However, we did not waste this time. Our team managed to completely reconfigure
the program, including preparing a series of new educational activities that can be conducted online through various platforms. We aimed to ensure that the lack of physical presence
at the Memorial Site would not lead to a decline in interest in the Shoah as well as Auschwitz.
We succeeded in capturing the attention of many people worldwide, who eagerly joined our online events. The best example is the previous International Educational Conference
that took place in 2021 and was entirely organized online. All these new activities and tools that we discovered during their creation have become a part of our daily work.
This past year, at the time of the beginning of Russian aggression against independent Ukraine, there was already a return to physical visits at the Memorial. Not only did
the number of visitors increase, but so did the number of people taking part in in-depth education in this building. In 2022, nearly 30,000 people took part in various study visits
and seminars, conducted both in-person and online. We are deeply satisfied that the history of the German Nazi Auschwitz Camp continues to generate such significant interest, and that we can accompany and assist in experiencing and understanding it. We believe that this has
a significant impact on shaping respect for the dignity of fellow human beings.
In addition, the fact that we find ourselves behind the wall that separated the prisoner barracks from the outside world symbolically gives us the opportunity to talk about Auschwitz not just as a historical event from 1940 to 1945. Auschwitz didn’t began in 1940, nor did it end in 1945. We try to strongly emphasize to the participants of our projects that many various factors from the pre-war period influenced the fact that Auschwitz was even possible at all and that we can still observe its consequences today.
This resonates especially strongly during our regularly held International Education Conferences. I now invite you to watch a short film summarizing the conferences from 2017 to 2021, which will serve as an introduction to the theme of this year's conference, while also wishing you a productive debate in anno domini 2023.
Andrzej Kacorzyk, photo: Press Office