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Auschwitz Birkenau, niemiecki nazistowski obóz koncentracyjny i zagłady (1940-1945) (1979)

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CYWIŃSKI P. M. A.

Ochrona Zabytków

2017

issue Dodatek Specjalny. Dziedzictwo w Polsce.

83-87

Auschwitz Birkenau was the principal, the largest, and the most notorious of the six extermination camps established by Nazi Germany to implement its Final Solution policy which had as its aim the mass murder of the Jewish people in Europe. Built in Poland under Nazi German occupation, initially as a concentration camp for Poles and later for Soviet prisoners of war, it soon became a prison for a number of other nationalities. Criterion: (vi) Auschwitz Birkenau: a rite de passage for modern man The former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz Birkenau was declared a Memorial Site at the suggestion of survivors as long ago as 1947. It was then established in the legal structure of a museum. At that time, more permanent establishments protecting the heritage of humanity were yet to be devised. Even today, many questions regarding the Memorial cannot be solved by means of a unilateral decision. Hence Poland’s resolve to establish the International Auschwitz Council where the most distinguished experts from many countries systematically discuss and reflect upon the nature and essence of this particular Memorial. Indeed, the differences between the functioning of the space in the former camp and in other types of museums are of fundamental nature. The main roles of a Memorial are commemoration and education, and here – unlike in the case of many memorial institutions – these tasks are performed in an authentic historic setting. It is precisely this experience of the space of the former camp that makes the education and memory roles create the most significant relationship between history, human experience, and reflection on the latest challenges of our time. That is why the decision makers from many countries establish financial and institutional instruments intended to support the visits to Auschwitz Memorial, above all, the visits of students on the verge of reaching their majority. Thus the direct experience of the space of the former camp – apart from learning the tragic facts and paying tribute to the memory of the murdered Jews, Poles, Roma, Red Army soldiers, and other victims – becomes here a fundamental factor in both historical reflection and rumination on the present age and individual human choices. Thus the site itself becomes a prop in understanding and emotional assimilation of the tragic elements in humanity’s heritage and identity at an age when – in the opinion of an ever-growing number of people – books, lectures, movies, or memory institutions established elsewhere are not sufficient to achieve the same goal. It is precisely from looking at the evidence of the crime – the suitcases, shoes, and tons of human hair; from passing through the gate with the ‘Arbeit macht frei’ sign, the ramp, the individual camp sectors, postcamp buildings and ruins (including the gas chambers and crematoria); from the clash of historical knowledge with direct experience of the authentic space, that a completely different kind of cognizance is born which is far removed from the erudition acquired at school or through reading. It is each visitor’s own experience of the physical reality of the Auschwitz site whose exploration becomes a specific rite de passage for the understanding of his or her own responsibility, extent of involvement, and the danger ensuing from one’s own indifference and passivity. Visiting Auschwitz is supposed to influence the visitors’ outlook and self-reflection. Seen from such a perspective, the authenticity of the physical reality of the former camp does not only appear as a direct contact with history or irrefutable proof against the arguments of the Holocaust deniers and the theses of various revisionisms. First of all, this authenticity becomes the basis of one’s own experience – real, physical, and historical – that holds great challenges of a moral, ethical, and civic nature. For contemporary visitors to Auschwitz, this authenticity becomes the groundwork for experience that confronts them with their own choices. Thus the conservators’ protection of the authenticity of this Memorial Site becomes an ethically motivated task. The magnitude of this challenge led to the creation, in 2009, of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation whose fund, of international provenance, has in the space of five years become the main financial instrument supporting the conservators’ works and activities on the extensive area of the former camp. This provides the basis for the developing educational activities carried on by the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust. Today, in the 21st century, we know only too well that ‘The past is never dead. It’s not even past.’ (W. Faulkner). Therefore, the memory seems not only a tribute paid to the victims from the past, but also – and perhaps primarily so – a concerned look at our own future and the future of our children. At a time when wars and instances of genocide do not rouse us to action in support of human beings…, and when grand international institutions established to ensure global peace and safety are unable even to formulate the foundations of an efficient policy towards planned mass murders…, and when various populisms, as well as racism and anti-Semitism, are being revived while humanity’s heritage is consciously drawn into the political rhetoric of conflict, the message of Auschwitz Birkenau becomes – unfortunately – more and more relevant.

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1 Ochrona Zabytków

1 CYWIŃSKI P. M. A.

1 2017

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Auschwitz Birkenau, niemiecki nazistowski obóz koncentracyjny i zagłady (1940-1945) (1979)