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Switzerland essentialy increased its support to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation
The government of the Swiss Confederation has announced an increase of their support to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation up ;to 1 million euro. The decision was announced on May 3 by the Swiss Ambassador to Poland, Lukas Beglinger. Switzerland was one of the first countries which responded to the appeal of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and declared in 2010 their donation of 100 thousand CHF to the Perpetual Fund of the Foundation.
The possibility of increasing the Swiss support was in the agenda of a recent visit of Polish President Bronisław Komorowski to Switzerland. This decision was made by the Swiss authorities in order to express their international solidarity and respect for the victims of the Nazism. To erase the very possibility that the truth would be known and people would remember, the Nazis destroyed some of their extermination camps. That is why preservation of the Auschwitz Memorial has such a unique meaning. ;Switzerland also expressed its hope that preservation efforts will contribute to the further development of the educational trips of young people from Switzerland to Auschwitz. These trips enable young people to learn about the atrocities committed in the name of a racist and anti-Semitic ideology.
”Switzerland, noticing the real success of the work of the Foundation, after its initial decision, decided not to stay behind and join the main donor countries . I hope that this positive example will also encourage other countries to revise their contribution to this unprecedented international project of saving the authenticity of the Auschwitz Memorial,” said Dr. Piotr M.A. Cywiński, the President of the Foundation and the director of the Auschwitz Memorial.
The Perpetual Fund of the Foundation is to gather 120 million euros. The income created by the Fund will finance the preservation work at the Auschwitz Memorial, which was created on the site of the largest German Nazi concentration and extermination camp – the only such object ;in the UNESCO World Heritage List. ;Donation declarations of over 100 million euro have been gathered so far. At the moment over 45 million euros are ;in the accounts of the Foundation. The increase of the Swiss support makes it possible to reach the total amount of the Fund. This will allow a more optimal financing of works aiming to save the authenticity of post-camp remains.
Among the largest ;donor countries to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation are: Germany, the USA, Poland, France, Austria, the United Kingdom, Israel and – from 3 May – Switzerland.
