The museum of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, closed to visitors since mid-March because of the pandemic, launched on Wednesday an appeal for financial aid to be able to continue its mission of memory and education . The year 2020 marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, which has become the symbol of all German death camps.
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" We are calling for financial assistance from all those who consider it necessary to preserve memory, " said a statement published on the museum's official website. " The 2020 budget has collapsed, " adds the text, despite " special support " from the Polish Ministry of Culture and the Auschwitz-Birkenau International Foundation, which will help maintain jobs and continue work to maintain jobs. remnants of this former death camp. On the other hand, the museum lacks funds for all of its educational, scientific, editorial activities and for its exhibitions.
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Visited each year by more than two million people, the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial is particularly active on social networks. He is followed by 331,000 people on Facebook and more than a million on Twitter. Closed since March 12, the museum can only reopen in early July, according to its site.
Between 1940 and the beginning of 1945, Nazi Germany had exterminated at Auschwitz-Birkenau about 1.1 million people, including one million Jews from different European countries. This camp, where some 80,000 non-Jewish Poles, 25,000 Roma and 20,000 Soviet soldiers also died, was liberated by the Red Army in January 1945.
