monopoly. When the Germans decided to open Auschwitz Concentration Camp, they expelled the people living in the barracks settlement near the Monopoly's train siding. They arrested 500 people at the time, deporting 250 of them to Germany for slave labor and imprisoning others in Sosnowiec before transferring them to the Auschwitz camp.
Before the camp was ready to house prisoners, the first transport of prisoners—728 Poles from Tarnów prison, including a small group of Polish Jews—were held in the Monopoly building. June 14, 1940, the day of their arrival, is regarded as the date when the camp went into operation.
The yard in front of the building was fenced off and sentry towers placed at its corners. This is where the first roll call in the history of the camp was held, and where SS men put the prisoners through many hours of exhausting calisthenics (known as "sport") accompanied with beating and verbal harassment.
Once the prisoners had been moved into the "blocks" in the Main Camp, this building, known as the Stabsgebäude (staff building), served for a time as the camp administration offices. Later, it became quarters for female SS supervisors and an ammunition storage area, with a laundry in the basement for SS clothing.
In 2005, the building opened its doors to several hundred Oswiecim State Higher Vocational School students.
