camp alone costs 4-5 million Euros per year.
The first reason for creating the Centre is therefore academic; the second is practical. Today, we observe in various countries the strengthening of prerogatives concerning the preservation of memorial sites. However, we see imperfections in their funding. There is a need to preserve and strengthen memorial sites, but there is no fiscal policy behind it that would create incentives for donors. In the United States, the entire fund-raising culture and systems of tax exemption are well-developed and well-established, whereas, in other countries with a strong memory prerogative, the fiscal policy is unfavourable. If someone wants to allocate a substantial amount for such support, he or she will not deduct it from the tax. In my opinion, this may discourage donors. If my research were to show that the tax issue should be devised to be more pro-exempting, it would be a lasting contribution to the problem.
The dynamics of co-operation between states and private and non-governmental sectors for the preservation of memorial sites is also completely unexplored.
There are several co-operation models in the world - it depends on the host of a given memorial, the self-government and non-government culture functions in a particular country, the historical determinants and so on. There is a need for international comparative research and the creation of a set of good practices.
What will be your primary task from the onset?
A significant challenge for me will be the organisation of the International Scientific Congress for Memorial Sites at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum in 2019. It is about the integration of communities and an attempt to answer the question: what are the good practices in preserving memorial sites? Prior to the commencement of the congress, participants will be able to see what conservation works are in practice in preserving the authenticity of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. We very much want to see the presence of representatives of memorial sites from all over the world, and therefore are intensifying activities in this area. In addition, we wish to commence work on the creation of a scientific, economic doctrine of memorial sites, which through co-operation with leaders of certain circles - directors, fundraisers, donors and leaders of memorial sites - could be a set of good practices in handling the economic, financial and management aspects of memorial sites. We will also need to create performance indicators for the functioning of memorial sites. If a donor contributes money, he or she will probably want it to be well-invested. The measurability of investment efficiency is, in this case, a big problem because there is a conflict between two values - financial and social. The financial value aids the implementation of the social mission. How do you measure it? There are already some pilot studies that try to use Porter’s Value Chain, but the margin, in this case, will be the implementation of certain social objectives, a specific social surplus. Therefore, it will not be restricted to economic research but also interdisciplinary research.
These two aspects are very difficult to connect. In the case of conservation, it is still quite simple because we have a certain amount of
Photo: Studio MTJ T. Wrzesiński