On 25 June, the 20th meeting of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation Council took place at the PZU headquarters in Warsaw.

The mission of the Foundation is to secure the process of preserving the authentic remains of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and to support the educational activities of the Memorial.

At the beginning of the meeting, a moment of silence was observed to honor Marian Turski, an Auschwitz Survivor who passed away on February 18, 2025.

Opening the meeting, Council Chairman Marek Zając thanked Hanna Machińska, Chair of the PZU Foundation Council, for making it possible to organize the meeting at the company’s headquarters. From this year, PZU will support the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation in the field of accounting and HR services.

The President of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, emphasized the importance of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, which took place on January 27. The event was attended by a group of over 50 Survivors and nearly three thousand guests from all over the world, including delegations from over 50 countries led by royalty, presidents, prime ministers, ministers, and diplomats.

'It was an unprecedented undertaking for the Museum. Importantly, it was possible to achieve not only what everyone could see during the anniversary, both on-site and on TV broadcast. What was particularly important was that there were no political speeches during the event, and all attention was focused on the words of the Survivors. During the preparations for the anniversary, discussions were also held regarding, among other things, support for a new exhibition project, a permanent exhibition of camp art, which we want to create in the former camp kitchen building at Auschwitz I,' said Director Cywiński.

'Prisoner art carries a very heavy emotional element, showing how the process of dehumanization took place in the camp. This permanent exhibition will certainly help visitors understand this dimension of the tragedy of Auschwitz,' emphasized Cywiński.

The Museum holds the largest collection of camp art created by prisoners during the camp’s operation, as well as that created after the war by Survivors. The implementation of the project will be possible thanks to fundraising activities carried out by the Foundation.

As stressed by the Director General of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, Wojciech Soczewica, most of the funds needed to create this exhibition—both for the conservation of the building itself and for preparing the exhibition—have already been secured. 'The digitization of the artworks will be supported by Google, and the implementation of the entire project will take several years. We will certainly be able to report on progress in this very special project, which has attracted great interest from donors, during future meetings,' he said.

Wojciech Soczewica also spoke about the development of the online visitation project “Auschwitz. In Front of Your Eyes,” which has been expanded to include new languages for multimedia materials.

During the meeting, a new project supported with additional Foundation funds was also discussed: a virtual film location that will help creators of feature and documentary films. This project was presented at this year’s market during the Cannes Film Festival.

It should be emphasized that funds for educational activities carried out by the Foundation do not come from the profits of the Perpetual Fund, which supports only conservation work.

Agnieszka Tanistra-Różanowska, head of the Master Plan for Preservation, presented information on current conservation projects, both concerning historical buildings in the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp and the conservation of objects belonging to Auschwitz victims, such as suitcases and shoes.

'Project documentation is also being continuously developed, both in the Geographic Information System (GIS) and Building Information Modeling (BIM). The implementation of the latter project was recognized at the InfraBIM 2025 conference. The Museum, as the contracting authority, received an award in the InfraLIDER competition precisely for the use of BIM technology in the conservation of historic camp buildings,' said Agnieszka Tanistra-Różanowska.

This year, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation plans to spend nearly PLN 25 million on conservation work carried out at the Museum. Last year it was nearly PLN 22 million.

During the meeting, the Council approved the substantive report on the Foundation’s work for 2024, as well as the annual activity and financial plans. The members of the Foundation Council also approved the Foundation’s financial statement for 2024.

The Council members also thanked Deloitte, which for over a decade has been supporting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation pro bono in the field of accounting and HR services.