MEETING OF THE COUNCIL OF THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR EDUCATION ABOUT AUSCHWITZ AND THE HOLOCAUST
The meeting was inaugurated by the visit to the Museum and the new Visitor Services Centre under construction, being erected in the immediate vicinity of historical site of the Memorial thanks to the support of the European Union and the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. The project made it possible to save the historical building, within which a butchery and creamery were situated during the period of camp operations.
Thanks to the subsidy from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as well as the support of Ronald S. Lauder and Joel and Ulrika Citron, a modern three-storey hostel is being erected next to the new Visitor Services Center. It shall provide the accommodation for volunteers, interns as well as participants of longer study visits, conferences or seminars organized by ICEAH.
What is more, meeting participants had the opportunity to visit the renovated cinema hall within the existing visitors' center and watch the 8-minute film constituting the introduction to a visit at the Memorial. The film is available in 16 language versions, it was prepared thanks to the support of the Lewis Family Foundation and directed by David Conover.
Members of the Council also visited the new ICEAH seat, the premises of the so-called Old Theatre, commissioned directly before the outbreak of the pandemic. Its modern education halls, exhibition spaces, a library and reading room together with conference halls make it possible to conduct extensive educational activity, enabling in-depth understanding and reflexion on the significance of the tragedy of victims of German Nazi concentration and extermination camp.
At the beginning of the first part of the session, on behalf of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and National Heritage Prof. Piotr Gliński, Head of the Ministry’s Department of Culture and National Heritage Radosław Jaśczak handed over the certificates of appointment to ICEAH Council members.
Dr. Tomasz Kranz, Director of the State Museum at Majdanek was appointed Chairman of the Council.
During the meeting, Council Rules and Regulations were adopted, describing in details the principles of its functioning. Andrzej Kacorzyk, ICEAH Director, presented the report concerning the activities implemented by the Center during the last two years.
Director Kacorzyk summarized the work of his team during the extremely difficult period of the Covid-19 pandemic. He presented new
The summary and evaluation of activities of the International Center for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust at the Auschwitz Museum in the years 2019-22 as well as challenges for ICEAH during the pandemic and the establishment of the new Visitor Services Centre constituted main topics on the agenda of the inaugural meeting of the new term of office of the ICEAH Council (2022-26) organized on 19 December in Oświęcim.
Alicja Wójcik