The Standards of Management and Commemoration of the former German Concentration and Extermination Camps Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 The Standards of Management and Commemoration of the former German Concentration and Extermination Camps Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 Warsaw 2018 Auschwitz-Birkenau is the only former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp that was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is, however, viewed as representing all other sites of this kind. The very organization of places of memory and the main aspects of their functioning have varied widely across Europe. A multitude of factors came into play: various political systems, the historical value of individual sites, decisions taken by numerous governmental and self-governmental bodies, and also the fundraising efficiency of the institutions established to preserve former concentration camp sites. In 2017, representatives of the international community came together to work out a universal code of good practice – a set of guidelines to be implemented by all contemporary institutions entrusted with protecting these places of immense suffering and death. The Council of Experts convened for its first meeting on 7 April 2017 in Berlin-Wannsee, at the historical lakeside villa. After the Second World War, this residence became an important symbol of that phase of the Shoah which was carried out within the system of concentration and extermination camps. The proper commemoration of all the Victims necessitates collective reflection and international cooperation. The present publication contains the findings and determinations of the Council’s session, ordered and presented in the form of a memorandum which should facilitate further work on the future of remembrance. Photo: Mikołaj Grynberg Dr. Piotr M. A. Cywiński Director The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum 2 Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 3 The second half of the 20th century has been called the age of commemoration. The first decades of the century witnessed the two bloodiest global conflicts in the history of the continent. The German Nazi concentration camps stand as the most terrible and disturbing legacy of the Second World War. Millions of people of many ethnicities were Victims of German nationalism, but the Wannsee Conference remains fundamental in the process of exterminating six million European Jews. Remembering the Holocaust relies on sites, where it happened. The former German Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau grew into the symbol of the Holocaust and genocide. Putting the camp on the UNESCO World Heritage List, carried out through Polish initiatives in 1979, created a precedence in the entire history of the nomination procedure, because for the first time it did not preserve a monument of human ingenuity, but rather the material evidence of the brutality of perpetrators and the suffering of Victims. After the fall of communism, an important step forward in commemorating this kind of site was to establish – through dialogue between, amongst others, Israel and Poland – a set of basic standards such as: displaying clear information about the Victims or creating archives in situ. These standards have been observed at the former death camps in Sobibór, Treblinka, Majdanek, and camps like Gross-Rosen. However, only in a few instances have they reached sites outside of Poland. The fate of the former KL Gusen in Austria is a telling example. On its spot, a residential area was built, the camp’s gate was turned into a villa, and the original camp square has been covered with piles of rubble. Rules and standards of memorialization developed over the years by the State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau are universal in character and form the content of the Memorandum of Wannsee. In honor of the Victims Photo: Dorota Czoch and for the sake of future generations, the states are recommended to implement them in other former concentration camps. Prof. Magdalena Gawin General Conservator of Monuments The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage 4 Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 5 MEMORANDUM Those convened at the Council of Experts in Berlin-Wannsee hereby recommend for other sites of that type, former concentration on 7 April 2017 camps and extermination centres located beyond the borders of Poland, to accept the following standards of management: taking into consideration that it is the mission of UNESCO, expressed in the Preamble to its Constitution by the Organization’s founding emulation of practices developed by the Auschwitz-Birkenau countries in 1945, to "construct the defences of peace in the minds Museum, expressing extremely significant for UNESCO principles of men”, in order to prevent a reoccurrence of the tragic events of authenticity, integrity of artefacts and archival collections, of the Second World War, and international cooperation; recognizing the exceptional significance of the German Nazi development of educational forms with respect for the truth concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, and based on international dialogue and cooperation; established by Nazi Germany on the territory of occupied Poland, collecting artefacts that belonged to the Victims (name tags, initially for Poles and Soviet prisoners, which in the years 1942-1944 shoes, suitcases etc.) and archival documentation (documents, became the primary and most important center for the extermination photographs, films, maps) and storing in situ; of European Jews, establishing preservation laboratories in situ; recalling to mind the fundamental reason for the inclusion of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz- conducting archaeological research on the basis of international Birkenau in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, this being cooperation and under rabbinical supervision; to symbolically encompass all other former extermination camps functioning of an advisory and opinionative body patterned after and centers from the Second World War established by the Third Reich, the International Auschwitz Council; being aware that the restriction of the inscription in the UNESCO performing solid research on the Victims as well as perpetrators; World Heritage List only to Auschwitz-Birkenau, recognized as a representative for other post-camp Memorials, does not exempt the obligation to include – in the permanent exhibitions, information from reflection on preservation and methods of revealing the truth materials as well as on the internet websites clear information about the most terrifying crimes of the 20th century, particularly regarding the citizenship and nationality of the Victims. about the unique in the history of mankind crime of the Holocaust, Recognition of the abovementioned practices of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorialas as universal, fully reflects the symbolic significance of this site, which was emphasized by its entry in the World Heritage List. It is also a precondition for remembrance which should stand as a warning and a lesson for the future generations. 6 Wannsee Memorandum Expert Meeting Berlin-Wannsee 7th April 2017 7 MEMORANDUM Les réunis au Conseil des Experts, Berlin–Wannsee, le 7 avril nous recommandons que dans les autres importants sites de ce type, 2017 anciens camps de concentration et centres d’extermination situés en dehors des frontières de la Pologne, soient adoptés les standards considérant le fait que la mission de l’UNESCO, proclamée par les de gestion présentés ci-dessous, qui consistent à: États fondateurs en 1945 dans l’Acte constitutif, vise à « construire la paix dans l’esprit des hommes » en vue de prévenir que les événe- suivre les pratiques élaborées au Musée d’État d’Auschwitz-Birkenau ments tragiques de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale ne se reproduisent – qui mettent en oeuvre les principes d’authenticité, de sauvegarde plus, de l’intégralité des artefacts et des fonds d’archives, et de coopération internationale, si importants pour l’UNESCO; conscients de l’extraordinaire importance du camp de concentration et d’extermination allemand nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau, créé par développer des activités éducatives dans le respect de la vérité l’Allemagne nazie sur le territoire occupé de la Pologne, à l’origine et dans l’esprit de dialogue international et de coopération; pour les Polonais et les détenus soviétiques, qui, de 1942 à 1944, réunir et sauvegarder in situ les artefacts ayant appartenus aux est devenu le principal et le plus important camp d’extermination Victimes (matricules, chaussures, valises, etc.) et les documents des Juifs européens, d’archives (documents, photos, films, cartes); en soulignant le poids de l’inscription du camp de concentration mettre sur pied des ateliers de conservation in situ; et d’extermination allemand nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau sur la Liste du Patrimoine Mondial de l’UNESCO, intervenue en 1979, comme faire des fouilles archéologiques en coopération internationale symbolique pour les autres anciens camps et centres d’extermination et sous la surveillance rabbinique; du temps de la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, organisés par le Troisième fonctionner en s’assurant le soutien d’organes consultatifs composés Reich, d’experts, à l’instar du Conseil International d’Auschwitz; considérant que l’inscription sur la Liste du Patrimoine Mondial faire des recherches honnêtes concernant aussi bien les Victimes de l’UNESCO, restreinte seulement à Auschwitz-Birkenau, avec que