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On the occasion of the 80th anniversary commemorating the outbreak of the uprising in the Białystok ghetto, the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, announced U.S. support for the development of a virtual online tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial.
“The United States will always be your partner in keeping this history alive," said Secretary Blinken. "We’re taking another step in that effort, by working with our Congress to invest $1 million to help create a virtual tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau, so that more people who can’t visit can experience the indelible impact of seeing that site," he announced.
“The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, from the very beginning of its existence, was focused on preserving the Memorial for future generations. Today, however, Foundation is also more and more involved in educational projects. Creating a special platform, thanks to which people from all over the world, will be able to visit online the grounds of the Museum, with additional support from the US, will be crucial for the development of this unique and innovative concept.“, said the president of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and the Director of the Auschwitz Museum, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński.
“None of the educational activities at the Museum, supported by the foundation, is financed from the endowment fund, which was created specifically to preserve the Memorial.“, added Cywiński. The innovative "Auschwitz. In Front of your Eyes" application, through which millions of people will gain access to education directly from the authentic Memorial Site, will be used by people from all over the world to visit the site of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau with an online guide. The narration will be conducted live, and the educator will also use multimedia materials, archival photographs, artistic works, documents, and testimonies of survivors.
U.S. Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski said, “The United States’ contribution demonstrates our commitment to action in ensuring Never Again means Never Again. US Mission Poland is anti-Antisemitism. We are honored to partner with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation and Memorial on this critical and innovative educational effort which will reach people across the globe.”
“The development of this technology and the use of the platform for educational purposes will allow us to jointly preserve the tragic experiences of the victims and Survivors of Auschwitz and disseminate them on a global scale. I hope other countries will soon join the United States, Monaco, and Malta in contributing to this effort. In the era of polarization and growing social tensions, the use of instruments that will allow us to reach an increasingly wider audience seems to be a necessity. The excellent cooperation of the Foundation, the Museum, and global technological leaders on the platform contributes to the implementation of our mission.“, said Wojciech Soczewica, General Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation.
The design of this special platform, dedicated to the Memorial, was created in cooperation with the Museum, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, Israeli companies AppsFlyer and Diskin, and thanks to the support of specialist companies, such as Orange, which provided stable and fast wireless Internet access throughout the Memorial, and thanks to the involvement of many private donors and foundations.
On 20 June, the 18th session of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation Council took place at the Warsaw headquarters of Deloitte Poland, a long-time corporate donor to the Foundation. The mission of the Foundation is to safeguard the preservation of the authentic remains of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau and to support the educational activities of the Memorial.
Participants were welcomed by Tomasz Konik, President of Deloitte Poland: 'Deloitte has been a proud partner of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation since 2014. The Foundation's actions to preserve the Memorial for the war victims are highly significant in current times, given the world's failure to learn from this tragic event. Remembrance is extremely important, but it is also about a better future for us all. The Foundation's efforts offer a glimmer of hope that things can get better. I believe that in this respect, our actions and values are strikingly similar. Our company also strives to make a positive impact on the surrounding reality. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, we have been actively assisting not only our staff members and their families in Kyiv but also the refugees affected by the situation. I thank you for being such an inspiration, and I look forward to working with you on future projects.
At the start of the session, the Council members reached a unanimous decision to name Roman Rewald, an attorney and mediator of Polish-American descent, as a member of the Council.In his presentation, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, the Director of the Auschwitz Museum and President of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, emphasised the outstanding support that the Foundation provides to women conservators who were compelled to escape war-torn Ukraine. He also discussed the exceptional preservation project for children's shoes co-funded by the Foundation and private donors, including the International March of the Living.
'The Foundation is expanding its educational endeavours while upholding its commitment to preservation. The most significant among these is a platform that will facilitate online live guided tours of the Memorial. The project will be presented at an upcoming international methodological conference at the Museum and will be launched soon,' said Dr. Cywiński.
The platform is being jointly developed by the Foundation, the Museum and two Israeli companies, AppsFlyer and Diskin. The project implementation is facilitated by the support of several private donors from the United States and Orange, which has provided stable and high-speed wireless internet access throughout the Memorial.
'For several months, we have been conducting tests with selected school and university groups and employees of companies that have financially supported the creation of the platform. It is worth noting that the platform is interactive and allows tour participants to ask the guides questions and share their thoughts in real time. We do not aim to replace a personal visit to a former camp, but to seek opportunities to enhance this kind of experience, to prepare better or deepen previously acquired knowledge. Based on the research conducted after the digital visits, it is evident that for a significant number of individuals, this mode of education serves as a motivation to visit the Memorial. We acknowledge that visiting via the platform will be the only mode of contact with the authentic Memorial for many people,' emphasised Wojciech Soczewica, Director General of the Foundation.
Funds for educational activities carried out by the Foundation do not come from the profits of the Endowment Fund, as this only supports preservation works. 'Last year, we raised PLN 2.3 million for educational activities. The platform was mainly developed with private funding. Monaco and Malta were the initial countries to provide funds for online tours aimed at schoolchildren in Europe,' said Soczewica.
The Endowment Fund created and managed by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation has already been supported by nearly 40 countries. It is currently worth about €178 million out of the targeted €180 million. Proceeds from the invested Capital are allocated to preserving the Auschwitz Memorial. At the beginning of this year, the Foundation's support for preservation work at the Memorial exceeded PLN 100 million.
Agnieszka Tanistra-Różanowska, head of the Master Plan for Preservation, spoke in her presentation about the preservation of personal items belonging to the victims of Auschwitz - including children's shoes and the many works carried out at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau site. She also discussed the conservation of the ruins of the gas chambers and crematoria, the historical brick and wooden buildings, particularly the prisoner barracks, and the clearing of drainage ditches to protect the historical site from the negative impact of rainwater.
During the session, the Council approved the substantive report on the work of the Foundation for 2022 and the annual action and financial plans. The Foundation Council members also approved the Foundation's financial statements for 2022, which, according to KPMG’s independent audit, once 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.
The Auschwitz Museum Conservation Laboratories initiated a two-year project to conserve approximately 8,000 children's shoes that are part of the Memorial Collections. These shoes are a poignant symbol of the suffering of the youngest victims of the German Nazi Auschwitz camp. The project is funded by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation as well as the International March of the Living in partnership with the Neishlos Foundation and Israeli philanthropist Mati Kochavi.
"The children's shoes are one of the most moving testimonies to the crimes committed at Auschwitz, which is why it is so important to take action to preserve them for as long as possible. In the conservation work planned, it will be particularly important to take an individual approach to each of the shoes," said Rafał Pióro, the deputy director of the Museum responsible for conservation.
As part of the two-year project, it is planned to conserve and compile descriptive and photographic documentation of approximately 8,000 shoes. Each shoe will be measured, and an object card will be made containing a photograph and a detailed description. Based on the information obtained, a database will be created on both the manufacturers and owners of the shoes.
The aim of the work will be to slow down the aging processes. Shoes consist of several different materials that affect each other. Depending on their condition, type, and characteristics, appropriate treatments will be carried out after specialized research, such as surface cleaning, stabilizing metal corrosion processes, needle stabilization of textiles, structural reinforcement of leather, and weatherproofing of metal components.
"Each of the shoes has different features, damages, traces of use by the owners, which determine the scope of conservation activities and the selection of appropriate methods and substances," said Mirosław Maciaszczyk, conservator from the Museum's Conservation Laboratories.
As a result of the work carried out, the physical and chemical conditions of the objects will be improved, which will allow for their long-term storage and exhibition.
"The preservation and detailed historical study of this very meaningful group of personal objects is extremely important for both conservation and ethical reasons. We assume that thanks to the work carried out as part of the project, at least some of the owners of the shoes will be identified, and their stories will symbolize hundreds of thousands of nameless victims," said Elżbieta Cajzer, head of the Collections.
There are approximately 110,000 shoes in the Museum's Collections, including a group of about 8,000 children's shoes. Most of the children's shoes are on display in the Museum's permanent exhibition.
The collection is very diverse, including various types of footwear such as sandals, slippers, and boots of different sizes and materials. The shoes found after the liberation of the camp are mainly single shoes, with only a small proportion of pairs of shoes.
The children's shoes are mainly unidentifiable, but some can be traced back to their origin thanks to the manufacturers' marks on them. There are also unique shoes with signatures such as names and addresses, which make it possible to identify the owners.
Based on estimates, it is assumed that about 232,000 children and adolescents were deported to the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz, of whom about 216,000 were Jews, 11,000 Roma, about 3,000 Poles, more than a thousand Belorussians, and several hundred Russians, Ukrainians, and others. In total, about 23,000 children and adolescents were registered in the camp, of whom about 700 were liberated at Auschwitz in January 1945.
