The Oshpitzin Jewish Museum in Oświęcim, the town in southern Poland where the Nazis built the Auschwitz death camp, has completed another element in its complex of memorial sites in the city — transforming a Nazi bunker in the Jewish cemetery into a “Bunker of Memory”
The project, begun last year, involved the creation of an installation consisting of 20 fragments of matzevot, with signage explaining them and a learning path through the cemetery.
It was carried out with the support of the Town of Oświęcim, the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland, and numerous private donors.
Museum staff and volunteers from Austria, Germany, Ukraine, and the USA used special clamps to affix the restored fragments to the outer walls of the bunker, which was built by the Nazis in the cemetery. It was used for storage after the war.
The cemetery dates from the 19th century and was totally demolished during WW2. Most of the matzevot were removed and replaced in regular rows during extensive restoration work in the 1980s.
The fragments came from matzevot “destroyed by the Germans during the Holocaust in connection with the construction of a road leading to the Buna Werke factory of the IG Farbenindustrie conglomerate,” the museum said.
It added, “The ‘Bunker of Memory’ project not only commemorates the Jewish residents of Oświęcim but also educates about the history and culture of the local Jewish community.”
A memorial built of matzevot already has long stood in the middle of the cemetery.
Watch a video summarizing the progress of the Bunker of Memory project:
The Bunker of Memory is the latest commemorative project carried out by the museum and the Auschwtiz Jewish Center Foundation. Another recent project was the creation of an award-winning memorial park on the site of the town’s destroyed Great Synagogue.
Read about recent Ground Penetrating Radar research carried out on the cemetery
1 comment on “Poland: In Oświęcim, the Bunker of Memory commemorative project in the Jewish cemetery is completed — watch the video”
Fantastic to see what can be done with vision & determination, Kol ha Cavod to all those involved!
Would be great to see this all over Poland.