AUSTRIAN EXHIBITION AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU

A new Austrian exhibition is being created to go on display in Block 17 of the former concentration and extermination camp and present Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.

The original exhibition, which was initiated and co-conceived by former inmates, opened in 1978. The Federal Government decided to renew the exhibition in 2009. In the following years, the National Fund was entrusted with the tasks of renewing the content and design of the previous exhibition and overseeing the challenging restoration of the former inmate block 17, a listed building, to ensure that it is fit to house the exhibition. Once it has opened, the Fund will also oversee the content of the exhibition and ensure its day-to-day operation.

Following a pan-European call to tender the National Fund appointed a team led by curator Hannes Sulzenbacher and architect Martin Kohlbauer to conceive and design the new exhibition. The future exhibition will present both the fate of the Austrian victims in Auschwitz and the involvement of Austrians as perpetrators of the crimes committed there.

The exhibition is planned to open in 2021. As a place or remembrance and learning, it is hoped that it will help foster understanding and dialogue between the generations and people with different religious, national and ethnic backgrounds.

Block 17 in the former concentration camp Auschwitz

Above: The first exhibition on display and after its dismantlement in 2013.

Below: Drafts by Martin Kohlbauer.

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