The diversity in the origins of collections
With more than 600 objects on loan, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum (ABSM), as well as Yad Vashem in Israel and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), stand out of the 22 collections that are part of the exhibition.
They form a broad set of institutions such as museums, archives and study centers, as well as private entities and families, with a shared mission: to preserve these witnesses of their history and life, as a reminder of their survival, of their parents, or of the donor families of the objects that now is being guarded by museums (Galán, 2018b).
The typology of collections and their conservation
In order to understand their preservation, the exhibition's Department of Collections has made an initial approximation regarding the cataloging of objects as a logical process of the methodology for their preventive conservation.
A. Objects from before and during deportation
These different objects can be contextualized in two chronological periods:
The first group of artifacts that we document and preserve in the exhibition are comprised of those whose narrative helps us to understand the European background of the beginnings and rise of Nazism. Documentary materials - such as satirical press and illustrations that are displayed in conservation frameworks - belong chronologically between the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century.
A second group consists of objects within the context of deportation. These are personal objects of everyday life, such as those related to personal identification of the person's country of origin or passports, clothing, hygiene or household items, and also those objects with monetary value (such as jewelry) or symbolic value (like family photographs or metallic plates displaying house numbers). At the time of deportation, these were kept in suitcases on which the deportees had to write down their last name and date of birth. In most cases, these are recognizable materials from 1930s Europe: ceramic, metal, textile and wooden supports, in addition to the paper supports, make up this documentation.
The exhibition includes a large collection of the ABSM, the origins of which relate to the section of the camp called 'Kanada', in which the objects from the deportees' suitcases were stored. Most of the 'Kanada' items were discovered after the liberation in storage areas of the former camp. Since the evacuating SS forces burnt the main 'Kanada' barracks, some items were left on the site and in the ground. They sometimes emerge to the surface and are taken care of by the Auschwitz Memorial Collections. There are incidental cases or pillaging by visitors.