The first exhibition in the barracks opened in 1947. In
Stalinist Poland, on the seventh anniversary of the first deportation of Polish captives to Auschwitz, the exhibition was revised with the assistance of former inmates. The exhibition was influenced by the
Cold War and next to pictures of Jewish ghettos, photos of
slums in the US were presented. After
Stalin's death, a new exhibition was planned in 1955. In 1959, every nation that had victims in Auschwitz received the right to present its own exhibition. However, victims like homosexuals,
Jehovah's Witnesses,
Sinti and Roma, and
Yeniche people did not receive these rights. The state of
Israel was also refused the allowance for its own exhibition as the murdered Jews in Auschwitz were not citizens of Israel. In April 1968, the Jewish exhibition, designed by
Andrzej Szczypiorski, was opened. In 1979,
Pope John Paul II held a mass in Birkenau and called the camp a "
Golgotha of our times". In 1962, a prevention zone around the museum in Birkenau (and in 1977, one around the museum in Auschwitz) was established to maintain the historical condition of the camp. These zones were confirmed by the Polish parliament in 1999. In 1967, the first big memorial monument was inaugurated and in the 1990s the first information boards were set up.
National exhibitions in
Auschwitz I. Since 1960, the so-called "national exhibitions" have been located in 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. 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 presenting a completely new exhibition. The Soviet part of the museum was closed, but the reopening was delayed due to the varying territorial situation of the Soviet Union between 1939 and 1941. The question of the territories annexed by the USSR during the war, i.e. the Baltic countries, eastern Poland, and Moldova, could not be solved. The
Yugoslav pavilion and exhibition, which memorialized Auschwitz victims primarily through their antifascist struggle, was opened in 1963. In 2002, Croatia, one of Yugoslav successor states, notified the Auschwitz Memorial Museum that it wanted the Yugoslav exhibition dismantled, demanding permission to establish its own national exhibition. In 1978, Austria opened its own exhibition, presenting itself as a victim of
National Socialism. This one-sided view motivated Austrian political scientist
Andreas Maislinger to work in the museum within the
Action Reconciliation Service for Peace organization in 1980-81. Later he founded the
Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service, the
Gedenkdienst. Austrian President
Rudolf Kirchschläger had advised Maislinger that as a young Austrian, he did not need to atone for anything in Auschwitz. Due to the disapproving attitude of Austrian officials, the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service could not be launched before September 1992.
Filming The museum has allowed scenes for four films to be filmed on the site:
Pasażerka (1963) by Polish director
Andrzej Munk,
Landscape After the Battle (1970) by Polish director
Andrzej Wajda, the
War and Remembrance television miniseries (1988), and
Denial (2016). Although the Polish government permitted the construction of film sets on its grounds to shoot scenes for ''
Schindler's List'' (1993), director
Steven Spielberg chose to build a "replica" camp entrance outside the infamous archway for the scene in which the train arrives carrying the women who were saved by
Oskar Schindler.
Religious disputes In 1979, newly elected Polish Pope John Paul II celebrated
mass on the grounds of Auschwitz II to some 500,000 people, and announced that
Edith Stein would be
beatified. Some Catholics erected a cross near Bunker 2 of Auschwitz II where she had been gassed. A short while later, a
Star of David appeared at the site, leading to a proliferation of religious symbols, which were eventually removed.
Carmelite nuns opened a convent near Auschwitz I in 1984. After some Jewish groups called for the removal of the convent, representatives of the Catholic Church agreed in 1987. One year later, the Carmelites erected an 8 m (26 ft) tall cross from the 1979 mass near their site, just outside
Block 11 and barely visible from within the camp. This led to protests by Jewish groups, who said that mostly Jews were killed at Auschwitz and demanded that religious symbols be kept away from the site. The Catholic Church told the Carmelites to move by 1989, but they remained until 1993, leaving the cross behind. In 1998, after further calls to remove the cross, some 300 smaller crosses were erected by local activists near the large one, leading to further protests and heated exchanges. Following an agreement between the Polish Catholic Church and the Polish government, the smaller crosses were removed in 1999, but a large papal one remains.
Liberation day anniversaries In 1995, the 50th anniversary of the liberation ceremony was held in Auschwitz I, with approximately one thousand ex-prisoners in attendance. In 1996, Germany made 27 January, the day of the liberation of Auschwitz, the official day for the commemoration of the victims of National Socialism. Countries that have adopted similar memorial days include Denmark (Auschwitz Day), Italy (Memorial Day), and Poland (Memorial Day for the Victims of Nazism). A commemoration was held for the 70th anniversary of the liberation in 2015. On the 78th anniversary of the camp's liberation in 2023, the Russian delegation to Poland was not invited, due to the country's
invasion of Ukraine. ==Visiting the museum==