Poland to donate €10,000,000 to Auschwitz perpetual fund.
The Polish government is to contribute 10 million euros for the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation which is to oversee the conservation and maintenance work at the site of the former Nazi German concentration camp in southern Poland.A draft bill which is to approve the donation has had its first reading in the parliamentary commission for culture and the media. Its chairwoman, Iwona Śledzińska-Katarasińska, said that preserving Auschwitz, a site of unique importance, is of utmost siginificance not only for Poland and Europe, but also for the whole world.
Chairman of the Auschwitz Foundation, former Auschwitz prisoner Władysław Bartoszewski, called on deputies to support the draft irrespective of party differences. ‘Such a non-partisan gesture would be appreciated by both the Germans and Jews, showing that all the parties in Poland, from the right to the left, share the view that the site of the former camp should be preserved as a testimony for the whole mankind’, he said.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, which was established in January 2009, hopes to create a Perpetuity Fund of 120 million euros by 2015 to ensure the consolidation, restoration and long-term maintenance of the camp site.
Several countries have already pledged to contribute 85 million euros, the most sizeable contribution (60 million euros) having been offered by Germany. The United States, Austria, Great Britain and Israel have also contributed to the fund.
The site of the Auschwitz camp extends over an area of almost 200 hectares and comprises 155 buildings, most which are badly in need of repair. The conservation projects are also to cover the camp’s archives, documents and objects in the museum collection. Over 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished at Auschwitz.
And not before time.
From July 2011, the Italian exhibition at the Auschwitz Memorial is closed to visitors.
Not educational in any way, it failed to meet the basic requirements for national exhibitions as set by the International Auschwitz Council, which have been in force since the 1990s.
The Italian exhibition, opened in 1980, was made up of a ribbon of fabric in the form of a spiral, hung with paintings intended to represent various incidents from the history of Italy in the 1930s and 1940s. The designers stated that the final section was supposed to be an apotheosis of positive colors signifying victory over the time of contempt and persecution.
This type of exhibition can be categorized as art for art’s sake and would be referred to in a gallery of contemporary art as an installation or performance. This type of art is not presented on the grounds of the former Auschwitz camp, where the educational dimension is connected with remembrance, education, and making the younger generation aware of the tragedy of the victims of the Shoah and the concentration camps, as well as encouraging people to reflect upon their personal responsibility for the world around them and its future.
The organizers of the closed exhibition, the Italian ANED association, have been reminded regularly over the years about the fact that the exhibition did not conform to the rules established by the International Auschwitz Council. Positive talks are underway with the Italian government about creating a new narrative-historical exhibition in the future that will meet the requirements set by the International Auschwitz Council and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
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President Obama, ends European tour in Poland
US President Barack Obama has reaffirmed relations between the US and Poland, as his six-day tour of Europe drew to a close.
He praised Poland’s economic growth and its support of pro-democracy movements in North Africa and the Middle East.
Mr Obama also said the shelving of his predecessor’s plan to build a missile defence shield in Poland did not put the country or region at risk.
Poland PM Donald Tusk said 0ne had been reassured by Mr Obama’s words.
In a brief press conference with Mr Tusk, Mr Obama said Poland was “one of our strongest and closest allies and a leader in Europe” and “a living example of what is possible when countries take reform seriously”.
He praised efforts by members of Poland’s Soviet-era pro-democracy Solidarity movement to offer support to Egypt’s post-revolution government.
The BBC’s Stephen Evans in Warsaw says Polish leaders had been hoping Mr Obama would rectify what many saw as a slight, when he cancelled President George W Bush’s missile shield plan as part of efforts to “reset” US relations with Russia.
Many in Poland were disappointed when the US decided not to go ahead with the shield on Polish soil, says our correspondent, reading is as deference to Russia and as a sign of a lack of commitment to Poland.
Mr Obama repeated his insistence that the strategy was about reaffirming the Nato principles of mutual defence, saying it allowed their two countries to deal with shared threats.
“Nato is the strongest alliance in history primarily because it has a very simple principle – that we defend each other,” he said.
“What we want to do is create an environment in this region in which peace and security are a given – that’s not just good for this region, it’s good for United States of America. We will always be there for Poland.”
Mr Tusk said Mr Obama’s words “give us the sense that together we work for the purpose of Polish security” and that the US strategy was “the best way to guarantee security for Poland”.
The two countries also announced plans to hold high-level bilateral business meetings to promote ways of boosting economic growth.
Mr Obama said they had discussed co-operation on “a range of clean energy initiatives” including natural gas projects and nuclear power.
Poland has reserves of shale which hold natural gas.
Our correspondent says Germany and Russia do not want those reserves opened up, Germany for environmental reasons and Russia perhaps because it currently exports much gas to the whole region.
He says the hope in Warsaw was that Mr Obama would support the opening of the shale reserves, ideally with the help of American energy companies.
The US had already announced one new initiative on security – to set up a US air detachment in Poland to train Polish personnel.
However, Mr Obama has not granted Poland’s desire for a visa waiver for its citizens travelling to the US.
UK Government to assist with Auschwitz funding.
KRAKOW TOURS – The UK government is set to contribute £2.1m towards the preservation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland, it has been announced.
The joint contribution will mainly be provided by the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Foreign Office.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation will be funded over the next three years.
More than a million people were murdered by the Nazis at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.
The concentration camp was the largest site for the mass murder of Jews.
In recent years a number of countries have contributed to the fund to maintain the main concentration camp, Auschwitz, and its nearby satellite camp of Birkenau.
Auschwitz and Birkenau were operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II, and opened as a museum in 1947.
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said the camp, which stands as an enduring symbol of the Holocaust, was an importance place of remembrance which served to educate people about the horrors of the Holocaust.
Speaking at the Jewish Museum in London, he said: “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that Auschwitz-Birkenau stands as a perpetual reminder of the pain and destructive force of hate.
“We must ensure that the lessons from the Holocaust are taught today and to future generations.”
And Foreign Secretary William Hague said Auschwitz-Birkenau underlined “the horrific consequences of intolerance”.
Mr Hague said he was “proud that the UK is able to play a part in commemorating the millions of victims who died there” and was helping to ensure the camp’s preservation to educate future generations on “the evils of that period in history”.
And Lord Greville Janner of Braunstone, who chairs the Holocaust Educational Trust, said the financial support sends a clear message that the camp should be maintained for future generations.
He said: “Through our Lessons from Auschwitz Project, the Holocaust Educational Trust gives over 3,000 British students each year the opportunity to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau.
“This announcement will ensure that when young people visit Auschwitz, they will see for themselves what can happen when racism and prejudice is allowed to go unchecked.”
Prince William, Polish?
Historian Jerzy Łapo from the Museum of Folk Culture in Węgorzewo in Masuria, northern Poland, claims that Prince William, who was made the Duke of Cambridge after his wedding a few days ago, has roots in a family which lived in Masuria for centuries.
Having studied the family tree of the Lehndorff family, who thought of themselves as Prussian and who are related to the British royal family, historian Dr. Łapo has established that Maria Eleonora von Lehndorff, born 1723 in Steinort (Sztynort), near Węgorzewo, was among the ancestors of Prince William.
Her grandson, the King of Denmark Christian IX, was the Prince William’s great, great grandfather.
The collection at the museum in Węgorzewo includes a 17th-century tombstone with the likeness of Meinhard von Lehndorff, a local dignitary who served in the army of the Polish King Sigismund the Third Vasa. He was Prince William’s grandfather with the preceding word ‘great’ repeated as many as nine times.
According to Dr. Łapo, Meinhard von Lehndorff’s face had a resemblance to the new Duke of Cambridge.
The Sztynort Palace, which was the family’s property until the end of World War Two, is now owned by the Polish-German Foundation for the Preservation of Historical Sites. There are plans to bring the palace to its former splendour.
The management of the Museum of Folk Culture in Węgorzewo hopes to bring the history of the Lehndorff family to the attention of the newly-weds and boost tourism to the region.
Donald Tusk at Downing Street to meet David Cameron.
Prime Minister David Cameron has welcomed the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, to Downing Street.
During their discussions in Number 10, the PM said they agreed to work together “very closely” in the European Union where the two countries share similar perspectives on the need for greater competition, greater deregulation and a determination to make Europe a “high growth rather than a slow growth area of the world”.
Mr Cameron also said the two leaders discussed the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa and agreed the EU should support the popular revolts.
Speaking after the meeting, the PM said:
“We had very good discussions about what is happening in Libya and North Africa and the Arab world, where we agreed Europe should make a strong and welcoming response to the Arab Spring.”
The PM said the two leaders also discussed Poland’s role in NATO, hailing their ”strong, shared efforts” in Afghanistan.
“Both Poland and Britain are making a huge contribution and we agreed to work together for a successful outcome.”
Mike Tyson to visit Poland
KRAKOW TOURS – A boxing promoter is trying to lure Mike Tyson out of retirement for a re-match with Andrzej Golota, when the American boxer is in Poland for three days in the autumn this year.
Golota faced the fearsome Tyson in 2000 when the Pole quit the bout at the beginning of the third round, after what his manager described at the time as a “panic attack”.
The bout was later ruled a No Contest after Tyson tested positive for marijuana.
“I want the two fighters meet again,” boxing promoter Tomasz Babiloński has told a tabloid newspaper in Poland.
”We’re currently in preliminary talks with Tyson’s manager and we have agreed that he will be in Poland for three days, starting 8 September,” Babiloński told the Fakt newspaper.
The bout between the two retired fighters will probably not happen, of course, and is probably merely part of the hype surrounding a visit by Tyson to Poland, who could be taking part in a boxing gala in the country. The promoter would be pleased if the two old bruisers sparred at each other a little in the gym.
Tyson, one of the most feared of all heavyweight champs when he was in his pomp, will earn around 100,000 USD during his trip to Poland, plus accommodation and flights – two business class tickets and three in the economy for his entourage.
Golota last fought in 2009, when he lost to Tomasz Adamek in five rounds. Tyson was last in the ring in 2005 when he was TKO-ed by Kevin McBride, who Adamek faces in Newark at the weekend.
Obama could be in Krakow in May
US President Barack Obama may spend a few hours in the city of Kraków during his visit to Poland in late May and place flowers at the tomb of the late President Lech Kaczynski in the Wawel Cathedral.
According to the Dziennik newspaper, which quotes a Polish government official, no decision has yet been taken but this is an option under serious consideration.
President Obama will be in Poland on 27 and 28 May.
The US president was to attend Lech Kaczynski’s state funeral last April following his death in the Smolensk air disaster but the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud made travelling to Poland impossible.
Dziennik quotes an unofficial source suggesting that the idea of paying tribute to the late Polish president came from the US Embassy in Warsaw.
The first anniversary of the air crash in Smolensk, western Russia, which killed the Polish President, the First Lady and 94 other people, mostly high-ranking state and military officials is on 10 April.
Frederic Chopin Letters – Back where they belong
KRAKOW TOURS – Six letters written by Frederic Chopin, thought to be lost in 1939, have been found and donated to a Warsaw museum dedicated to the Polish composer.
The letters, written by Chopin to his parents and sisters between 1845 and 1848, were believed lost after the outbreak of World War II.
After it emerged in 2003 that they still existed in a private collection, moves were made to secure them.
Chopin was born in Poland in 1810 but spent half of his life in France.
According to museum curator Alicja Knast, the letters were last displayed in public in Poland in 1932 and were still confirmed as being in Warsaw in 1939.
It is thought the letters went missing, like many other cultural artefacts, after the Nazis invaded Poland.
The museum was assisted in their recovery by Marek Keller, a Polish art dealer now based in Mexico.
He acquired them directly from their owners, who Knast said wished to remain anonymous.
In the letters, written in Polish, Chopin describes daily life and his cello sonata in G minor, one of his few non-piano works.
The collection, which includes letters from Chopin’s pupil Jane Stirling to his sister Ludwika, will be on display at the museum until 25 April.
Some of Chopin’s letters were written in Nohant in central France, birthplace of his lover Amantine Dupin – aka writer George Sand.
Later this year Jeremy Irons and Sharon Stone will take part in a theatrical evening devoted to their romance at the Tuscan Sun Festival in Cortona, Italy.
Adam Małysz – The Flying Moustache
KRAKOW TOURS – Ski-jumper extraordinaire, the diminutive and mustachioed Adam Malysz, is preparing for a farewell bonanza this weekend in Zakopane, Poland’s winter capital.
The multi-medal-winning sportsman, who is the only ski-jumper to have won the World Cup three times in a row, announced his retirement from the sport earlier this month.
Known internationally as ‘The Flying Moustache’ and ‘The Polish Batman’, the slight sportsmen combined a gentle, modest manner with ski-surfing feats that saw him snap up 4 Olympic medals and 7 from the World Championships.
As many as 40,000 fans are expected to descend on Zakopane this weekend, with the main attractions scheduled for Saturday 26th.
Special trains services are being laid on to help accommodate the numbers, and fake moustaches are being prepared for those not able to sport the real McCoy this Saturday.
‘I had been kind of planning to shave off the moustache,’ said Malysz, ‘but what with this action coming about, well, it would be stupid to do so.’
Besides a host of international stars who’ll be joining Malysz on the jumps, a number of pop and folk bands will be letting rip to entertain revellers. Groups such as Wilki, Papa D. Zakopower and Brathanki are all expected.
Likewise a special tribute song, entitled ‘We’re jumping for you’, has been rustled up, courtesy of Patrycja Markowska, Kasia Wilk, Piotr Cugowski oraz Grzegorz Skawiński.
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