Substantive Report

 

on the Activities of the Memorial Foundation

for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau

 

for 2016

 

 

1. The Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau has a registered office in Oświęcim, Poland, at ul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 20, 32-603 Oświęcim.

 

e-mail address: kontakt@fundacja-pamieci-auschwitz.pl

1. The Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau has been registered in the National Court Register under entry No.: KRS 0000056503 on May 31, 1990.

 

1. The Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau has been assigned the following REGON number (Business Statistical No.): P-070404535. The Foundation has been registered in the National Court Register as an entity conducting business activity.

 

1. As of June 18, 2014, the Foundation obtained the status of a public benefit organisation, this being confirmed by the relevant entry in the National Court Register under No.: KRS 0000056503.

 

1. The Council of the Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau is composed of the following persons:

 

-      Józef Musioł                                                President

-      Kazimierz Albin                                           Vice-President

-      Stefan Wilkanowicz                                               Vice-President

-      Rev. Professor Waldemar Chrostowski  Member

-      Professor Stanisław Krajewski                Member

-      Professor Bohdan Rymaszewski                        Member

-      Jerzy Wróblewski                                        Member

-      Dr. Wojciech Płosa                                     Member        

-      Dr. Krzysztof Antończyk                            Member

-      Leszek Szuster                                           Member        

-      Andrzej Kacorzyk                                        Member - notified to the National Court Register on February 25, 2016.

 

            On November 23, 2016 Professor Bohdan Rymaszewski, Member of the Foundation Council, died.

 

 

1. The Management Board of the Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau is composed of the following persons:

 

-       Krystyna Oleksy                              President

-       Jadwiga Pinderska – Lech                       Vice-President

-       Piotr Michał Kućka                         Vice-President

-       Zbigniew Bartuś                             Member

 

1. The goals pursued by the Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as provided for in its Statutes, are as follows:
2. The goal of the Foundation is to foster and promote remembrance of victims of Nazi crimes of genocide, committed during World War II in death camps, in particular in KL Auschwitz, through a support provided to the mission of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim.

 

1. The Foundation pursues its goals as stipulated in the Statutes through:

(a)    Educational, research, and publishing activities, as well as supporting social campaigns and creative art addressing KL Auschwitz themes, and also themes relating to genocide during World War II and death camps;

(b)    Promoting knowledge of the crimes of Nazi genocide, in particular those committed in KL Auschwitz and also in other German Nazi concentration and death camps;

(c)    Preservation, maintenance and conservation of the buildings, documents and archival holdings of the former KL Auschwitz;

(d)    Activities in the realm of culture and art, protection of cultural assets and world heritage in respect of promotion of issues related to the Auschwitz death camp and the Holocaust;

(e)    Activities to promote European integration and foster contacts and co-operation between the societies in respect of promotion of issues related to the Auschwitz death camp and the Holocaust;

(f)     Organisational, financial and material support to public-benefit organisations, schools, higher-education institutions, educational establishments, foundations and associations (legal entities and natural persons) whose activities are in line with the goals of the Foundation;

(g)    Cooperation with state-government and self-government communities and institutions, non-governmental organisations, associations, foundations, natural persons in Poland and abroad, conducting activities in the areas corresponding with the goals of the Foundation; and

(h)   Mobilising and receiving financial and tangible support, fundraising and conducting business activity with income generated therefrom allocated in full for the purposes listed above.

 

1. In pursuance of its goals provided for in its Statutes, the Foundation conducted a for-profit and non-profit public benefit activity, and, in addition, it may also conduct a business activity with any income generated from it being allocated in full to public-benefit activities. 

    (a) The Foundation conducted the following business activities consisting in a provision of services in accordance with the Polish Classification of Business Activities:

58.11.Z        Publishing activities

58.19           Other publishing activities

47.61.Z        Retail sale of books in specialised stores

47.63.Z        Retail sale of music and video recordings in specialise stores

47.91.Z        Retail sale via mail order houses or via the Internet

74.3             Translation and interpretation activities

91.01.B       Archives activities

91.03           Operation of historical sites and buildings and similar visitor attractions

94.99           Activities of other membership organisations not elsewhere classified

 

(b)  The Foundation may conduct the following non-profit activities consisting in a provision of services in accordance with the Polish Classification of Business Activities:

 

58.11.Z        Publishing activities

58.19           Other publishing activities

47.61.Z        Retail sale of books in specialised stores

47.63.Z        Retail sale of music and video recordings in specialise stores

47.91.Z        Retail sale via mail order houses or via the Internet

74.3             Translation and interpretation activities

85.5             Other education

85.59 B       Other education not elsewhere classified

85.60           Educational support activities

82.30.Z        Organisation of trade shows, exhibitions and congresses

72.20 Z        Research and experimental development on social sciences and humanities

91.01.B       Archives activities

91.03           Operation of historical sites and buildings and similar visitor attractions

94.99              Activities of other membership organisations not elsewhere classified

 

(c)   The Foundation may conduct the following for-profit activities consisting in a provision of services in accordance with the Polish Classification of Business Activities:

   85.59 B       Other education not elsewhere classified

   85.60          Educational support activities

 

1. The Foundation did not conduct any for-profit public-benefit activity and any business activity covering the same area of activity.
2. As regards the scope and form of for-profit and non-profit public benefit activities, as provided for in the Statutes, the Management Board did not take any actions in that respect.
3. In 2016, the Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau pursued its statutory goals as part of its non-profit activity under the projects described below:

The International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust: educational projects. Total cost of support provided: PLN 54,185.92

It is for more than twenty five years now that the Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau has supported the activities of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum as a Memorial Site. In its early years, the Foundation focused mainly on preservation of facilities, i.e. the barracks and buildings of the former German Nazi Concentration Camp Auschwitz. The areas of the Foundation’s activity, namely the financing of the preservation of the facilities of the former camp, have been changing for a few years to shift to education which is currently the principal area addressed. The educational goals are pursued through co-operation with the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, operating within the structures of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim. The co-operation involves projects addressed to junior secondary and secondary school students, as well as to teachers, university students, people with intellectual disabilities, military and penitentiary communities. Actions taken:

     (a) Educational project addressed to people with intellectual disabilities, entitled Difficult - Simple Words – 542 participants

• Given the increasing interest in visiting the former camp by disabled people, ICEAH developed a programme entitled Difficult - Simple Words addressed to persons with intellectual disabilities. Plans of the lessons, consulted with specialists in the field of oligophrenic pedagogy, include introduction to visiting, presentation of selected fragments of the core museum exhibition, as well as specially designed exhibition to present replicas of selected objects, such as shoes, striped uniforms and other.

     (b)  Educational projects addressed to young people

1. Lamsdorf-Auschwitz. Au­schwitz-Lamsdorf Project – 27 participants

• On 6 to 7 October 2016, in collaboration with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim, the 5^th edition of the educational project entitled Lamsdorf-Auschwitz. Au­schwitz-Lamsdorf was delivered. The project was financed with the funds of the Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The participants of this year’s edition of the project included students of the Secondary Comprehensive School No. 3 in Opole, invited to take part in an open selection procedure announced by the Central Museum of Prisoners of War in Łambinowice-Opole and addressed to secondary schools in the Opolskie Voivodeship.

In the course of the two-day project, young people learned about the history of the two memorial sites, searching for links between both the individual and collective fate (e.g. Father Maksymilian Maria Kolbe and Charles Coward, a British prisoner of war at Lamsdorf) that existed between a complex of POW camps in Lamsdorf and a German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz.

On the first day, the young people attended classes at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim. They visited the memorial site with a guide, Mr Piotr Supiński, listened to lectures and took part in historical workshops devoted to the fate of British and Soviet prisoners of war who, in breach of international conventions, were transported to concentration camps. The students had an opportunity to attend a workshop entitled Tragedy. Bravery. Liberation, run by Mr Mirosław Obstarczyk, and a lecture entitled The Fate of British Prisoners of War in KL Auschwitz III Monowitz, delivered by Mr Piotr Setkiewicz.

Next day, at the Museum and National Remembrance Site in Łambinowice, the students acquainted themselves with a complex history of the POW camps in Lamsdorf in the years 1939–1945. Participants watched an approx. fifteen-minute educational film entitled Lamsdorf/Łambinowice. Museum and Remembrance Site, visited the museum exhibitions guided by Dr. Anna Wickiewicz as well as the sites of the former camp and military cemeteries guided by Mr Andrzej Prajel of the Department of Education and Exhibitions. They also listened to thematic lectures and took part in historical workshops. As part of the lecture, the young people learned about the biography of Captain Witold Pilecki, an Auschwitz volunteer imprisoned after the Warsaw Uprising in Stalag 344 Lamsdorf, presented by Dr. Piotr Stanek, Director of the Scientific Department. A workshop on Soviet and British prisoners of war in Lamsdorf in the light of the archival documents collected by the Museum, was held by Dr. Anna Wickiewicz and Sebastian Mikulec of the Department of Education and Exhibitions.

An important element of the 5^th edition of the project was a theatrical performance entitled Przerzucane słowa (Smuggled Words), directed by Andrzej Czer­nik, performed by the actors of Teatr Ekostudio in Opole, inspired by a correspondence smuggled “over the barbed wire” by the Warsaw insurgents - prisoners of war at Stalag 344 Lamsdorf. Another significant element of that day in Łambinowice was a meeting with a Warsaw insurgent, Mr Romuald Malinowski, who 72 years ago was deported to the POW camp in Lamsdorf along with a group of approximately 6 thousand soldiers.

The two-day project was closed with a recapitulation supervised by Dr. Piotr Stanek, where the young people had an opportunity to share their views. A significant number of them emphasised the fact that a visit to authentic sites of events and work with original relics facilitated their understanding of the difficult camp issues. Similar opinions were expressed by their teachers who also pointed out to the role of memorial sites in creating civic attitudes.

The funds provided by the Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau covered the costs of the guiding and educational services, and the costs of transport and accommodation of the young people.

     (c) One-day thematic conferences and educational sessions for young and adult people - 290 participants

 

     (d) Polish and international seminars

• “Jewish Shoah: Various Forms of Presentation (Texts – Pictures – Museums – Topography)”. A seminar addressed to teachers at Polish and Czech secondary schools in co-operation with the Terezin Memorial – 37 participants;
• Competition and a scientific session to commemorate eviction of the population of Brzezinka and Oświęcim – 133 participants
• Continuation of projects delivered in previous years to school and university students (OU, Pedagogical University, Jagiellonian University, Voronezh) – 350 participants
  • Education project for junior secondary school students from the Śląskie and Małopolskie Voivodeships – 600 participants
  • Three-day specialist workshops for Polish teachers, educators and coaches specialising in the teaching of Auschwitz and the Holocaust (co-operation with the Warsaw Centre for Socio-Educational Innovation and Training) - 50 participants
  • International education project: Representations of the Holocaust in co-operation with the Institute of National Remembrance and Pamatnik Terezin – 37 participants
    • International Summer Academy: History, Remembrance, Education (two editions in English and one in German). A seminar addressed to all people interested in issues related to Auschwitz and the teaching of the Holocaust, in particular to teachers, educators, museum experts and staff at institutions involved in the history of World War II – 47 participants

     (e) Post-graduate studies: Christian-Jewish Relations – 17 participants

Since the academic year 2015/2016 the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, in co-operation with the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków, organised subsequent editions of post-graduate studies in Christian-Jewish Relations.

The studies are addressed to teachers, religion teachers, staff at institutions of culture and at institutions involved in counteracting xenophobia and anti-Semitism, persons engaged in an intercultural and interreligious dialogue, museum guides, mass media staff and other persons interested in the subject.

Subject matter: issues classified into three thematic blocks:
• Co-existence of Christians and Jews since ancient times until the present,
• Anti-Semitism. Origins, Course of the Process and Consequences of the Shoah,
• Chrisian-Jewish and Polish-Jewish Dialogue.

The post-graduate studies in Christian-Jewish Relations have been granted honorary patronage of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Witold Waszczykowski.

Lecturers: scholars and academics of the Pontifical University of John Paul II, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim.
Organisers: Pontifical University of John Paul II in Kraków, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw and the Centre for Dialogue and Prayer in Oświęcim.

 

    (f)  Auschwitz – History – Civic Education

• It is a series of seminars and study visits for directors of prisons, educators, surveillance staff as well as prisoners from prisons of the Warsaw, Kraków and Silesian Inspectorate of Penitentiary Service. Each seminar series addresses a different subject matter related to the history of KL Auschwitz - 77 participants
• A series of seminars entitled Auschwitz – History – Civic Education was held for the Polish Army and the Police units - 1039 participants.

      (g)  Publications

• Voices of Memory – each volume addresses one of the numerous aspects of the complex history of the Auschwitz camp and contains, in addition to a research paper discussing in detail the particular subject matter, a selection of source materials and scripts for school lessons to facilitate teachers’ use of the material included in the book in history or Polish classes. Recently, the eighth volume entitled Soviet Prisoners of War in KL Auschwitz has been published in the Polish and Russian language versions. The publication is devoted to the fate of Soviet prisoners of war in Auschwitz. In October 1941, in a separate section of the German Nazi Auschwitz I camp the SS authorities imprisoned approximately 10 thousand Soviet POWs. Their chief task was to build a new camp on the fields of the village of Brzezinka (Birkenau) after its inhabitants had been expelled.
• In 2015, Jerzy Dębski compiled a biographical dictionary entitled Polish Army Officers in Auschwitz Concentration Camp 1940-1945. In 2016, the Foundation paid for the proofreading, design of the cover and printing of the dictionary in six volumes.
• The Foundation also financed another book with a mission, a biographical dictionary entitled Polish Lawyers in Auschwitz Concentration Camp 1940-1945 by Jerzy Dębski. It presents biographical profiles of 204 barristers - prisons of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The number of barristers imprisoned in the camp accounted for more than 53% of all the lawyers deported to KL Auschwitz. Out of 384 lawyers as many as 204 were barristers (including 12 barrister trainees); in addition in the camp there were 30 judges, 7 prosecutors, 8 notaries and 135 persons holding a degree in law, mainly office clerks and army officers. Amongst the barristers imprisoned, 166 were Poles, 34 Polish Jews, three Ukrainians and one Lemko. The fact that the group was so numerous inspired works on a monography, carried out by the Witold Bayer Research Centre of the Bar. The book was published by the printing house of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The publication is supplemented with source documents and numerous photographs. Basic information contained in the book was translated into English.     

The book launch event took place on 3 June at the District Bar Council in Warsaw. The meeting was attended by Professor Piotr Kruszyński, barrister, Director of the Research Centre of the Bar, Jan Kuklewicz, barrister, Deputy Director of the Research Centre of the Bar, Dr. Jerzy Dębski, the author and museum curator at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Dr. Piotr Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz, chief of the Research Centre of the Museum, Jadwiga Piderska-Lech representing the Museum’s printing house and Grzegorz Majewski, barrister and Dean of the District Bar Council in Warsaw. The Polish Bar Council was represented by barrister Rafał Dębowski, Secretary of PBC, barrister Bartosz Grohman, Deputy Secretary of PBC, barrister Mirosława Pietkiewicz, Treasurer of PBC, barrister Ewa Krasowska, Disciplinary Proceedings Representative of PBC, and barrister Ziemisław Gintowt, member of PBC.   

Another book promotion event for Polish Lawyers in Auschwitz Concentration Camp 1940-1945 by Jerzy Dębski was held at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim on 18 June 2016.

The last promotion event took place on 14 October 2016 at the Centre for Jewish Culture in Kraków, where in co-operation with the Polish Barristers Association a promotional meeting with the author was held for the Kraków lawyers’ community with a participation of Professor Piotr Kruszyński.

 

(h) International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust - Methodology of Guiding: PLN 36,585.44

 

The Foundation supports tasks in the area of methodology of guiding, carried out by ICEAH, thanks to which educational and training programmes for guides of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum could be implemented:

-        On 12 to 14 December 2016, a series of training sessions (lectures and workshops) for guides were held, focusing on the 3 central issues: experience of Orthodox Jews during World War II, rabbinic responsa in that period, and the methodology of guiding groups of orthodox Jews in Auschwitz and Birkenau. Lecturers included Dr. Henri Lustiger-Thaler, Rabbi Sholom Freidman and Rabbi Aubrey Hersch. In total 70 guides took part in the training sessions.

-        50 guides participated in a two-day study visit to Dresden, where they visited, inter alia, the Jewish Centre in the city as well as the Sonnenstein Memorial in Pirna near Dresden,

-        Assessment observations – a guiding quality control programme is continued with particular attention being paid to those guides who start their co-operation with the Museum. Until the end of 2016, 20 such observations were carried out.

-        Annual training sessions for guides were held. Training schedule:

12.12.2016, Dr. Piotr Stanek, (Central Museum of Prisoners of War),

• Polish POWs and Warsaw insurgents in the Lamsdorf camp,
• Post-war history and remembrance of the former camp in Lamsdorf,

13.12.2016, Karolina and Piotr Jakoweńko,

• Upper Silesian Jews House of Remembrance in Gliwice, Cukerman Gate in Będzin and ghetto in Sosnowiec-Środula

15.12.2016, Dr. Tomasz Łysak, (Warsaw University),

• Television portrayal of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1970-2000
• Camp trauma and its echoes in textual and audio-visual accounts and memoirs

19.12.2016, Kamil Będkowski (A-BSM),

• Preservation work in the Auschwitz Museum (2h),

19.12.2016, Dr. Tomasz Cebulski (A-BSM),

• Process of shaping the memory about Auschwitz and the Holocaust in Israel, USA and Poland

5.01.2017, Dr. Łukasz Martyniak and Dr. Igor Bartosik (A-BSM),

• Birkenau: new findings

10.01.2017, Alicja Białecka (PMA-B),

• New Core Exhibition – description of the concept

10.01.2017, Mirosław Obstarczyk (A-BSM),

• Temporary exhibitions prepared by the Museum
• National exhibitions at A-BSM – since 1956 until today

12.01.2017, Dr. Jacek Małczyński (Wrocław University),

• “Isn’t it beautiful here?” – German postcards from Auschwitz 1942-1944,

12.01.2017 Jarosław Ptaszkowski (Pro Fortalicium Association),

• The Oświęcim Garrison in the years 1924-1939,

16.01.2017, Dr. Tomasz Cebulski

• The role of a historian, a museum and a guide in the shaping of global memory of the Holocaust,

16.01.2017, Andrzej Kacorzyk, Agnieszka Osiecka, Tomasz Michaldo

• Recapitulation of the year 2016

-        Sixty nine guides took part in a study visit to Budapest. The guides had an opportunity to visit the city and the ghetto zones in Budapest, the Great Synagogue, Rumbach Synagogue and the Kazinczy Street Synagogue, the Garden of the Righteous, Museum of the Holocaust, the House of Terror Museum and the Hungarian Parliament.

-        On 14 December, 68 guides took part in a training trip to Będzin and Gliwice where they visited the Upper Silesian Jews House of Remembrance in Gliwice and the Cukerman Gate.

(i) International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust: E-learning – subsidy of PLN 5,472.60

A visit to the authentic Memorial Site is a unique educational experience. However, people who are not able to visit the former Auschwitz camp now have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with its history thanks to education via the Internet. In 2016, the Foundation supported preparation of an open-access Internet lesson in the German language version.

Digital Repository of A-BSM - subsidy of PLN 147,000.00

 

The project implemented by the Digital Repository was intended to ensure protection against damage and making available selected museum objects and documents of the former German Nazi Auschwitz camp by means of their full digitalisation (inputting to databases and making digital reproductions). The project’s target is to scan all the document groups held in the Museum Archives to facilitate access to best-quality electronic copies of original documents for researchers and educators. Part of the data on prisoners and deportees is made available on the Museum’s website (www.auschwitz.org) where it can be accessed by all persons interested (both the victims’ families and researchers). The data is updated and supplemented by further documentary information on an on-going basis as new information is supplied by the families of former prisoners. Digital resources of the Digital Repository already serve as a source of materials used in a number of ICEAH educational projects (lectures, workshops, seminars, publications, training sessions, exhibitions). As part of the works scheduled for 2016, 9,000 original documents held in the Archive of A-BSM were scanned, 34,000 personal records were inputted into databases from the archival documents collected by the Archive of A-BSM, and 11,000 prisoners’ records available for search on www.auschwitz.org were supplemented with additional data.

The Archive of A-BSM - subsidy of PLN 168,115.00

 

Thanks to the financial support provided by the Foundation, the Archive of A-BSM conducted search queries of archival documents and based on them compiled lists of prisoners accompanied with a brief history of each transport of Jewish prisoners deported to KL Auschwitz from the Drancy camp.

The search query covered 35,000 of prisoners’ camp numbers. The elaborations referred to above, relating to transports of prisoners from France, are a project that is part of a series of research works carried out by the Archive staff in order to learn about the fates of the successive groups of persons deported to Auschwitz. Until the present day, with the Foundation’s support, similar projects have been implemented for the transports of Jewish prisoners from Belgium and Norway. Ready elaborations were also placed on the Museum’s website in response to the expectations of numerous foreign researchers and those prisoners’ family members who search for information on their relatives. Given the huge number of inquiries received in that respect by the Bureau for Former Prisoners, such ready-made elaborations on these transports are extremely helpful in the day-to-day work of the Bureau.

Two file groups kept in archival collections were scanned:

• Questionnaires of the female and male prisoners of Auschwitz: 10,000 scans, and
• Declarations submitted after the war by the former female and male prisoners of Auschwitz.

The above collections of documents contain very important data not only on the fate of a large number of people imprisoned in Auschwitz, but also serve as a source of knowledge on numerous episodes from the camp history that have not even been mentioned in the official documentation of the camp authorities. These scans will, to a considerable extent, make these precious materials more easily available and will facilitate the use thereof.

Compilations of transcripts of radio recordings of former prisoners of Auschwitz, obtained from Radio Katowice, i.e. 56 titles comprising 5,536 pages of text.

Completion of such work will enable making an archival fond containing precious accounts by the former prisoners of the Auschwitz camp, unknown to date, available to a wide group of interested persons.

 

Global preservation works – subsidy of PLN 2,777.43

 

An important element in the support extended to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is collaboration in preservation projects through co-operation in the area of preservation works with research centres and universities, such as the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, the Poznań University of Life Sciences, the University of Agriculture in Kraków, the Lodz University of Technology, the Cracow University of Technology, the Gdańsk University of Technology, and the University of Applied Sciences in Nysa. The Foundation was a partner in the implementation of a plan of global preservation and maintenance of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. The key preservation tasks financed by the Foundation include the following research projects:

(a) research on development of methods for preservation, protection and reinforcement of the structure of facilities, elements of their finishing and their soil foundation with account being taken of the statics and physics of the structure, carried out for the facilities situated on the premises of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum,

(b) research on biological corrosion of facilities situated on the premises of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum with regard to the identification and combating of biological factors,

(c) research on the effectiveness of materials and methods employed for anti-corrosion protection and cleaning of metal elements in the facilities situated on the premises of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum,

(d) research on the methods of preservation, protection and reinforcement of historical wooden elements in the facilities situated on the premises of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum,

(e) research on the painting techniques, technologies, and the condition of multiple paint layers in the facilities situated on the premises of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, and research on a development of a method of their preservation and protection,

(f) research encompassing identification of construction materials, determination of their physical and chemical properties, as well as their endurance potential, and research on the methods of preservation, protection and reinforcement of elements made of mineral materials, found in the facilities situated on the premises of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, and

(g) research on the preservation and strengthening of reinforced concrete found in the facilities situated on the premises of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.

In 2016, after a three years’ period, the project for supporting Global Preservation by the Foundation came to an end.

Direct subsidy: PLN 31,750.28

 

Direct subsidy was a transfer of the amount to the bank account of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum following settlement of the projects co-financed by the Foundation.

Collections: PLN 5,497.10

The Foundation supported publication of catalogues with works of art in the field of painting, graphics and drawing by former prisoners of KL Auschwitz, inter alia Jerzy Adam Brandhuber, Zofia Stępień-Bator, and Mieczysław Kościelniak. The catalogue includes high-quality photographs of the works of art from the collections, serving as an excellent demonstrative material for scientific search queries, educational projects and also as an aid in selecting works of art and historical objects for thematic exhibitions.

Seminar for the staff of the Museum Guards: subsidy of PLN 3,013.38

 

The Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau co-financed the project entitled Seminar for the Staff of the Museum Guards, organised for the second time on 4 September 2016 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim.

The seminar was attended by 7-person representations of Museum Guards from the following museums:

-       The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum,

-       The Royal Castle in Warsaw,

-       The Castle Museum in Łańcut, and

-       The State Museum at Majdanek.

In total 80 persons participated in the seminar.

The project programme included:

-       Visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Site (tour with a guide-educator);

-       Workshop after the guided tour, including sharing of professional experience and good practices related to work on positions responsible for security in institutions of culture.

9. Other subsidies to statutory goals pursued as part of a non-profit activity:

The Foundation supported the following activities of the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oświęcim:

The International Socio-Political Poster Biennale

In the competition 294 artists from 27 countries took part (Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, Lithuania, Taiwan, Mexico, China, Slovakia, Turkey, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, Argentina, Japan, Ukraine, Greece, Iran, Belarus, Ecuador, Great Britain, France, South Korea, Switzerland, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Austria, Jordan and USA). Out of a total of 594 posters received, 81 were qualified to be shown on the exhibition.

The International Socio-Political Poster Biennale is an initiative of the International Youth Meeting Centre to organise in Oświęcim a platform for an artistic exchange of views on the most vital problems of the modern world. It attracted interest and provoked vivid reaction from a number of renowned artists from all over the world. “Creative for human rights”, the motto of the biennale, corresponds well with the Youth Meeting Centre’s educational work programme based on the history of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. During the Oświęcim Academy Symposium held at the Youth Meeting Centre in January 2010, Professor Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament, said: “A civilisation of human rights needs to stem from a culture created with respect for the dignity of man, his natural freedom, and, in the public space — within a state and internationally — with respect for the principle of solidarity”. These words fully express the idea behind the Poster Biennale. The timelessness of the Auschwitz message enables a public discourse in the areas where human rights are violated. The art presented addresses a wide variety of concerns: tolerance, environmental issues, equal rights, influence of politics on the life of citizens, racism issues, violence, and violation of the rights of children, women and minorities. Coming from such a unique place, we hope that the 'voice from Oświęcim' will have a decisive impact and be able to penetrate today's all-pervading information overload to reach the deepest level of social awareness. We believe that the many urgent problems of today's society can only be resolved by civic society itself reacting to danger. Artists are our natural allies. Their talents, their sensitivity, and their sense of perception allow for a truly exceptional diagnosis of the reality in which we live. In such a context, the poster seems the most eloquent form of expression of the artist’s commentary, whilst also reaching the broadest audience possible.

7^th International Conference “Auschwitz and the Holocaust in the Context of Genocide in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries. The Fate of Children”

           The fate of children during wars and military conflicts was addressed by the 7^th

International Conference “Auschwitz and the Holocaust in the Context of Genocide in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries” which took place at the end of June in Oświęcim. The main theme was the fate of children in concentration camps and gulags, children-soldiers and Jewish children hiding during World War II. Issues discussed included the system of education for children in the Nazi and Stalinist times, and the impact of hate speech and propaganda on children’s psyche, also in modern times. Hence references to the situation of children-refugees escaping today’s war in Syria could not be missed.

The subject-matter we are now addressing is extremely difficult and responsible. While thinking of children, we think of our world as a whole. We are thinking today about those hundreds of thousands of children deported to Auschwitz, about Jewish children, Roma children and Slavic children, including Polish ones. We can now imagine the enormousness of that tragedy through the experience of those few who survived. Not even knowing their own name or surname, the only thing that some of them took with themselves while leaving the camp was the number tattooed on their forearm. Some of them did not even know their own date of birth, said Andrzej Kacorzyk, Director of the International Centre for Education About Auschwitz and the Holocaust.

While remembering about the tragic fate of children in Auschwitz, Jewish children suffering during the Holocaust and children deported with their families to Siberia, during this conference I would like us to open our hearts and minds to what is going on in today’s world: to the suffering of countless victims of wars, economic exploitation, human trafficking, to the terrifying fate of children forced to serve in military units or in terrorist organisations. Let our sensitivity, supported by thorough and reliable knowledge, become an important element of our work with pupils, students, with people we meet every day, said Dr. Alicja Bartuś, Vice-President of the Management Board of the Foundation of the International Youth Meeting Centre.

The conference was opened by Marek Michalak, the Ombudsman for Children, who outlined the scope of legal protection of children during wars. “The problem of limited effectiveness of the norms protecting children against the effects of military conflicts is not only one of legal nature. The legal bases for the enforcement of such a protection are sufficient. The most important and, at the same time, most difficult issue for the elimination of practices of violating children’s rights seems to be the understanding of the nature of human rights, including of the most vulnerable human being, namely a child. Such awareness best warrants respect, in any conditions or circumstances, for the rights of a ‘little human being’”, he emphasised.

Among the lecturers there were two former prisoners of the Auschwitz camp: Batszewa Dagan and Hanna Ulatowska.

Children ask very difficult questions; at times even more difficult that those asked by adults. And it is children that taught me what and how I should write, said Batszewa Dagan who developed a method to assist in teaching the Shoah to children and the youth. Once a pupil in Poland, having listened to one of my stories, said: It is a wise story, because it is not a scary one. All my books for children telling the story of the Shoah have a happy ending. I do not want to undermine their faith in mankind.

In turn, Hanna Ulatowska who is a lecturer at the Dallas University, showed how, using art, children told about their past and to what extent art could give an opportunity of overcoming the post-war trauma.

Among more than 130 conference attendees there were teachers, representatives of memorial sites, as well as Ph.D. candidates and lecturers representing most of the Polish universities. Also guests from the United States, Israel, Great Britain and Russia arrived to Oświęcim. 51 historical, sociological, pedagogical, legal and psychological papers were presented.

In addition to the Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the conference was organised by the Foundation for the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oświęcim and the International Centre for Education About Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The organisers were supported by: The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, The Stutthof Museum in Sztutowo, Institute of History and Archive Studies of the Pedagogical University of Cracow and the Centre for Holocaust Studies of the Jagiellonian University.

Each conference is accompanied by a publication of a book and folders thematically related to the conference.

 

Light in Darkness

An international exchange project entitled Light in Darkness was addressed to school youth from Poland, Germany and Ukraine. Germany, Ukraine and Poland are bordering countries whose common history abounds in dramatic historic events. The primary goal of the project was to initiate historical and cultural dialogue between these nations in order to enable overcoming prejudice and stereotypes, and contribute to improvement of the countries’ image in mutual relations. The project responds to the need of life-long learning, acquiring new experiences and a person’s own cultural and social development. Selection of the participating countries arose from the initiative of young people from Ukraine who, together with the youth from Poland, wished to deepen their knowledge about World War II and Auschwitz, and learn how to communicate in a multicultural environment. The thematic scope allowed reference to tragic events of the nations’ common history that needed to be worked through, as well as developing skills in historical interpretation in the context of the culture of remembrance. Such an approach enables young people to analyse the importance of a historical event from a broader perspective of the reality of a multicultural Europe. Choosing drama as a supplementary teaching method provided an opportunity for active working out of selected issues and employing methods of creative approach in international interaction.

Catalogue for the exhibition of “Auschwitz Alphabet” by Paweł Warchoł in Budapest and transport costs: subsidy of PLN 3,000.00

On 4 April, at the Israeli Cultural Institute in Budapest an exhibition of drawings by Béla Faragó and Paweł Warchoł entitled “Humanity in Danger” was opened by Dr. Vered Glickman, Director of the Israeli Cultural Institute in Budapest. Guests were welcomed by representatives of the Embassies of Germany and Switzerland in Budapest and the laudation was presented by Egri György, Szobrász.

During the vernissage speeches were also delivered by Martin Kreß and an artist Béla Faragó. Music was by Andrea Haffner, Zita Novak (violin) and Csaba Babacsi, Bratsche, and Tibor Wambach (cello) who performed W.A. Mozart’s D-dur Divertimento. The vernissage was not only an interesting cultural event, but it also offered an excellent opportunity for discussions and exchange of institutional contacts.

Drawing on spontaneous inspirations and personal experiences of both the artists, the works exhibited address the issues of faith and religion.

The exhibition was organised by the Destillarta Gallery in Buchschwabach in Germany, the Israeli Cultural Institute in Budapest, the International Youth Meeting Centre in Oświęcim, the Judaica Foundation Centre for Jewish Culture in Kraków, and the Embassy of Germany in Budapest.

10. The principal source of the Foundation’s revenues is business activity, consisting in a purchase and sale of books, posters, postcards and multimedia publications thematically related to the mission of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim. The Foundation allocates its revenues generated from business activities in full to its statutory goals.  

 

 

Publishing activity in 2016: list of publications purchased:

 

PRINTING HOUSE	TITLE	LANGUAGE VERSION	QUANTITY	PURCHASE PRICE
EKODRUK	Collaborative work, Auschwitz from A to Z	Spanish English	500 pcs 500 pcs	PLN 18,200.00 PLN 16,900.00
				PLN 35,100.00
	Multiple authors, Auschwitz-Birkenau. The Past and the Present	Russian Italian Dutch	3,000 pcs 3,000 pcs 3,000 pcs	PLN 9,420.00 PLN 9,240.00 PLN 9,420.00
		Total		PLN 28,080.00
	Multiple authors, Auschwitz. Nazi Death Camp	Italian	500 pcs	PLN 9,240.00
	H. Dunicz–Niwińska, One of the Girls in the Band. The Memoirs of a Violinist from Birkenau	English	500 pcs	PLN 6,900.00
	K. Smoleń, Auschwitz-Birkenau Guidebook	Russian Hungarian Spanish Italian German < About Foundation Board of directors Voting members Statute Sponsors Activity Publications Contact Visit Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum web page Do you want to know more? Are you willing to get more information about Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum history? You will find more on Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum web page. Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum web page The Memorial Foundation for the Victims of Auschwitz-Birkenau ul. Więźniów Oświęcimia 20, 32-603 Oświęcim, Polska Copyright 2010-2011 Design and software: Talitha.pl Cookie files notice: This page is using Cookie files. You can learn more about cookies and how to change Cookie settins in your browser here.Accept