On Tuesday 18th April a ceremony was held for the signing of a letter of intent for the Malopolska (Lesser Poland) County to take over the Remembrance Museum of Land of Oświęcim Residents and co-manage it together with the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. The event was attended by Marshal Witold Kozłowski, Iwona Gibas of the County Board, Andrzej Skrzypiński Oświęcim District Head, Teresa Jankowska member of the Oświęcim District Board, Dorota Mleczko director of the Remembrance Museum of Land of Oświęcim Residents and Monika Gubała director of the Department of Culture and National Heritage of the Marshal’s Office of the Malopolska Region.
“This is a particularly important event because today we signed a letter of intent to take over the running of a very important museum. It tells the story of what was happening, not on the inside of the Auschwitz walls, but on the outside. And it was happening at a time when the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp was very much in operation. We will work with Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński to ensure that the museum has the best possible conditions for its functioning. This letter is only a fragment of our multifaceted cooperation with the Oświęcim district. We are also very keen to support the county in the expansion of a school and educational centre. Students with various disabilities have truly phenomenal conditions there, some of the best in Poland – according to the opinions of many professionals who have visited it. I thank the District Head for being open and willing to cooperate. We realize that this is not an easy thing to do, but we are primarily moving in the area of self-government and there are more important projects ahead of us,” said Marshal Witold Kozłowski.
The object of the museum is to present the centuries-old history of the Oświęcim region through the prism of the fate of its inhabitants, taking into account ethnic and cultural diversity, building local identity. It is of particular importance to show the tragic situation of the local population after the outbreak of World War II and to present the aid rendered to the prisoners of the German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau by the inhabitants of the land of Oświęcim and the Polish resistance movement under the terror of the occupation and in the context of the extermination plan carried out in the camp.
The museum’s location in the so-called Lagerhaus building on Kolbego Street in Oświęcim complements the historical narrative. The building is part of the historic complex of pre-war buildings of the Polish Tobacco Monopoly Plant. From 1940-1944, commonly known as the Lagerhaus, it was used as a warehouse for flour, groats and sugar for the German staff of Auschwitz Concentration Camp. The official opening of the museum’s permanent exhibition took place on 25th April 2022.
“I am extremely pleased to participate in this event, because as a local government official from the Oświęcim district, I had the pleasure of being at the opening of this museum. I am very grateful to the Marshal and the District Head for the fact that such an initiative was received with such understanding. This modern museum, built with ministerial funds, will now be under the care of the Malopolska (Lesser Poland) County, so that it will be a nationwide institution. Cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is not new for us, after all, we co-manage other institutions and the Ministry is a great support for us,” added Iwona Gibas of the County Board.
The change in organiser aims at broadening the scope of the museum’s activities along with enriching the facility’s capabilities in terms of subject matter, organisation and financing – so that its potential serves both regional and national needs.
Author: Press Office of the Marshal’s Office of the Malopolska Region/ACH Edited: (pt)
The signing of the letter of intent was attended by (from left): Monika Gubała director of the Department of Culture and National Heritage at the Office of the Marshal of the Malopolska Region, Iwona Gibas from the County Board, Marshal Witold Kozłowski, Oświęcim District Head Andrzej Skrzypiński, member of the Oświęcim district board Teresa Jankowska, Remembrance Museum of Land of Oświęcim Residents director Dorota Mleczko.
