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The International Auschwitz Council on the Finances and Preservation of Memorials in Poland
The twentieth meeting of the International Auschwitz Council was held in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. Professor Władysław Bartoszewski chaired the meeting. The main subjects of discussion were issues connected with the financing of memorials located on the former grounds of German Nazi concentration camps and extermination centers in occupied Poland.
“The council will continue its efforts in terms of the alleviation of the increasingly unfavorable financial situation of places like Auschwitz, Stutthof, Majdanek, Gross-Rosen, Sobibór, Chełmno on the Ner or Kulmhof, and Treblinka,” said Marek Zając, secretary of the IAC. “The situation at such museums is getting worse and worse. Moreover, this is not a matter of a one-time appropriation. There is a need for systemic change or a complete change in the financing of the Memorials,” said the Council secretary.
Additionally, the Council appealed for funds to be found for the adaptation of the so-called Old Theater building as headquarters for the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, which was called into existence in 2005 in the presence of more than 40 heads of government and crowned heads from all around the world during commemorations of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp. To this day, unfortunately, the lack of funds has prevented the creation of premises for the Center. Today, this would cost about 25 million złoty.
Interest in the history of Auschwitz has been growing constantly for years. “Young people from all over the world want to come here for several days for a study residency and to go through a whole detailed educational program. This place will surely not be empty. It will draw people not only to the Museum but also to the city of Oświęcim. And this will surely benefit the entire region—but above all it will benefit the cause of remembrance, which is the most important thing for us, after all,” Zając remarked.
Director Piotr M. A. Cywiński said that “not only is public opinion around the world in favor of the development of education. This factor is also very clearly discerned on the local scale by guides, people who work in dialogue institutions, and the residents of Oświęcim and the vicinity. This is why there is a very powerful consensus in favor of completing work on the headquarters of the Education Center in the Theatergebaeude, which continues to stand vacant.
Another important subject during the meeting was the prevention of flooding at the Auschwitz Memorial. The IAC expressed appreciation for a plan to use new dykes to protect the Birkenau site from the Vistula side and to install a special pumping station on the Pławianka in order to increase the safety of the buildings at the site.
Sara Bloomfield, director of the Holocaust Museum in Washington, summed up the meeting by pointing out the significance of Auschwitz to the world. “It is a symbol with international significance for everyone. Regardless of where they live, people are interested in preserving the site of the camp, its future, and the work connected with this. To the degree that the times of the Holocaust become increasingly remote, it is more and more important to preserve this place in its original form. The idea is for it to speak with all its power to future generations, to young people who do not know, who have never met any eyewitnesses to World War II. And our task, as members of the Council, is to advise, support, and help in this vital work.”
See the video: Need for Systematic Change
