The museum stopped operating about three months ago and is in acute financial crisis • The manager of the place begs for donations: "For years we tried to help, now we need help"

• The Auschwitz Museum is asking for an urgent financial contribution

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During an unconventional event, on Wednesday, the Auschwitz Museum issued a public call for urgent financial support, to continue the activities of the memorial site in the German extermination camp, where over a million people - most of them Jews - were murdered. The cause of the economic crisis that the memorial site is experiencing is the Corona epidemic, which led to the closure of the memorial site about three months ago, thus halting the museum's main source of revenue: visitors' entry fees.

A statement from the Auschwitz Museum calling on the general public to support a financial institution reads: "We ask everyone whose memory is important to grant them financial support, which will allow us to continue with numerous educational, research, display and publicity projects."

For donations to the museum's website  >>

The museum closed to the general public as early as March 12, with the spread of the Corona epidemic in Europe. The Polish government has taken swift and decisive steps to prevent the spread of the virus in the country, including the closure of sites and public museums. At the end of May, the museum reopened and experimented to review new visit arrangements under health procedures. During the two experimental days, only 400 people visited the memorial site, less than 3 percent of the number of site visitors in the same period a year ago. Now, the re-opening of the Auschwitz Museum is scheduled for early July. 

However, according to the administration of the Auschwitz Museum, the closure of the memorial site has caused a budget collapse for the current year and created an unprecedented situation in terms of operating the site. Entrance to the concentration camp site is only paid for visitors who receive training. Visitors' explanatory devices must also be paid. Museum management expects the number of site visitors to not return to normal for a long period of time, and the lack of revenue will cut many important projects, especially in education and research. Today, visitor fees account for about 56 percent of the memorial site's budget. About 18 percent of the site's budget is funded by the Polish Ministry of Culture and Heritage.

Conservation work at the camp site is not threatened with a break due to lack of money, as they are funded externally by the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation. The fund, which was established in 2009 with an investment of 120 million euros, decided to double its support this year for conservation work on a memorial site in light of the difficult economic situation.

"In these difficult moments, we cannot dwell on our past achievements or accelerate our work to preserve and build memory - which is the only cure for years to come," said Auschwitz Museum Director Dr. Piotr Zivinsky in a desperate call for donations. Leave to our children and grandchildren. For years we have been trying to help, now we ourselves need help. "The Auschwitz Museum is a national museum and has been recognized by UNESCO, the United Nations Cultural Organization, as a World Heritage Site.