HUMAN INTEREST
Poland needs help to preserve Auschwitz
Created: 26.01.2009 08:08On the eve of the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz the state owned museum, which now resides on the grounds of the death camp, has appealed for international aid to keep the memorial open.
Without some 100 million euros what remains of the German Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland can’t be preserved for future generations the museum claims and calls for international support.
The world-famous symbol of the Holocaust badly requires restoration but the cost is well beyond the capabilities of the state-owned museum.
“It is not fair that the burden of conservation falls solely on Poland,” said Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich.
The appeal for funds comes as the museum prepares to commemorate International Holocaust day on January 27.
Schudrich believes that other countries should help carry the financial burden, especially Germany, but also the many nations whose citizens died in the camp.
The chairman of the International Auschwitz Council, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, also believes that the world should take responsibility for preserving the camp for future generations. “The only chance of saving what is left is via international help,” said Bartoszewski, who himself was an Auschwitz prisoner.
In the past the museum at Auschwitz has received international financial aid but curators say it hasn‘t been enough for pay for the extensive work that needs to be done on the site. In 1990s the museum received some 25 million dollars for specific investments and conservation programmes.
Recently, however, foreign contributions to its annual budget amount to only 4-5 percent of its total budget.
Over one million people died in Auschwitz, around 90 per cent of them Jewish. (jm/pg)
Source: Rzeczpospolita
Poland needs help to preserve Auschwitz
Created: 26.01.2009 08:08On the eve of the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz the state owned museum, which now resides on the grounds of the death camp, has appealed for international aid to keep the memorial open.
Without some 100 million euros what remains of the German Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in southern Poland can’t be preserved for future generations the museum claims and calls for international support.
The world-famous symbol of the Holocaust badly requires restoration but the cost is well beyond the capabilities of the state-owned museum.
“It is not fair that the burden of conservation falls solely on Poland,” said Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich.
The appeal for funds comes as the museum prepares to commemorate International Holocaust day on January 27.
Schudrich believes that other countries should help carry the financial burden, especially Germany, but also the many nations whose citizens died in the camp.
The chairman of the International Auschwitz Council, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, also believes that the world should take responsibility for preserving the camp for future generations. “The only chance of saving what is left is via international help,” said Bartoszewski, who himself was an Auschwitz prisoner.
In the past the museum at Auschwitz has received international financial aid but curators say it hasn‘t been enough for pay for the extensive work that needs to be done on the site. In 1990s the museum received some 25 million dollars for specific investments and conservation programmes.
Recently, however, foreign contributions to its annual budget amount to only 4-5 percent of its total budget.
Over one million people died in Auschwitz, around 90 per cent of them Jewish. (jm/pg)
Source: Rzeczpospolita
