Museum and memorial in O?wi?cim, Poland
The
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
(
Polish
:
Pa?stwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau
)
[3]
is a museum on the site of the
Nazi German
Auschwitz concentration camp
in
O?wi?cim
, Poland.
The site includes the main concentration camp at
Auschwitz I
and the remains of the concentration and
extermination camp
at
Auschwitz II-Birkenau
. Both were developed and run by Nazi Germany during its
occupation of Poland
in 1939?1945. The Polish government has preserved the site as a research centre and in memory of the 1.1 million people who died there, including 960,000 Jews, during
World War II
and
the Holocaust
.
[4]
It became a
World Heritage Site
in 1979.
Piotr Cywi?ski
is the museum's director.
[5]
Overview
[
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]
The museum was created in April 1946 by Tadeusz W?sowicz and other former Auschwitz prisoners, acting under the direction of Poland's Ministry of Culture and Art.
[1]
It was formally founded on 2 July 1947 by an act of the Polish parliament.
[6]
The site consists of 20 hectares in Auschwitz I and 171 hectares in Auschwitz II,
[6]
which lies about three kilometres from the main camp. Over 25 million people have visited the museum. From 1955 to 1990, the museum was directed by one of its founders and former inmates,
Kazimierz Smole?
.
[7]
In 2019, 2,320,000 people visited the site, including visitors from Poland (at least 396,000), United Kingdom (200,000), United States (120,000), Italy (104,000), Germany (73,000), Spain (70,000), France (67,000), Israel (59,000), Ireland (42,000), and Sweden (40,000).
[2]
History
[
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]
The first exhibition in the barracks opened in 1947. In
Stalinist Poland
, on the seventh anniversary of the first deportation of Polish captives to Auschwitz, the exhibition was revised with the assistance of former inmates. The exhibition was influenced by the
Cold War
and next to pictures of Jewish ghettos, photos of
slums
in the US were presented. After
Stalin's
death, a new exhibition was planned in 1955. In 1959, every nation that had victims in Auschwitz received the right to present its own exhibition. However, victims like homosexuals,
Jehovah's Witnesses
,
Sinti and Roma
, and
Yeniche people
did not receive these rights. The state of
Israel
was also refused the allowance for its own exhibition as the murdered Jews in Auschwitz were not citizens of Israel. In April 1968, the Jewish exhibition, designed by
Andrzej Szczypiorski
, was opened. In 1979,
Pope John Paul II
held a mass in Birkenau and called the camp a "
Golgotha
of our times".
In 1962, a prevention zone around the museum in Birkenau (and in 1977, one around the museum in Auschwitz) was established to maintain the historical condition of the camp. These zones were confirmed by the Polish parliament in 1999. In 1967, the first big memorial monument was inaugurated and in the 1990s the first information boards were set up.
National exhibitions
[
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]
Since 1960, the so-called "national exhibitions" have been located in Auschwitz I. Most of them were renewed from time to time; for example, those of Belgium, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and the former Soviet Union. The German exhibition, which was made by the former
GDR
, has not been renewed.
The first national exhibition of the Soviet Union was opened in 1961 and renewed in 1977 and 1985. In 2003, the Russian organizing committee suggested presenting a completely new exhibition. The Soviet part of the museum was closed, but the reopening was delayed as there were differences in the questions of the territorial situation of the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1941. The question of the territories annexed by the USSR during the war, i.e. the Baltic countries, eastern Poland, and Moldova could not be solved.
Yugoslav
pavilion and exhibition, which memorialized Auschwitz victims primarily through their antifascist struggle, was opened in 1963.
[8]
In 2002, Croatia, as one of Yugoslav successor states, notified the Auschwitz Memorial Museum that it wanted the Yugoslav exhibition dismantled and demanded permission to establish its own national exhibition.
[8]
The museum rejected the proposal and notified all Yugoslav
successor states
that only a renovated joint exhibit would be appropriate.
[8]
Since they failed to create a joint exhibition, the Yugoslav exhibition was closed down in 2009 and its contents were sent the
Museum of Yugoslavia
in
Belgrade
, while Block 17, which hosted the exhibition, remains empty.
[8]
In late January of 2024 it was announced that with the assistance of
UNESCO
six
successor states of SFR Yugoslavia
?
Bosnia and Herzegovina
,
Croatia
,
Montenegro
,
North Macedonia
,
Serbia
and
Slovenia
? have reached an agreement to reopen a joint exhibition about the Holocaust in Yugoslavia.
[9]
In 1978, Austria opened its own exhibition, presenting itself as a victim of
National Socialism
. This one-sided view motivated
[10]
the Austrian political scientist
Andreas Maislinger
to work in the museum within the
Action Reconciliation Service for Peace
in 1980/81. Later he founded the
Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
. The Austrian federal president
Rudolf Kirchschlager
had advised Maislinger that as a young Austrian he did not need to atone for anything in Auschwitz. Due to this disapproving attitude of the official Austrian representation, the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service could not be launched before September 1992.
Filming
[
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]
The museum has allowed scenes for four films to be filmed on the site:
Pasa?erka
(1963) by Polish director
Andrzej Munk
,
Landscape After the Battle
(1970) by Polish director
Andrzej Wajda
, and a television miniseries,
War and Remembrance
(1988), and
Denial
(2016). Although the Polish government permitted the construction of film sets on its grounds to shoot scenes for
Schindler's List
(1993),
Steven Spielberg
chose to build a "replica" camp entrance outside the infamous archway for the scene in which the train arrives carrying the women who were saved by
Oskar Schindler
.
[11]
Religious disputes
[
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]
In 1979, the newly elected Polish Pope John Paul II celebrated
mass
on the grounds of Auschwitz II to some 500,000 people, and announced that
Edith Stein
would be
beatified
. Some Catholics erected a cross near Bunker 2 of Auschwitz II where she had been gassed. A short while later, a
Star of David
appeared at the site, leading to a proliferation of religious symbols, which were eventually removed.
Carmelite nuns
opened a convent near Auschwitz I in 1984. After some Jewish groups called for the removal of the convent, representatives of the Catholic Church agreed in 1987. One year later, the Carmelites erected an 8 m (26 ft) tall cross from the 1979 mass near their site, just outside
Block 11
and barely visible from within the camp. This led to protests by Jewish groups, who said that mostly Jews were killed at Auschwitz and demanded that religious symbols be kept away from the site. The Catholic Church told the Carmelites to move by 1989, but they stayed on until 1993, leaving the cross behind. In 1998, after further calls to remove the cross, some 300 smaller crosses were erected by local activists near the large one, leading to further protests and heated exchanges. Following an agreement between the Polish Catholic Church and the Polish government, the smaller crosses were removed in 1999, but a large papal one remains.
[12]
Liberation-day anniversaries
[
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The 50th anniversary of the liberation ceremony was held in Auschwitz I in 1995. About a thousand ex-prisoners attended it. In 1996, Germany made January 27, the day of the liberation of Auschwitz, the official day for the commemoration of the victims of National Socialism. Countries that have also adopted similar memorial days include Denmark (Auschwitz Day), Italy (Memorial Day), and Poland (Memorial Day for the Victims of Nazism).
A commemoration was held for the 70th anniversary of the liberation in 2015.
[13]
[14]
[15]
On the 78th anniversary of the camp's liberation in 2023, the
Russian
delegation to
Poland
was not invited, due to the country's
invasion of Ukraine
.
[16]
Visiting the museum
[
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]
Entry to both parts of the museum is free, with entry passes required for all visitors, while security screening is put in place at the entrance of Auschwitz I. The vast majority of exhibitions, including the former gas chamber and crematorium, are located in Auschwitz I.
Guided tours are common, which are estimate to take about three hours per visit, with limited daily entry passes due to high demand. Guided tours in
English
are not always available. As of
20 June
2024
, online booking for guided tours for both groups and individuals is permitted up to 90 days prior to the scheduled day of visit. Unguided individual visit is possible, depending on entry pass availability on a given day
[17]
. Auschwitz I is situated short of 2 km south of the
O?wi?cim
train station, while free shuttle buses commuting between Auschwitz I and II depart every 10
minutes
.
UNESCO name change
[
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]
The Polish Foreign Ministry has voiced objections to the use of the expression "Polish death camp" in relation to Auschwitz, in case the phrase suggested that Poland rather than Germany had perpetrated the Holocaust. In June 2007, the
United Nations
World Heritage Committee
changed its own name for the site from "Auschwitz Concentration Camp" to "Auschwitz Birkenau", with the subtitle "German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940?1945)".
[18]
Recent events
[
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]
Arbeit macht frei
sign theft
[
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]
Early in the morning on 18 December 2009, the
Arbeit macht frei
(
'
work makes you free
'
) sign over the gate of Auschwitz I was stolen.
[19]
Police found the sign hidden in a forest outside
Gda?sk
two days later.
[19]
The theft was organised by a Swedish former neo-Nazi, Anders Hogstrom, who reportedly hoped to use proceeds from the sale of the sign to a collector of Nazi memorabilia to finance a series of terror attacks aimed at influencing voters in upcoming Swedish parliamentary elections.
[20]
Hogstrom was convicted in Poland and sentenced to serve two years, eight months in a Swedish prison, and five Polish men who had acted on his behalf served prison time in Poland.
[21]
[22]
Hogstrom and his accomplices badly damaged the sign during the theft, cutting it into three pieces.
[23]
[24]
Conservationists restored the sign to its original condition, and it currently is in storage, awaiting eventual display inside the museum.
[25]
A replica hangs in its original place.
[26]
Iranian visit denied
[
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]
In February 2006, Poland refused to grant visas to
Iranian
researchers who were planning to visit Auschwitz.
[27]
Polish Foreign Minister
Stefan Meller
said his country should stop Iran from investigating the scale of the Holocaust, which
Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
had dismissed as a myth.
[28]
Iran has recently tried to leave the Ahmadinejad rhetoric in the past, but President Rouhani has never repudiated his predecessor's idea that the scale of the Holocaust is exaggerated.
[29]
Holocaust denial
is punishable in Poland by a prison sentence of up to three years.
[30]
Art purchases
[
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]
Czechoslovakian Jew
Dina Babbitt
imprisoned at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1943?1945 painted a dozen portraits of Romani inmates for the war criminal
Josef Mengele
during his medical experiments. Seven of the original 12 studies were discovered after the Holocaust and purchased by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in 1963 from an Auschwitz survivor. The museum asked Babbitt to return to Poland in 1973 to identify her work. She did so but also requested that the museum allow her to take her paintings home with her. Officials from the museum led by
Rabbi
Andrew Baker stated that the portraits belonged to the SS and Mengele, who died in Brazil in 1979. There was an initiative to have the museum return the portraits in 1999,
[31]
headed by the U.S. government petitioned by
Rafael Medoff
and 450 American comic book artists.
[32]
The museum rejected these claims as legally groundless.
[33]
See also
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
"The first years of the Memorial"
. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
- ^
a
b
"2 million 320 thousand visitors at the Auschwitz Memorial in 2019"
. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
- ^
"Copyright"
. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
"Copyright"
(in Polish). Pa?stwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau.
- ^
For the figures, see
Piper, Franciszek (2000). Długoborski, Wacław; Piper, Franciszek (eds.).
Auschwitz, 1940?1945. Central Issues in the History of the Camp
. Vol. III: Mass Murder. O?wi?cim: Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. p. 230.
ISBN
978-8385047872
.
OCLC
929235229
.
- ^
"Distinction of the Special Prize of the European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma for Piotr M. A. Cywi?ski"
. Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
- ^
a
b
"Memorial timeline"
.
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
. Retrieved
October 21,
2016
.
- ^
www.jewish-guide.pl Bio note on Kazimierz Smole?
- ^
a
b
c
d
Jelena Suboti?
(2019).
Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism
.
Ithaca, NY
&
London
:
Cornell University Press
. pp. 111?130.
ISBN
9781501742408
.
- ^
Milica Stojanovi?; Vuk Tesije; Azem Kurti? (January 26, 2024).
"Six Ex-Yugoslav States to Restore Joint Exhibition at Auschwitz Memorial"
.
Balkan Insight
. Retrieved
February 1,
2024
.
- ^
Maislinger, Andreas
(February 13, 1992).
"Commemorative Service"
.
Jewish Review
. Archived from
the original
on March 8, 2003.
- ^
Palowski, Franciszek (1998).
The Making of Schindler's List: Behind the Scenes of an Epic Film
. Carol Publishing Group. p. 22.
ISBN
978-1-55972-445-6
. Retrieved
October 22,
2016
.
- ^
Article on Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum
- ^
Akkoc, Raziye; Andrew Marszal (January 27, 2015).
"Holocaust Memorial Day: commemorations mark 70th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation"
.
The Telegraph
. Archived from
the original
on January 27, 2015
. Retrieved
October 22,
2016
.
- ^
Early, Samantha (January 27, 2015).
"Auschwitz-Birkenau commemorations"
. DW
. Retrieved
October 22,
2016
.
- ^
"70th anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz"
.
Krakow Discovery
. June 9, 2020
. Retrieved
June 9,
2020
.
- ^
"Ukraine war: Auschwitz anniversary marked without Russia"
.
BBC
. January 27, 2023
. Retrieved
May 24,
2023
.
- ^
"AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU: Select the type of the visit"
.
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
. June 20, 2024
. Retrieved
June 20,
2024
.
- ^
"World Heritage Committee approves Auschwitz name change"
.
UNESCO
. June 28, 2007
. Retrieved
October 22,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
"5 arrested as Auschwitz sign recovered"
.
CNN
. No. December 21, 2009
. Retrieved
July 16,
2015
.
- ^
Balksjo, Jessica (March 11, 2010).
"Hogstrom riskerar tio ars fangelse"
.
Aftonbladet
. Retrieved
August 23,
2010
.
- ^
"
'Arbeit macht frei'- Diebstahl: Drahtzieher zu Haftstrafe verurteilt"
['Work sets you free'- theft - Mastemind sentenced to prison].
Spiegel Online
(in German). Spiegel-Verlag. December 30, 2010
. Retrieved
November 3,
2014
.
- ^
"Gate with 'Work Makes You Free' sign stolen from Dachau"
. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. November 2, 2014
. Retrieved
October 22,
2016
.
- ^
"Auschwitz sign theft: Swedish man jailed"
.
BBC News
. December 30, 2010
. Retrieved
October 22,
2016
.
- ^
Lloyd, Delia (January 1, 2010).
"Auschwitz Sign Theft Linked to Far-Right Terrorist Plot"
.
Politics Daily
. AOL News. Archived from
the original
on January 3, 2010
. Retrieved
August 25,
2013
.
- ^
"Conservationists at the Memorial Put the Arbeit macht frei Sign Back Together"
.
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
. May 18, 2011
. Retrieved
October 22,
2016
.
- ^
"Mini Dictionary: Arbeit macht frei"
.
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum
. Retrieved
October 22,
2016
.
- ^
Poland to Bar Iranian Team from Auschwitz
Archived
March 3, 2016, at the
Wayback Machine
,
Payvand
, February 18, 2006
- ^
Zippori, Michal (December 14, 2005).
"Iranian leader: Holocaust a 'myth'
"
. CNN. Archived from
the original
on December 16, 2005.
- ^
Sharafedin, Bozorgmehr (October 8, 2013).
"Why Iran takes Issue with the Holocaust"
.
BBC News
.
- ^
Text of the Act (English)
Archived
September 4, 2009, at the
Wayback Machine
.
- ^
Referred to Senate committee (8/5/1999),
S.CON.RES.54. Bill Summary & Status.
The Library of Congress, Internet Archive.
- ^
Gustines, George Gene
(August 8, 2008).
"Comic-Book Idols Rally to Aid a Holocaust Artist"
. NY Times
. Retrieved
October 21,
2016
.
- ^
Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum's position on issue of portraits made by Dinah Gottliebova-Babbitt.
Posiedzenie XVII: 15-16 czerwca 2009 r.
External links
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50°2′9″N
19°10′42″E
/
50.03583°N 19.17833°E
/
50.03583; 19.17833
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