In Auschwitz, another museum is to be established

Warsaw - In Auschwitz, right next to the state museum on the territory of the former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, a new museum is to be established capturing the heroic deeds of good Poles who helped the prisoners at that time. This was reported today by the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, which stated that it is an idea from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.

The establishment of the new museum is to take place on June 14, when Poland commemorates the anniversary of the first large transport of prisoners to Auschwitz, remembering the victims of the Nazi camps. Prime Minister Beata Szydło and Minister of Culture Piotr Gliński are expected to attend the ceremony. However, it is peculiar, according to the newspaper, that the state museum in Auschwitz-Birkenau has not been invited, despite also commemorating the Poles who helped the prisoners.

"There is still little information about those (Poles) who helped the prisoners. Those people deserve respect and remembrance. The museum we want to create together with the ministry will be a tribute and an eternalization of their deeds,” stated the mayor of Auschwitz, Zbigniew Starzec from PiS, adding that it is "a different theme than what the state museum primarily deals with."

The district museum "Righteous from Auschwitz" is to be established in the former "SS Lagerhaus" building, which served as a food storage facility for guards in the camp.

According to the mayor, it is premature to talk about the exhibition, as this year a competition is to take place for the renovation of the building, which will follow next year.

A publication released by the state museum mentions 1,200 Poles from the area of the camp who helped the prisoners, from food and medicine to sending messages and assisting with escapes. "I do not think that the stories of the Righteous, who saved Jews, are unknown and neglected in Poland. I fear that the idea for a new museum is simultaneously a political element. This has already manifested in the museum about the Ulma family," said historian Dariusz Libionka. Another Holocaust researcher, Professor Barbara Engelking, holds a similar view. "I feel that the fates of the Righteous are being used in contemporary Poland to excuse our guilt,” she said.

The Ulma family museum, which was visited last year by Czech President Miloš Zeman, is dedicated to Poles who saved the lives of Jewish fellow citizens during World War II. The Ulma family, including six children and a pregnant woman, were murdered by the Nazis along with eight Jews they were hiding. Some historians, such as Professor Jan Grabowski, point out that just after this crime, the bodies of 24 Jews were found in the surrounding fields. They were killed by Poles who had hidden them but feared sharing the fate of the Ulmas, who were reported by a Polish collaborator, a policeman.

During the war, the Nazis murdered 1.1 to 1.5 million people in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The victims were primarily Jews, but also Russians, Poles, Roma, and members of other nations. According to historians, there were also around 50,000 Czechoslovak citizens among them.

The state museum at the former camp was visited by 1.7 million visitors two years ago, and last year the number exceeded two million.