A crucial lesson for today

Saba Kidane

The 27th of January 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp in what was German-occupied Poland. Over 1.1 million men, women and children were killed at the camp during wwii. Established in 1940 after Oswiecem was annexed to the Third Reich, Auschwitz has become a symbol of terror, genocide, and the Shoah.

Speaking to  L’Osservatore Romano’s Saba Kidane ahead of the 80th anniversary, the Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Mr Piotr Cywiński, reiterated the crucial role of the survivors who, alongside world leaders, gathered to mark the anniversary of the liberation, highlighting the importance of remembrance and responsibility.

How will you commemorate the event this year and how will it be different from other years?

This year, we will be certainly focused completely on the survivors that will be with us, perhaps 50 or perhaps even 60 persons. And they will be the main, let’s say, the main guests, the most important persons on that day. They will deliver the main speeches. There will be no political speeches at all. There will be some common prayers, of course. And we will pay tribute to the victims with candles.

What is the significance of remembering, in light of the current situation in the world?

I think that remembrance is perhaps one of the few “helps” that we have to understand our position today, to understand our tasks, our responsibilities and our needs. Perhaps, remembrance is something very close to the experience, I think, in order to be an adult, let’s say today, to be mature.

Survivors are ageing and will eventually no longer be with us. How can we ensure that what happened here does not become just another terrible story in history, say in 50 years time, to the children born today?

I think we have to understand fully our common effort after the war, in order to avoid such tragedies in Europe at least: the creation of the European Union, all the spirit of community in Europe, cooperation between countries, between nations, also between churches, all the ecumenical efforts, were, let’s say, a sort of answer in order to show that the coexistence among different groups, a specific coexistence, even more a cooperation between those groups, are a way that is certainly more moral, more fruitful for everybody.

The travelling exhibition “Auschwitz: not long ago, not far away”, is currently in Toronto. Is this something that is aimed at people who cannot make it to Auschwitz? Or is it a different thing?

Of course, nothing will be the same as a visit to the authentic place. That’s true. But, we have to reach also those who cannot come for different reasons. For reasons like economical, financial, or people who cannot travel for different reasons. And I think this public must also have access to this history. This was the goal of this exhibition. But we are trying also to reach those people who cannot travel to Poland, in some different ways. For example, since last January, we have provided to those who want to — schools or to families or to associations — a possibility to be guided online. But by a normal guide who is walking on the site, who is showing everything through the internet, who can answer questions, who can enter into a discussion with those who have some questions or remarks. Not everybody can make the travel, so we try also to go with our message everywhere where it is possible.

The Netherlands recently decided to release the names of hundreds of thousands of suspected Nazi collaborators. Do you think that this is a helpful way to remember?

I think that remembrance does not touch only the issue of the victims because the victims are not the anthropological main problem. They were innocent. They were transported to Auschwitz and they were killed. However, the main anthropological problem is the perpetrators. We have to work on those issues also in order to answer, to find some answers. How was it possible? What was the impact of the propaganda? What was the impact of the German state authority on this question? Hitler needed only six years between arrival in his position to start the Second World War, and he didn’t have social media or internet at that time. So I think that the question of the perpetrators or their collaborators is extremely important to be analysed. The problem is that, of course, survivors wrote their memoirs, their testimonies, the SS didn’t. So we are a little bit in a lack of sources. But certainly, it’s not something that we can not try to do.

So, therefore, would you say that it is correct to release these names?

I don’t know, let’s say, details of the methodology, so I don’t want to give my opinion on this because I don’t know the details, but I think that I don’t see any reason not to show personal responsibility in those crimes.

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(The interview has been slightly edited for length
and clarity.)