Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in Urgent Need of Renovation
27.01.2009
, aktualizacja: 27.01.2009 07:50
Auschwitz Birkenau (Fot. Anna Bedyńska / AG)
The International Auschwitz Council has set up a foundation to seek funds internationally for the conservation of the former camp site.
Buildings of the former German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau are in need of urgent repair. Walls in the wooden barracks are rickety, those in the brick cells are cracking. But the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum cannot afford a major renovation, whose cost is estimated at 120 million. Rzeczpospolita reported on this yesterday.
But in mid-January, Władysław Bartoszewski, president of the International Auschwitz Council, signed a notary deed appointing the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. Among its statutory goals is seeking funds for the renovation of the camp site, buildings and ruins. As well as for the conservation and safe storage of archival documents and objects.
'A stable inflow of funds would allow, for the first time in the Museum's history, realistic longer-term planning of conservation works on a site counting almost 200 hectares, on which are located 155 objects and 300 ruins. Excluding archives and collections,' say Piotr M.A. Cywiński, director of the Museum. 'The sums we need for conservation are very substantial. I hope we'll eventually get to a point where the foundation's annual yield reaches 3-5 million. We'll do everything for the former camp site to be available and comprehensible for visitors 20 or 30 years from now.'
The main goals of conservation works will be determined by the Museum's conservation department under close supervision of the International Auschwitz Council. Rafał Pióro, the department's head, mentions the following as the most urgent works:
* conservation of brick and wooden barracks and remnants of wooden barracks at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which are in a poor condition;
* conservation of eleven blocks at Auschwitz I, where the Museum's new main exhibition is to be located;
* conservation of the former camp kitchen building at Auschwitz I and its conversion for the purpose of housing an exhibition of works of art created at the camp during the war;
* conversion of the so called Old Theatre building, which is to house the International Auschwitz and Holocaust Education Centre.
To date, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum had been financed chiefly with public funds as well as its own revenues. Foreign support accounted for a mere 5 percent of its budget in 2008.
'We want to get foreign governments as well as EU institutions interested in this. It's vital for the international public to realise that for more than 60 years the Museum has been financed almost solely by the Polish government,' says Jarosław Mensfelt, spokesperson for the Museum.
'The sympathetic response towards the idea of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation from both the Polish government and other countries creates hope for the future,' adds Mr Cywiński.
Today is the 64th anniversary of the camp's liberation. At 2.45 p.m. a March of Remembrance will start from under the Death Gate. At 3 p.m. flowers will be laid under the Monument of the Camp Victims.
translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak
But in mid-January, Władysław Bartoszewski, president of the International Auschwitz Council, signed a notary deed appointing the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. Among its statutory goals is seeking funds for the renovation of the camp site, buildings and ruins. As well as for the conservation and safe storage of archival documents and objects.
'A stable inflow of funds would allow, for the first time in the Museum's history, realistic longer-term planning of conservation works on a site counting almost 200 hectares, on which are located 155 objects and 300 ruins. Excluding archives and collections,' say Piotr M.A. Cywiński, director of the Museum. 'The sums we need for conservation are very substantial. I hope we'll eventually get to a point where the foundation's annual yield reaches 3-5 million. We'll do everything for the former camp site to be available and comprehensible for visitors 20 or 30 years from now.'
The main goals of conservation works will be determined by the Museum's conservation department under close supervision of the International Auschwitz Council. Rafał Pióro, the department's head, mentions the following as the most urgent works:
* conservation of brick and wooden barracks and remnants of wooden barracks at Auschwitz II-Birkenau, which are in a poor condition;
* conservation of eleven blocks at Auschwitz I, where the Museum's new main exhibition is to be located;
* conservation of the former camp kitchen building at Auschwitz I and its conversion for the purpose of housing an exhibition of works of art created at the camp during the war;
* conversion of the so called Old Theatre building, which is to house the International Auschwitz and Holocaust Education Centre.
To date, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum had been financed chiefly with public funds as well as its own revenues. Foreign support accounted for a mere 5 percent of its budget in 2008.
'We want to get foreign governments as well as EU institutions interested in this. It's vital for the international public to realise that for more than 60 years the Museum has been financed almost solely by the Polish government,' says Jarosław Mensfelt, spokesperson for the Museum.
'The sympathetic response towards the idea of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation from both the Polish government and other countries creates hope for the future,' adds Mr Cywiński.
Today is the 64th anniversary of the camp's liberation. At 2.45 p.m. a March of Remembrance will start from under the Death Gate. At 3 p.m. flowers will be laid under the Monument of the Camp Victims.
translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak
