NEW PERMANENT EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO THE FATE
OF POLES AT KL AUSCHWITZ
Auschwitz Memorial
On 2 September, a new permanent exhibition dedicated to the fate of Poles in the German Nazi camp Auschwitz was opened in Block 15 on the grounds of the former Auschwitz I camp. It consists of two parts: “Poles in KL Auschwitz” and “In the Shadow of Death – Oświęcim during the German Occupation 1939–1945.”
The exhibition was authored by Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz, head of the Auschwitz Museum Research Center. The designers were the consortium Adventure Sławomir Mazan, Jarema Szandar Sp. J., Koza Nostra Studio sp. z o.o. and Biuro Usług Architektonicznych “Profil” sp. z o.o.
Present at the opening were five Auschwitz Survivors: Barbara Doniecka, Bronisława Horowitz-Karakulska, Ewa Machaj-Antosiewicz, Bogdan Bartnikowski, and Janusz Rudnicki.
“This exhibition, which is extremely valuable, tells the whole story of Poles in Auschwitz. What is most important to me is that it also speaks about the beginnings of this camp, which existed from 1940. The history of the Holocaust is an unimaginable tragedy, but after all, the Holocaust began two years later, while from 1940 Poles were being murdered here, in these very streets, and it lasted until the very last moments of the camp. This exhibition documents our fate,” said Bogdan Bartnikowski.
The project was financed thanks to extraordinary support from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, amounting to just over 22.5 million PLN. At the opening, Deputy Minister of Culture Bożena Żelazowska spoke: “A permanent exhibition is an extremely demanding undertaking, something that will remain for many years, something to which those who see it will return. Above all, it is important also for our youth, who are with us today, which gives us great joy.”
She also read a letter addressed to participants of the event by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Marta Cienkowska: “I wish to thank the Museum’s director, Dr. Piotr Cywiński, as well as all the creators of the new exhibition, its curator Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz, project coordinator Robert Płaczek, and all staff and volunteers involved in carrying out this endeavor. Thanks to your work, an exhibition has been created that not only commemorates, but also educates. It will serve as an important introduction to the guides’ narrative about the origins of KL Auschwitz, presenting the beginning of the war, the German occupation of Poland, the scale of persecutions, the systematic arrests carried out by the German police, and the unprecedented cruelty that accompanied them. At a time when the last eyewitnesses and Survivors are passing away, the shared responsibility falls on us to protect and preserve memory.”
“This place not only reveals the darkest pages of history, but above all carries a message. Freedom, dignity, and human rights are never given once and for all. We must constantly guard them. We cannot remain indifferent,” the letter reads.
The exhibition, spread over two floors of historic Block 15, complements not only the main exhibition, but also the narrative conducted in the authentic space of the Memorial. It focuses on the fate of Poles in the German Nazi Auschwitz camp. It presents the history of prisoners registered as political prisoners, but also of other groups of Polish citizens deported here – including Polish Jews deported to Auschwitz for extermination.
“National exhibitions created on the grounds of the Memorial are meant primarily to broaden and deepen the history of the fates of
4