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Who Donated Money for the Remembrance Mound? Museum Rejected Support from a Questionable Donor
Did the mayor of the city of Oświęcim accept a financial donation from representatives of a dangerous Japanese sect for the construction of a Remembrance and Reconciliation Mound? The Polish Foreign Affairs Ministry has counseled extreme caution in contacts with the Agon Shu Buddhist Association.
In December 2005, the "Buddhist spiritual leader" Seiyu Kiriyama—as Oswiecim city hall referred to him—made a $100 thousand donation "through his representatives" towards the "noble idea of a Remembrance and Reconciliation Mound."
The Remembrance and Reconciliation Mound would rise near the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum. It is the brainchild of the noted artist and former Auschwitz and Birkenau prisoner, Prof. Józef Szajna, who has ceaselessly promoted the idea.
It turns out, however, that Agon Shu's generosity is not viewed favorably everywhere.
Last fall, one of its representatives called at the Museum. "He offered significant financial support for an expensive project on behalf of the Agon Shu Buddhist organization," recalls Krystyna Oleksy, deputy director of the Museum.
The project was the preservation of the original camp kitchen building and the installation there of an exhibition of art made in the camp.
The Museum reacted warily. The Director's Office sent a query to the Polish Foreign Affairs Ministry about the potential donor.
"In a letter of November 28, 2005, an official of the Department of Asia and the Pacific advised us to 'be extremely cautious' in contacts with the organization," Oleksy says. "As far as we were concerned, that meant that there could be no question of accepting any sort of donations from Agon Shu."
Several days later, there was a meeting at Oświęcim city hall in which Mayor Janusz Marszałek supported the idea of erecting the Remembrance and Reconciliation Mound. "He said, in the presence of witnesses, that Agon Shu had been recommended to him by the Polish ambassador in Japan. The mayor also stated that Agon Shu had the backing of Stanisław Dziwisz, who was still archbishop [of Cracow, and had not yet been named a cardinal]," Oleksy states.
Museum personnel were flabbergasted. Thinking that new facts must have emerged concerning the credibility of the Buddhist monks, they wrote again to the Foreign Affairs Ministry asking whether or not the Polish ambassador in Japan did indeed endorse cooperation with Agon Shu. The reply, on January 10, 2005, was unambiguous. "The Ministry reiterated its original stance. Government representatives informed us that the Polish ambassador in Tokyo had not expressed any formal support for the organization," Oleksy goes on.
Monks from Agon Shu will be coming to Oswiecim soon. On June 13-14, they will take part in ceremonies commemorating the victims of the death camp. "A Buddhist prayer for peace will be on the schedule at the planned commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the deportation of the first transport of Polish political prisoners to Auschwitz," according to Oświęcim city hall.
In a special press release, Oswiecim city hall explains that the initiative for contacts with Agon Shu came from outside the local area. "The Polish embassy in Tokyo asked city hall to cooperate with the Agon Shu Buddhist Association in order to have prayers for world peace said in Oswiecim. The mayor of Oswiecim, which is an International Peace City, could not refuse a ceremony, for the purposes of peace, that serves to commemorate the victims of the death camp."
According to Oswiecim city officials, no one so far has officially confirmed reports about Agon Shu being a dangerous sect.
Paweł Plinta, Dziennik Polski, April 25, 2005
Clarification from the Foreign Affairs Ministry
A clarification from the Ministry on contacts between the Agon Shu sect and the authorities in Oswiecim
April 24 (PAP – Polish Press Agency) – Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Paweł Dobrowolski told PAP on Monday that the ministry will look into the involvement of Polish embassy staff in Tokyo in the contacts between the Agon Shu school of Buddhism from that country and the local authorities in the city of Oswiecim. He added that an official statement will be forthcoming soon from the ministry. On Monday, Super Ekspress newspaper wrote that the school is a dangerous sect.
On Monday, the local government in Oświęcim stated, in a response to the newspaper's allegations, that it was "the Polish embassy in Tokyo that requested city hall to cooperate with the Agon Shu Buddhist Association in having a prayer for world peace said in Oświęcim."
City hall released correspondence showing that Bożena Socha, second secretary at the Tokyo embassy, informed Oświęcim mayor Janusz Marszałek in October 2005 about a desire to visit the city on the part of "a Japanese group who play music on drums in traditional dress." She added that the Japanese side wanted to invite someone from the Oświęcim local government to Japan in order to establish the details.
"The mayor of Oświęcim, which is an International Peace City, could not refuse a ceremony for the purposes of peace that serves to commemorate the victims of the death camp," read Monday's local government statement. "A Buddhist prayer for peace will be on the schedule at the planned commemoration of the 66th anniversary of the deportation of the first transport of Polish political prisoners to Auschwitz I."
Super Ekspress reported on Monday that Agon Shu is a dangerous sect. Shoko Asahara, responsible for releasing sarin gas on the Tokyo metro in 1995, was formerly associated with Agon Shu. Nevertheless, 200 of the group's adherents are to take part in the June ceremonies marking the 66th anniversary of the deportation of the first Polish political prisoners to Auschwitz, and guru Seiyu Kiriyama is scheduled to be a guest of honor.
The ongoing contacts between the Oświęcim local government and Agon Shu have already borne fruit in the shape of a $100 thousand donation, accepted by the city's mayor last December for the erection of the Remembrance and Reconciliation Mound adjacent to the Auschwitz site. Two months later, an Oświęcim delegation composed of Mayor Marszałek and four other people traveled to Japan. The city's website stated that the Japanese partners covered the cost of the journey and the stay in Japan. [...](PAP)s z f/ mp/
The Lighting of a Fire
A month ago, the organizers of the ceremonies marking the anniversary of the first transport of Polish political prisoners to Auschwitz—the Auschwitz Christian Families Association and Oswiecim city hall—announced that adherents of the Agon Shu school of Buddhism will pray for peace near the camp the day before the observances.
City hall stated at the time that "the culminating point in the prayer for peace will be the lighting of a fire that symbolizes the erasure of human worries and pain . . . Participants in the prayers will be able to write their good intentions on special small wooden tablets and offer them to God by throwing them into the fire. In the same way, they will be able to honor the memory of the dead by writing their names on the reverse side."
The Remembrance and Reconciliation Mound
The Mound is the brainchild of Prof. Józef Szajna, a former Auschwitz prisoner. An eternal flame will burn in a rotunda inside the Mound. The Mound is intended to rise above ethnic and religious differences.
The siting of the Mound is controversial. City hall plans call for it to rise adjacent to the site of the Auschwitz I camp. The main boulevard leading to the Mound would start at the parking-services center in which the Maja company invested in the mid-1990s. Present Oświęcim mayor Janusz Marszałek was director of Maja.
