03 June 2013
On Thursday, June 13, 2013 the new Permanent Exhibition "Shoah" in Block 27 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, will open in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bogdan Zdrojewski, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate and Exhibition Curator Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Piotr Cywinski, Israeli and Polish officials and Holocaust survivors.
A preview tour for media will be held on Wednesday, June 12. Registration is required for both events: estee.yaari@yadvashem.org.il.
“The new exhibition “Shoah†presents the main elements of the Holocaust, placing the murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau in the larger context of the Nazis’ systematic attempt to exterminate the Jewish people. The directors of the Auschwitz –Birkenau State Museum, as well as their guides, view the exhibition as providing context which adds an important element that complements the existing displays in the State Museum,†Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev said.
The New Permanent Exhibition "Shoah" in Block 27 at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum was curated, designed and built by Yad Vashem, in coordination with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The old exhibition, dating to the 1960s Communist era, had become outdated, both in terms of content as well as of display, and most visitors to the camp chose not to enter it at all. In 2005, Yad Vashem was mandated by the State of Israel to undertake the renewal of the exhibition, which also entailed the preservation of the original barrack. It is funded by the State of Israel and with assistance from the Claims Conference.
The new exhibition combines powerful visual displays with short texts, that will provide a profound experience for the some 1.5 million annual visitors to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Curators, historians, philosophers, artists and designers, including Chanan de Lange, Michal Rovner, David Grossman, Niv Ben David, Noemi Schory and Hagit Shimoni, all participated in and contributed to the plan of the exhibition.
