Director of Auschwitz: Memory
is essential
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| Piotr Cywinski and the Polish President arrive for the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the former Nazi-German concentration and extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau (ANSA) |
Two hundred survivors gather at Auschwitz to commemorate the
liberation of the concentration and extermination camp operated by the Nazis.
During Sunday’s Angelus Pope Francis appealed for remembrance of the Holocaust
saying that “in the face of this immense tragedy indifference is not admissible
and memory is due.” On the occasion of this anniversary, the director of the
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum speaks to Vatican News about the
importance of memory in a world of rapid change.
By Lydia O’Kane
On 27 January 1945, the Soviet army made its way into
Auschwitz, and liberated the remaining 7,000 prisoners, who at
that stage were sick and dying.
An estimated 1.3 million people, mostly Jews were deported
to the concentration and extermination camp operated by Nazi
Germany in occupied Poland during the Second World War.
At least 1.1 million people, were murdered at the camp,
including St. Edith Stein, and Fr Maximillian Kolbe who was killed after
offering up his life for a complete stranger.
Seventy-five years on from the horrors that took place at
Auschwitz, the survivors of this camp of terror will be the focus of
commemorations on Monday. Now elderly men and women, they are the living
witnesses to the crimes that took place there.
Survivors at centre of commemorations
In an interview with Vatican News, the director of the
Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum, Piotr Cywinski, said that it was
probably going to be one of the last big anniversaries of survivors. Around 200
will be attending the event, and he stressed that they will have the main input
during the ceremony. “We wanted to organize it completely around the
survivors”, he said.
Importance of memory
In a recent speech, Pope Francis pointed out that “if we
lose our memory, we destroy our future”. The Director echoed these sentiments
by saying that in the world of rapid change “memory is essential”.
Speaking about an increase of selfishness and indifference
in many parts of the world, Mr Cywinski noted that “people are afraid about the
future”, and when people are fearful they become “more and more closed in on
themselves; they are more and more selfish….” This, he added, leads to a
society that is not able to react to terrible situations that are happening in
other parts of the world.
He went on to say that there are “some very bad evolutions
in politics” and we are seeing a new wave of populism. He pointed out
that a “new ideology of hatred” is being sown which is manifesting itself in
xenophobia and anti-Semitism that is becoming ever more visible in society.
That is why, in light of this, he said remembrance is so important.
The Role of Education
Discussing the role of education as a way of changing
attitudes and fostering good will, the Director underlined its importance; but
he also said that in a world where “we are in crisis with our families, we are
in crisis with our culture, we are in crisis with are communication”, we need
to find a new way to educate people. Education in schools, he pointed out, has
not evolved from what it was thirty years ago and has failed to keep pace with
the changing needs of society.
Documenting survivor testimonies
As this 75th anniversary is marked, there
are now fewer and fewer survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau who are left to tell
their stories. Asked about the process of documenting accounts of what
happened, Mr Cywinski said that they are “extremely well documented”. “There are
tens of thousands of testimonies, written, audio and video in several big
institutions around the world.” But, he cautioned that it was very important to
separate fact from fiction and he stressed that there are many accounts that
are being published about Auschwitz, and indeed the Holocaust, that are
fictitious and “can be dangerous.”
Papal Visit
In August 2016 Pope Francis, following in the
footsteps of his predecessors, paid a visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum
and Memorial during the World Meeting of Families in Poland. Dr. Cywinski,
describing it as a very important visit, also commented that what struck him in
particular was the silence of the Pope, which he described as “very meaningful”
and on a personal level, “very very moving”. He added that, “it was also
a way to show that silent prayer can maybe be a more, let’s say, adequate
answer than many many different discourses.”
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