New main exhibition at Auschwitz-Birkenau

On December 12, the first of three parts of the Museum's new Main Exhibition opened to visitors. The exhibition “Auschwitz – the Experiences of the Camp's Prisoners”, located in historic Blocks 8 and 9, presents the fates and experiences of the prisoners registered in the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz. The project is part of a multi-year program to modernize the Main Exhibition. Subsequent stages will see the creation of two further parts: an exhibition showing the camp as an institution deliberately created and developed by Nazi Germany, and an exhibition devoted to the extermination of the Jews at Auschwitz. The script was written by the Museum's director, Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński, and the head of the Research Center, Dr. Piotr Setkiewicz. New Amsterdam produced the detailed design and built the exhibition.

As part of the project, we also supplied high-end museum display cases.

Concept and narrative structure

The exhibition in Blocks 8 and 9 is built around three main themes:
– the registration of prisoners,
– everyday life in the camp,
– the existential experience of the prisoners.

The narrative is based on authentic objects, quotations from Survivors, and works of art. The exhibition takes a phenomenological form – rather than telling history, it presents it through material testimony and space.

The first part guides visitors through the process of prisoner registration – from the moment of arrival, through the loss of identity and dignity, to the symbolic act of being assigned a number.

The second part shows everyday life in the camp – the rhythm of the day set by roll call, labor, hunger and the night in the barracks. The final part focuses on existential experiences – exhaustion, fear, apathy, hopelessness and death.

Scope of the exhibition

The two blocks present 153 original objects, including items of prisoner clothing, everyday objects, work tools and artifacts related to the functioning of the camp.

An important element of the exhibition are small personal items that show attempts to preserve humanity in inhuman conditions – among them a comb, medicines, a chess piece and a doll made in the camp.

The visual narrative is complemented by:
– approx. 2,400 photographs of male and female prisoners,
– 489 registration documents,
– 29 works of art by Survivors,
– the Archive of Memory, with witness accounts and the first editions of their memoirs.

Photos come from www.auschwitz.org. Photo: Kamil Będkowski

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