Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport Piotr Gliński appointed Beata Szydło as part of the Museum Council at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Auschwitz for the term of office 2021-2025. “This social function is an honour and a great duty for me,” the former Prime Minister said on Tuesday.
Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport’s provision of 8 April said that a total of nine people had been appointed to the Museum Council at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum for the term of office 2021-2025. The document entered into force on the date of signature.
The Museum Council is an opinion body appointed by the Minister of Culture, in which representatives of different backgrounds sit. It supervises the fulfilment by the institution of its obligations to the collections and society. It shall also give an opinion on the annual activity plan and assess its implementation. In the previous term of office, the Council was chaired by the former Deputy Director of the Auschwitz Museum Krystyna Oleksy.
The Germans founded Auschwitz in 1940 to imprison Poles. Auschwitz II-Birkenau was established two years later. It became the site of the extermination of the Jews. There was also a network of subcamps in the camp complex. At Auschwitz, Germans killed at least 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, as well as Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners and people of other nationalities.
In 1947, a museum was built on the site of the former Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps. The former camp was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.