"AUSCHWITZ. NOT LONG AGO. NOT FAR AWAY"
in Kansas city
Kansas City will be the second location in the United States to present the exhibition "Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away." prepared by the Auschwitz Museum and the Spanish company Musealia. The official opening of the exhibition at the Bank of America Gallery at the Union Station will take place on 14 June, which in Poland is the National Day of Remembrance for the Victims of German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camps.
"The exhibition will open on the 81st anniversary of the first transport of Poles to Auschwitz. It is very important. The exhibit previously presented in Madrid and New York shows the most difficult page in the book of human history," said Auschwitz Museum Director Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński.
"May this book teach us the correct and reasonable view, our own responsibility, the rational use of today's new forms of reaction because there is still too much antisemitism, racism, xenophobia. It is not a question about the world today. It is a question about us, about our possibility to react. The ability of each and every one of us," emphasized Piotr Cywiński.
"Union Station is Kansas City's visual voice and historic home. The exhibitions we host are vitally important in keeping our history and mission alive and our voice strong. Bringing 'Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.' to our vast and diverse communities is one of the highest honors we can imagine," said George Guastello, Union Station President & CEO.
"Hundreds of thousands of American military passed through Union Station on the way to the two World Wars. After the wars, we were the scene of countless reunions. And, in fact, after WWII, we helped welcome Holocaust survivors to their new homes, right here in the Midwest. Indeed, ours is a history filled with humility and honor," he added.
"As June 14th - the day of opening this exhibition - approaches, we are so gratified at the tremendous interest already expressed from supporters and ticket buyers. After a five-year journey with the tremendous producers and partners to make this a reality in Kansas City, we are well on our way to seeing a record-setting attendance and, more importantly, bringing the powerful and important message of Auschwitz to people from all over the United States and across generations," George Guastello said.
"Auschwitz did not start with gas chambers. Hatred does not happen overnight; it builds up slowly among people. It does so with words and thoughts, with small everyday acts, with prejudices. When we had the vision to create the exhibition, we conceived its narrative as an opportunity to understand better how such a place could come to exist, and as a warning of where hatred can take us to. Therefore, it is of vital importance to remember the road that led to Auschwitz and the consequences it had," said Luis Ferreiro, the director of Musealia.
The exhibition traces the development of Nazi ideology and tells the transformation of an ordinary Polish town of Oświęcim where during the occupation, the German Nazis created the largest concentration camp and extermination center—at which ca. 1 million Jews, and tens of thousands of others, were murdered.
Paweł Sawicki