The second workshop is a collective activity dedicated to the analysis of accounts of former prisoners. They are expected to present their reflections to the group after having analysed accounts and artworks of one of the specific subjects displayed in the exhibition. The last activity suggested in the educational material is to ask students to find the painting or drawing most strongly corresponding to a former prisoner’s account and justify their choice.
Thanks to this exhibition about the history of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau through the prism of art, students can be easily invited to reflect and share their feelings. For example, they can describe the work of art that had the greatest impression on them, that moved them the most. They can also think about the limits of artistic interpretations of the Holocaust.
As Dr. Piotr Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum once said: “We live in times where the former prisoners are aged 80 or more and very soon they will no longer be with us. So I was wondering how these accounts of prisoners could be immortalized. Then I realised that they are immortalized in art. They are somewhere at a subconscious level, it is something that speaks to our sensitivity and our heart. This is where you should look for answers to the deepest questions about human nature, human mind-set and the things that have been tormenting them here in the camp and for many, many decades after liberation.”
The travelling exhibition is composed of 24 roll-ups that can be borrowed by schools and various institutions for a defined period of time. For technical questions about rental, please contact our exhibition department directly at the following address: [email protected], +48 338 448 091.