Today marks the opening of a new national exhibition at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The previous display, dedicated to the fate of Polish prisoners, had been presented from 1985 to 2023 under the title “The Struggle and Martyrdom of the Polish Nation in the Years 1939–1945.”
Over the past two years, extensive conservation work has been carried out in Block 15 of the main Auschwitz camp. The newly unveiled exhibition is entitled “Poles in the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. Residents of the Oświęcim Region during the Second World War.”
The exhibition’s architectural concept is rooted in minimalism, employing black and white as the dominant palette and gradually introducing more complex spatial arrangements. Mirrors are used as a supporting medium, enhancing the sense of disorientation and reflecting the vast scale of Auschwitz. The narrative unfolds both chronologically and thematically, designed to communicate key messages to a broad audience. The visitor’s journey is structured to progressively build a sense of overwhelming terror, the enormity of the crimes, and the isolation of the individual. Reproductions of paintings by former prisoner Władysław Siwek illustrate daily life in the camp, partially compensating for the scarcity of surviving artifacts. Sculptures depicting prisoners in striped uniforms serve as a meaningful reference to the earlier Polish exhibition.
A wide, monumental staircase leading to the first floor evokes the aesthetics of Nazi architecture and introduces the section devoted to the German colonization plans for the town of Oświęcim. In October 1939, the town was incorporated into the Third Reich and renamed Auschwitz. At the center of this part of the exhibition stands a model of the Germanized Auschwitz complex, accompanied by original sketches by Hans Stosberg.
The final two rooms address the fate of several thousand local residents who were displaced to allow for the expansion of Auschwitz-Birkenau, as well as their involvement in efforts to aid prisoners. The architecture of the exhibition evolves into a labyrinth of cubic forms, culminating in a restrained glass sculpture. Through its simplicity and sparing use of materials, the exhibition’s design fosters contemplation and reflection on its content.
This new presentation complements the museum’s main exhibition by focusing specifically on the fate of Polish citizens in the German Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. It not only documents the history of political prisoners but also acknowledges other groups of Polish citizens incarcerated there—including Polish Jews, many of whom were deported to Auschwitz to be murdered in the industrialized phase of the Holocaust.
The second part of the exhibition addresses the wartime history of Oświęcim renamed into Auschwitz, encompassing the realities of occupation, forced displacement, the activities of IG Farbenindustrie, and German plans for the city’s colonization and Germanization. It also highlights the life-threatening assistance extended to Auschwitz prisoners by local inhabitants—referred to as the “People of Good Will”—who lived within the so-called camp interest zone, a 16-square-miles area isolating the camp from the outside world. The final element of the exhibition is an attempt to recreate the names and biographies of the resistance members who helped the prisoners.
