The areas of interest for the experts of the Museum and Memorials Working Group (MMWG) include authentic historical sites, museums and exhibitions related to the topic of the Holocaust. The group’s activities are particularly crucial in identifying sites, which for various reasons have been forgotten and physically degraded, or that are not commemorated in a dignified manner in accordance with the historical truth or provisions of the International Memorial Museums Charter.
For several years, the MMWG has recommended and monitored activities that should conform to the Charter, in such places as Staro Sajmište in Serbia, Komárom in Hungary, Lety in Pisek, in the Czech Republic, or Vilnius Ghetto Library in Lithuania. In the case of the latter two, the support of experts and the political recommendations of the IHRA lead to constructive solutions for the involvement as well as political and financial support of the Czech and Lithuania governments. In Vilnius, the deteriorating building of one of the city's three largest pre-war libraries was secured, which was the centre of cultural life in the ghetto and a meeting point for the resistance movement. In Lety, A post-war pig farm where pig breeding was carried out on a large scale was established on the site of the former Nazi German concentration camp for the Roma. After several years of efforts and consultations, the pig farm was removed, and activities were undertaken to secure the site and adequately commemorate the victims. As for the other sites within the scope of interest of the IHRA, negotiations and implementation process of expert recommendations are still ongoing.
The second thematic area of the MMWG is exhibitions and museums, both those established at former concentration camps and mass extermination centres, as well as those that were built or are being built in new buildings created or adapted specially for this purpose. Many of these initiatives are examples of good practices that serve as a model or benchmark for others, such as the exhibition “Auschwitz Not so long ago, not so far away”.
At the sessions of the MMWG concerns are also raised regarding problematic phenomena occurring in existing institutions, including countries of IHRA members.
In Ferrara, they also discussed cases of intentions that aroused concerns among experts, as to the preservation of the authenticity of historical sites, or controversies regarding historical narrative in planned museums and exhibitions. A representative of the Mauthausen Memorial was invited to the meeting in Ferrara to clarify issues of concern regarding the activities of the Austrian party on the site of the former camp, regarding interference with authentic historical tissue and access of visitors to the quarry. They also discussed the problem of providing decent care for the memorial in Gusen, and issues of a planned exhibition at the House of Fates Museum in Budapest, where, contrary to the opinions of historians and most of the Hungarian Jewish communities, the exhibition is to focus only on the fate of the individual without the historical context.
A vital aspect of the work of IHRA experts is the possibility of familiarising themselves with new initiatives - the projects of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, the Swedish Holocaust Museum and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre were presented in Ferrara. Visits are also planned to museums and places related to the subject of the Holocaust during subsequent presidencies in member states. This time, the delegates had the opportunity to participate in a curatorial tour of the newly created Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah, as well as the former of Fossoli Camp, from where Italian Jews, including Primo Levi, were deported to Auschwitz. We also acquainted ourselves with the complicated history of the former camp - initially, it was a POW camp for allied troops, then political opponents of the fascist regime were imprisoned there, and finally, a transit camp for Jews was organised in the barracks. After the war, various groups of refugees were placed in the post-camp barracks. Since 1996, measures have been taken to secure the remains of the former camp and transform it into a memorial. The visit to the Fossoli Camp was complemented by a tour of the Deportation Museum in Carpi.