Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum - The National Exhibitions

The National Exhibitions

Since 1960 the so-called "national exhibitions" have been located in the former concentration camp Auschwitz I. Most of them were renewed from time to time, for example those of Belgium, France, Hungary, Netherlands, Slovakia, Czech Republic and the former Soviet Union. The German exhibition, which was made by the former GDR, has not been renewed since.

The first national exhibition of the Soviet Union was opened in 1961 and renewed in 1977 and 1985. In 2003 the Russian organizing committee suggested to present a completely new exhibition. The Soviet part of the museum was closed, but the reopening was delayed as there were differences in the questions of the territorial situation of the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1941. The question of the territories of the Baltic countries, eastern Poland and parts of Romania could not be solved.

In 1978 Austria opened its own exhibition, presenting itself as a victim of National Socialism. This one-sided view motivated the Austrian political scientist Andreas Maislinger to work in the museum within the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ARSP) in 1980/81. Later he founded the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service. The Austrian federal president Rudolf Kirchschläger had advised Maislinger that as a young Austrian he did not need to atone for anything in Auschwitz. Due to this disapproving attitude of the official Austrian representation, the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service could not be launched before September 1992.