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On 20 June at the Warsaw headquarters of KPMG, which has supported the Foundation’s activities from the start, the 19th session of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation Council took place.

The meeting was opened by the Council's Chairman Marek Zając, and attendees were welcomed by Andrzej Marczak, Head of Tax Advisory in Central and Eastern Europe at KPMG, and Łukasz Ziąbkowski, a key auditor at KPMG:‘

Charity is in our DNA and our values. Our pro bono activities have an educational dimension. We are very pleased that we can support the Foundation's activities with our professional knowledge,’ said Andrzej Marczak.

‘We strive to make our audits of the highest quality. We are happy with such long-term cooperation and hope it will continue,’ added Łukasz Ziąbkowski.

Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, President of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, in his presentation highlighted: ‘In 2023, the Foundation contributed 27 million PLN to the Museum for conservation works. This is a record since the Endowment Fund began supporting the Museum’s activities in preserving the Memorial in 2012.’

‘We have achieved stability and created a special protective umbrella over the Museum. The Foundation carries the huge machinery of financing conservation on its shoulders,’ he added.

The Director also emphasized how important the Foundation's current activities and the development of the "Auschwitz. In Front of your Eyes" online live visits project are for educating about the history of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz.

‘We promised ourselves that once the Endowment Fund was established, we would also start supporting the Museum's educational mission. During the COVID pandemic, it was clear that we needed to move part of the narrative online. We started working with AppsFlyer to create a new type of tour. This led to the creation of a special platform for online visits, which we launched in January this year,’ said the Director, who also emphasized that the development of this project and its funding is secured for the future.

One of the key elements of the presentation was the upcoming 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, for which preparations began already in 2023.

‘We successfully resolved the tender for building the entire infrastructure. Both for the main tent, where the commemoration event will be held, and for the auxiliary tents and press tent. We also plan to set up a television studio, which will broadcast a special program for several hours before and after the event, which we will provide for free both via satellite and on the Internet. Previous anniversaries, the 70th and 75th, were watched by 500-700 million people worldwide,’ said Piotr Cywiński.

Director Cywiński also mentioned plans to create a new, immersive exhibition of camp art, which will be set up in the kitchen building of the former Auschwitz I camp.

Wojciech Soczewica, the General Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, said in his speech: ‘Most of the Foundation's diverse activities are being continued. We have been able to maintain the scholarship program for Ukrainian conservators, which was initially funded by the Foundation, then supported by the German government, and this year is supported by Taiwan.’

‘We are very grateful for the support related to the online visiting project that we received from Google and Orange. In connection with the development of educational projects supported by the Foundation, including online visiting, we plan to launch a special training program for Museum educators. We have also developed a new educational strategy for the Museum, which was financed by the Norwegian government,’ said Soczewica.

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

The Endowment Fund created and managed by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation has been supported by nearly 40 countries. Its current value is over 180 million euros. Profits from the invested Fund are allocated for the conservation of the Auschwitz Memorial. At the beginning of this year, the Foundation's support for conservation work at the Memorial Site already exceeded 100 million PLN.

Jolanta Banaś-Maciaszczyk, head of Conservation at the Museum, presented current information in her presentation about the conservation of personal items belonging to Auschwitz victims – including children's shoes, as well as many works conducted on the site of the former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp: securing the ruins of gas chambers and crematoria, historic brick and wooden buildings – primarily prisoner barracks, conservation of archives and items belonging to victims, conservation of metal from the so-called Canada warehouses, conservation of paint layers, and conservation of greenery.

During the meeting, the substantive report of the Foundation's work for 2023 was approved, as well as annual action plans and financial plans. Members of the Foundation Council also approved the financial statement for 2023, which according to an independent audit conducted by KPMG again raised no objections and presented a fair and transparent picture of expenditure and cash flow. The financial statements are fully compliant with all legal requirements.

Google is supporting the development of the project "Auschwitz. In Front of your Eyes." This will enable people worldwide to visit the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau online with a live guide. Thanks to a $1 million grant from Google.org, Google's non-profit organisation, the memorial will expand education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust worldwide and improve access for people with disabilities, people in remote areas and those who are unable to travel.

Google's support will contribute to the further development of the technological platform and its accessibility. This includes the introduction of live captioning, AI-assisted translation into multiple languages, and the digitisation of survivor testimonies used in the tours. In addition, the guides will receive comprehensive training and the reach of this unique form of visit will be expanded worldwide. This includes working with schools to improve access for students.

This builds on the long-standing partnership with Google, when the memorial and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, together with Google Arts & Culture, made important stories from Auschwitz and over 700 artefacts from their archives accessible online.

The "Auschwitz. In front of your eyes" project was developed over three years in cooperation between the museum, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and companies such as AppsFlyer, DISKIN and Orange. Visitors have been able to use the platform since January this year.

On 13 May, a panel discussion was held in Warsaw with Rowan Barnett, Director of Google.org for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, and Wojciech Soczewica, Director General of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. Auschwitz survivor Bogdan Bartnikowski was present as a guest of honour.

"I am very pleased that the museum was able to launch this special programme. Three years ago, I witnessed its beginnings and was very excited to see how it would ultimately develop. It is extremely important that people from many countries and continents can see what Auschwitz looked like thanks to modern technology, without having to visit the museum," said Bogdan Bartnikowski.

Bogdan Bartnikowski emphasised the importance of authentic representation of the site and recalled a recent training session for museum guides, during which he told his story: "I must say that my frequent visits to the memorial have made me somewhat immune. You could say I've become accustomed to this place. But when I sat in front of a group of guides in the barracks where I was imprisoned, it was an overwhelming experience for me. I was able to show exactly where the three-tiered bunk bed I had slept in had stood, and there, on the other side, about two hundred young Jewish men were locked up in the middle of the barracks, presumably selected for further work in German industry and mining. And here, against the wall of the barracks, I saw a pile of corpses of murdered, tortured prisoners waiting to be cremated."

Participants in the meeting also had the opportunity to experience the "Auschwitz. In Front of your Eyes" platform in action during a live tour offered as part of the event.

"With the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz approaching, it is of utmost importance to give as many people as possible around the world the opportunity to learn about this place and its history. This is especially true given the difficult and unpredictable situation in our world today, with the outbreak of successive wars and increasing dehumanisation, terrorism and xenophobia. In these times, a heightened sense of responsibility is needed, which can best be developed on the basis of truth and remembrance," said Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz Museum.

"The online tours of the Auschwitz Memorial arose from the need to provide access to all those who, for various reasons, cannot travel to the museum in person. This was a major challenge, including on a technological level. Google's decision to join this coalition and contribute its expertise to the development of technologies that expand access to the history of Auschwitz and the Holocaust is of immense importance," emphasised Wojciech Soczewica.

Making the history and experiences of Auschwitz accessible to all people worldwide is crucial to preserving the memory of the Holocaust. Technology can be a powerful tool for promoting education and remembrance. Our $1 million grant will enable the memorial and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum to expand their online tours to additional languages, improve accessibility, and digitise survivors' testimonies so that their stories can be told to future generations and never be forgotten," said Rowan Barnett, Director of Google.org for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"The commitment of international organisations to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum is particularly valuable. Together, we are showing how to effectively strengthen the memory of history in order to counteract indifference or attempts to distort and instrumentalise history in the present," added Wojciech Soczewica.

The online tour of the memorial takes about two hours and is divided into two parts: Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The tour is broadcast live. In addition, multimedia materials, archive photos, works of art, documents and survivor testimonies are used. The app also allows users to interact with the tour and ask questions.

The Norwegian Ambassador to Poland, Anders Eide, visited the memorial and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum on 11 November. During the visit, a cooperation agreement was signed between the Norwegian side, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the Auschwitz Museum.

The agreement concerns cooperation to strengthen the mission of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial by promoting the education of future generations and preserving the memory of the victims and survivors of the German Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. The cooperation will be implemented as part of the programme "Educational Strategy for the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum with the Use of Innovative Technologies". The project is financed by funds from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Norway.

During his visit to the memorial, Ambassador Eide and his family toured the former camp grounds. The ambassador laid a wreath at the death wall in the courtyard of Block 11, the site of the first shooting 80 years ago, on 11 November 1941, in memory of all the victims of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp. He then visited the headquarters of the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust and took part in a meeting on the challenges of educational work at the memorial site. He also signed the museum's guest book.

"I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau today with my family and embassy staff. I am also deeply grateful and honoured that Norway, through EEA and Norwegian funding, is able to support the indispensable work of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation in preserving the memory of the victims and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum," Ambassador Eide wrote.

"Education at the memorial site has been, is and will remain of utmost importance." A visit to an authentic site is a unique experience for every visitor, no matter where they come from. "However, in view of the various restrictions, we are working intensively to develop various forms of distance learning in order to convey the authentic memorial site as closely as possible," said ICEAH Director Andrzej Kacorzyk.

"The foundation and the memorial are adapting to the new circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nature of visits will change. We are seeing growing interest in exploring the memorial with the help of the internet and new technologies," said Wojciech Soczewica, Director General of the foundation.

"It is therefore crucial that Norway was one of the first countries to decide to support museum educators and guides and to provide funding for this. I hope that other countries will follow Norway's example. However, the foundation's task will be to raise funds for the educational projects carried out by the museum team," emphasised Soczewica.

The programme "Educational Strategy for the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum with the Use of Innovative Technologies" is being implemented in cooperation with the Norwegian Centre for Holocaust and Minority Studies and the SWPS University in Warsaw.

In 2023, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation (ABF) donated a record sum of PLN 27.5 million to the museum for conservation work. The total support provided by the ABF to date amounted to almost PLN 126 million, and the value of the foundation's endowment fund exceeded EUR 177 million in 2023.

"The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation provides almost all of the funding for conservation measures at the memorial site. The establishment of a stable, long-term financing mechanism has enabled the formation of a competent team of experts, the implementation of measures on an unprecedented scale, and the launch of the master plan for preservation," said the president of the foundation and director of the Auschwitz State Museum, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński.

Among the most significant works completed in 2023 were the conservation of two brick barracks, a kitchen and a latrine on the Birkenau site; work on the ruins of the gas chamber and crematorium III, focusing on the underground parts of the facility and the parts of the reinforced concrete structure preserved in the former furnace room; the conservation of 50 suitcases, 1,200 shoes, 800 enamel items, 30 textile objects and 2,000 archaeological artefacts, as well as the conservation of selected layers of paint in blocks 11, 15 and 18 in Auschwitz I.

Conservation measures were initiated for the brick building of the former bathhouse in the Birkenau women's camp. As part of Building Information Modelling (BIM), models for 45 brick barracks in the BI area of the former Birkenau camp were developed. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was developed to simplify the creation, exchange and management of maps, applications and geodata.

In 2023, the Foundation initiated additional funding for a project to preserve 8,000 shoes belonging to the youngest victims of Auschwitz. This was done in collaboration with the International March of the Living, the Next Generation Foundation and various private donors.

The Foundation also signed an agreement with Taiwan to continue a special scholarship programme for female restorers from Ukraine in 2024. These women were forced to leave their homes due to Russian aggression against their country and have since found employment at the museum.

"Now that the conservation work has reached the desired pace, the foundation has launched additional fundraising campaigns to support educational projects. The funds for this do not come from the foundation's endowment," explained the foundation's director general, Wojciech Soczewica.

One of the first educational programmes financed by the ABF is the development of the "Auschwitz. In Front of Your Eyes" platform, which offers guided live online tours of the memorial site.

Taiwan will allocate 50,000 US dollars to fund a special scholarship program for Ukrainian women conservators carried out by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the Auschwitz Museum. These conservators were forced to escape from their country.

This project was launched in March 2022 when hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens were fleeing to Poland due to the Russian aggression.

The MoU regarding this matter was signed on 14 December 2023 in Warsaw by Sharon S. N. Wu, Head of the Taipei Representative Office, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, the President of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, and Wojciech Soczewica, the General Director of the Foundation.

"Although geographically distant, Taiwan, Poland and Ukraine share a profound connection through our commitment to education, democracy and pursuit of a bright future,” emphasized Sharon S. N. Wu.

Ukrainian women conservators work at the Museum, preserving the remains of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. The program also provides professional training and integration into the labor market.

Previously, Germany also gave the support to the scholarship project.

Preserving the authenticity of the Auschwitz Memorial is the main task of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.