The presentation of the exhibition “Auschwitz. Not Long Ago. Not Far Away” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York has been extended until August 30, 2020. During the first five months the exhibition was visited by 106,000 people including 34,000 students.
“I don’t think that there is a more important exhibition presented in New York at the moment. This one about Auschwitz explores the essence of mankind, analyzes the limits of what is human, and asks important questions about our contemporary responsibility. I am glad people will be able to see it there longer,” said Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, Director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
‘It is an exhibition about our contemporary world – ‘not long ago and not far away’. The language of hatred, the extremist propaganda, populism, xenophobic movements, racism, antisemitism, terror attacking innocent victims, separatism, exclusion, and indifference are constantly growing in strength,’ he added.
“Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.” was conceived of by Musealia and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
“We have been profoundly overwhelmed by the phenomenal visitor response in New York—not only by the numbers themselves, but especially by the time visitors spend in the exhibition—on average two hours—and the care, attention and respect they show for this story. Deciding to visit this exhibition is a courageous step. It means confronting oneself with a traumatic, complex and challenging past. And more importantly, it helps us understand more critically our own present,” said Luis Ferreiro, Director of Musealia and the exhibition project.
It was curated by an international panel of experts, including world-renowned scholars Dr. Robert Jan van Pelt, Dr. Michael Berenbaum, and Paul Salmons, in an unprecedented collaboration with historians and curators at the Research Center at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, led by Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz.
The exhibition traces the development of Nazi ideology and tells the transformation of an ordinary Polish town of Oświęcim where during the occupation the German Nazis created the largest concentration camp and extermination center—at which ca. 1 million Jews, and tens of thousands of others, were murdered. Victims included Polish political prisoners, Sinti and Roma, Soviet POWs, and other groups persecuted by Nazi ideology, such as: disabled, asocials, Jehovah’s Witnesses or homosexuals. In addition, the exhibition contains artifacts that depict the world of the perpetrators—SS men who created and operated the largest of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camps.
More information:
http://auschwitz.org/en/museum/news/over-100-000-visitors-of-the-exhibition-about-auschwitz-in-new-york-the-exhibit-extended-until-august-2020-,1388.html