NEW MAIN EXHIBITION.
THE FIRST PART DEVOTED
TO THE EXPERIENCES OF AUSCHWITZ PRISONERS IS AVAILABLE
TO VISITORS
Auschwitz Memorial
The first of the three parts of the Museum’s new main exhibition was opened to visitors on 12 December. The exhibition “Auschwitz – Experiences of Camp Prisoners” in Blocks 8 and 9 presents the fates and experiences of those registered in the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz.
The remaining two parts will be completed within the next five years. Ultimately, visitors will first encounter an exhibition presenting Auschwitz as an institution consciously created and developed by Nazi Germany, followed by an exhibition on the extermination of Jews in Auschwitz.
The authors of the exhibition scenario are Museum Director Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński and Head of the Research Center Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz. The entire multi-year project is financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
During the session of the International Auschwitz Council held on 18-19 November, Director Piotr Cywiński said: “This is a deeply moving moment for us, because we have been working on the exhibition for over 12 years. It is also profoundly important that members of the International Auschwitz Council—among them Survivors whose voices were so crucial in shaping the postwar memory of Auschwitz, such as Prof. Władysław Bartoszewski, Marian Turski, and Israel Gutman—contributed to this work. Their reflections were of immense value to us.”
He added: “I would also like to thank the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Governments and ministers changed several times, yet all respected the decision to carry out this exhibition,
a very costly undertaking, as it includes the conservation of six historical post-camp buildings.”
The exhibition in Blocks 8 and 9 is built around three core themes: registration, daily life in the camp, and the prisoners’ inner experience. These themes are illustrated through original objects, quotations from Survivors, and artistic works.
The first part introduces visitors to the different groups of prisoners registered in the camp, as well as the stages of the brutal and humiliating process of transformation into a prisoner: the initial shock, forced nudity during bathing, shaving of hair, confiscation of all personal belongings, receiving the striped camp uniform, and the registration itself, symbolized by personal cards, camp photographs, and the tattooed number.
The second part presents daily camp life: from the morning bell, to washing, meals, roll calls, hours of slave labor, and the night spent in the camp barracks.
The final part is devoted to the inner experiences of prisoners, the constant elements of camp existence. The themes
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