Professor Marek Kucia, President of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust (ICEAH) Council, shared his reflections on the conference. He thanked the initiators, organisers, speakers and attendees, and in particular commented on the powerful survivors’ testimonies from the previous day. He described the Auschwitz Memorial as “a measure of genocide”, the place that “built the notion”, but recognised that each manifestation of genocide, war crime or human rights violation is unique. Professor Kucia stated that it is “reasonable to compare” such events, to understand patterns and potential developing issues. He also touched upon the themes of the conference. “We started and ended with Auschwitz” and all victim groups imprisoned there: Poles, Jews, Roma, Soviet POWs and so on. There were also conversations about the Holocaust, genocides in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, against Native Americans and during colonialism, and slavery. Kucia commented that crimes against humanity will always be around, but there are a few things that can be done to combat this. Firstly, “we can remember,” both the things that have come before us and those who were affected by them, “otherwise we cannot understand the contemporary world.” The other remedy is to educate; not only using dates and facts, but to enable people to ask the question “Why?” He concluded by stating that educators have the task of developing thinking, or critical thinking, and “never to stop asking the question why.”
Finally, Andrzej Kacorzyk, Director of the ICEAH, took to the stage. He highlighted the ICEAH’s 15th year, explaining that it was written into being on 27th January 2004 by around 200 survivors, including the late Professor Władysław Bartoszewski. Mr Kacorzyk praised Professor Bartoszewski’s work and his encouragement for the Museum’s work, yet said he is still haunted by his words: “We have done a lot, but not enough.”