General meeting of the International Auschwitz Committee

In June 2002 The International Auschwitz Committee (IAC) celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special general members' meeting in Oswiecim, Poland.

In the context of the concern felt by a large number of members from many European countries over the alarming spread of antisemitism and right-wing extremism, 35 concentration camp survivors held discussions with 160 young people from Germany and Poland, in the International Youth Meeting Centre Auschwitz/Oswiecim. Under the motto Let's look at where we've been, Belgian, German, Hungarian, Austrian, Polish and Czechian survivors guided small groups of young people through Birkenau and Auschwitz I. Most of the young Polish participants had never encountered Jewish camp survivors, let alone talked with them. Their stories, recounted on the site itself, made a deep impression.

Ask us questions - we are the last

Central themes for discussion were: Ask us questions - we are the last. How should we build on the past? How will our experiences be passed on when we are no longer here? Is interest in the Second World War, especially with reference to what happened in Auschwitz-Birkenau, intensifying or fading in the various countries of Europe.

Young people told about projects, exhibitions and workshops in which they had been involved on the subject of Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Coordinating office

In June 2002, also in Oswiecim, it was decided to open a coordinating office for the International Auschwitz Committee in Berlin, and apply to the German government for organisational and financial support. In June 2003 an agreement was signed by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and the International Auschwitz Committee in which it was established that the IAC would be subsidised for a period of four years. The Committee took up office space in the German Resistance Memorial Centre in Berlin.The Committee's formal activities in Germany were opened officially on October 1st 2003 by Noach Flug of Jerusalem, Chairman of the IAC, together with Germany's Minister of the Interior, Otto Schily.

Exhibition