Abstract
Auschwitz Birkenau State Museum located in Poland is the one of the most recognizable, significant places of the Holocaust memory. Symbol of death, mass murder, tragedy, and the Nazi crimes makes it important for millions of people all around the world. Original architectural structure, wooden barracks, ruins of crematory and the gas chambers makes the whole complex full of emotions for the visitors. Visiting Memorial is like touching the past, connecting with the victims. 2.36 million people visited Auschwitz Memorial and Museum in 2019. Auschwitz Memorial is not only the authentic space but also the big collection of historical objects. Working with artifacts with the tragic history behind is more complicated that in the any other type of the institution. In the Auschwitz Museum Collections we store and preserve items originating from the camp and the part of the personal belongings brought here by Jews condemned to extermination: About 110,000 shoes, 3,800 suitcases, 2,100 which bear the names of the owners, more than 12,000 pots and pans,470 prostheses and orthopedic braces, over 4,100 works of visual art (about 2,000 of which were made by prisoners in the camp), two tonnes of human hair and many other historical objects connected strictly with the KonzentrationsLager Auschwitz. Some question we explore include: How to manage this large special collection? How to present for the public items being the same time “crime evidence”? What about the loans for other institutions? Offering travelling exhibitions from Auschwitz Museum-needed or not, what about emotions and authenticity?
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Travelling exhibition, Historical evidence, Collections management
