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The International Center for Teaching about Auschwitz and the Holocaust Officially Founded

After changes by the Minister of Culture to the Museum Statute, The International Center for Teaching about Auschwitz and the Holocaust formally came into existence on may 13, 2005.

On that day, Regulation No. 9 of the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Poland called into being The International Center for Teaching about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. This was accomplished through changes to the statute under which the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim functions. The existing Museum Education Center was changed into the International Center. The Minister of Culture decided to make this change after the acceptance of The International Center for Teaching about Auschwitz and the Holocaust project by the Council of Ministers on January 25, 2005. The International Auschwitz Council also expressed its approval.

The International Center for Teaching about Auschwitz and the Holocaust operates within the Museum structure. It will have a council with ten members named by the Minister of Culture on the Recommendation of the International Auschwitz Council.

Former prisoners wholeheartedly support the founding of The International Center for Teaching about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. Several hundred of them have already signed the Center’s Foundation Act, with most of them doing so on January 27, during the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.